CASE 39 takes a potent subtext about the terrors of unprepared parenthood and wastes it in a rote creepy kid flick that displays both iffy internal logic and a trifling execution. Renee Zellweger brings her best to this mess, but alas her efforts, when played out in the vacuum provided her, become at best a… Read More »
CHICAGO
Just when you thought we’d lost the knack for producing a live-action musical film here in the States, along comes CHICAGO. Set in 1920s in that toddling town, this hard-as-nails tale of sex, politics, fame, and most of all jazz, is a big, splashy, brassy confection wrapped up in a bow with enough bugle beads… Read More »
DOWN WITH LOVE
DOWN WITH LOVE is a sweet little muddle buoyed along by its effervescence and its unflagging cheer. Its hard to dislike, no matter how much you want to, no matter how much you should. Like last years FAR FROM HEAVEN, though not in the same league, this is an homage to an earlier style of… Read More »
COLD MOUNTAIN
If you already know that war is hell, then you can safely give COLD MOUNTAIN, based on the critically acclaimed novel of the same name by Charles Frazier, a miss and save that almost three hours of your life for something else. If for a reason unfathomable by me you need the lesson driven home for… Read More »
CINDERELLA MAN
Showing a lack of imagination and a willingness to mine every applicable sports cliché that is stunning in several senses of the word, Ron Howard has taken one of the greatest comeback stories ever and turned it into a cloying bit of fluff. CINDERELLA MAN is handsomely mounted, steeped in period art direction, and features… Read More »