Word: tropes
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Surfer Rosa,” Fugazi’s “13 Songs,” and Sonic Youth’s “Daydream Nation.” But while those albums all self-consciously operated around or even subverted the tropes and conventions of “pop” music in their own different ways, today’s independent music seems to be working deliberately in the opposite direction. Indie’s current incarnation—the Pitchfork generation—insists, almost to an iconoclastic extent, on wearing the vestments of that...
...proclaimed second coming of Christ, who says “two angels” spoke to him. Maher’s response, “You mean two guys named Angel,” elicits from Miranda the shell-shocked expression that becomes the film’s dominant trope...
...Indignation” opens, but the novel itself never so much as glimpses the heights to which he seems to aspire. It’s a cliché for artists in their old age to become obsessed with death, and Roth has done well to invert that trope and return to his youth (even if his protagonist dies anyway). But “Indignation” flies by so inexplicably that whatever intention Roth had–whether to explore consciousness, to meditate on his own life, or to tease out an historical period obscured by cultural memory?...
...enlists the help of dimwitted Chad. The scheme soon spirals out of control, resulting in tragedy. The humor of the film is derived from the irony of the plot; the characters think they are in control, but they most certainly are not. This is a familiar Coen brothers trope, explored in numerous films such as “Fargo” and “The Big Lebowski.” What makes those films successful, however, is the skilful juxtaposition between a fatalistic plot and wonderfully imaginative, fully conceived characters—the latter of which...
...marvelously dense with imagery. The Wrestler is the first Aronofsky film to be visually inert. His main camera habit is to follow Randy, just his imposing back, as he trudges through corridors toward another fight. (Martin Scorsese virtually patented that shot, in Raging Bull and Goodfellas). The trope does pay off later in the film, when Randy, briefly retired, winds up behind a deli counter. That's a deft touch, as is the easy camaraderie Randy shares with the other veteran showmen. But Aronofsky's main contribution was to lion-tame a jolting performance out of a forgotten hero...