IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE is a bracingly original foray into very black humor. Set in the arctic-lite of rural Norway, it is a tale of relentless pursuit, clueless hubris, and the eccentricities that long winters provoke in the population. Writer Kim Fupz Aakeson and director Hans Petter Moland serve up this arch film about fathers and sons… Read More »
OUR KIND OF TRAITOR
John le Carré writes espionage stories in which the action is cerebral and the suspense comes from a keen observation of each protagonist’s character. Thus, the stakes in OUR KIND OF TRAITOR involve much more than the list of names that will topple those in power. They involve the people caught up in the intrigue… Read More »
DEEP BLUE SEA
THE DEEP BLUE SEA is Renny Harlins latest attempt to revive a career that withered and should have died a long, long time ago. Harlin, perpetrated, I mean, directed CUTTHROAT ISLAND, which ended his marriage to Geena Davis, but oddly enough, it did not stop studios from giving him big bucks to repeat his mistakes. His latest… Read More »
EXORCIST-THE BEGINNING
The original EXORCIST spent much of its time trying to convince Ellen Burstyn that Linda Blair was possessed and required the services of the title character. Its prequel, EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING, spends virtually all of its time trying to convince us that there was a reason for it to be made. Made, I might add,… Read More »
DOMINION — PREQUEL TO THE EXORCIST
I can see why the folks at Warner Bros. watched the screening of Paul Schrader’s version of the EXORCIST prequel and panicked. They were, after all, working under the curse of the franchise sequels, which had all more or less tanked to critical brickbats and, further which, they might have hoped to avoid by making… Read More »