The occasional burst of witty dialogue in THE STEPFORD WIVES does nothing to justify this misogynistic screed that will in all probability set the Womens Movement back by about 150 years. It doesnt do much to bolster the image of men, either. Or kids, pets, supermarkets, suburbs or the art and science of housekeeping. Not… Read More »
BIRTH
One senses that in BIRTH everyone concerned was laboring under the delusion that they were creating high art. Let me put the brakes to that. What could have been an interesting consideration of love being stronger than death in more ways that one is, instead, an unpalatable trifle that plays more as a comedy that… Read More »
THE INTERPRETER
My friend Daisy, an enthusiastic but discriminating cinema fan, has a way of summing up her movie-going experiences with a succinct take, and so it was as we exited the preview screening of THE INTERPRETER. It almost seemed, she opined, as though something was on the verge of happening. Alas, director Sydney Pollack’s lugubrious pacing… Read More »
BEWITCHED
The funniest thing in BEWITCHED is an oddly touching attachment Will Ferrell’s character, Jack Wyatt, develops for a bottle of ketchup he picked up during an off-screen interlude in New Mexico. It’s barely mentioned, but there it is in a couple of scenes, clutched tenaciously the way a kid clutches his blankie in times of… Read More »
HAPPY FEET
When it comes to moviedom, penguins are as close as it gets to a sure thing, hit-wise. This is something irresistible about this unlikely bird and the way it’s so easy to anthropomorphize its sturdy waddle and formal wear. To his credit, George Miller, director, co-author, and conceiver of the story as a whole, doesn’t… Read More »
THE INVASION
The original INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS was the product of a particular time, place, and mentality. Those would be the 50s, the United States, and the paranoia rampant at the time over the Communist Menace. Or the 50s, the United States, and the suffocation of conformity. Either way, it was a potent message at… Read More »