When a film wears its heart on its sleeve the way BLUE BEETLE does, it’s hard to dislike it. Not impossible, but very, very hard. Still, there’s a screenplay that can’t quite decide what tack to take as it moves awkwardly through plot beats that feel less like a story and more like the generic… Read More »
THE MEDDLER
(A version of this review first appeared in The New Fillmore) The complicated bond between mother and child has never had a better, a funnier, or a more heartwarming cinematic incarnation. Unconditional love and setting boundaries drive the comedy of THE MEDDLER. Written and directed by Loren Scafaria from her own experiences with an adoring… Read More »
ARBITRAGE
Nicholas Jareckis ARBITRAGE brings up an age-old question. What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? Only in this case, the world gained is not just a showcase home, a formidable company, and an enviable family life, its also an intangible thing made of high-finance maneuvers with no… Read More »
TAMMY
There is a reason that the trailers for TAMMY show star/co-writer/co-producer Melissa McCarthy at her manic best. Those are, without doubt, the best moments of the film. Its not that McCarthy isnt equally adept at a poignant sort of drama, with which TAMMY is, unfortunately, rife. I have no doubt that one day McCarthy will… Read More »
SHALL WE DANCE?
The word that most comes to mind when thinking about the Hollywood remake of the thoroughly delightful Japanese film, SHALL WE DANCE, is irksome, followed by tedious, pallid, and pointless. The cultural nuances of the original have been, of course, lost entirely, and in their stead is the sort of deep insight into the human… Read More »
ALFIE
The thing about Jude Law is that he is so unbelievably beautiful. Such is his pulchritude, not to mention his irresistible onscreen charm, that its easy to overlook the undeniable acting chops that are greater even than the sum of his more ephemeral gifts. In ALFIE, Charles Shyer’s re-make of the 60s classic that starred… Read More »
ELIZABETHTOWN
If you are lucky enough to somehow manage to see only the first ten minutes or so of Cameron Crowe’s ELIZABETHTOWN, you will come away thinking that this has the makings of something interesting, dark, and just a little iconoclastic. Alas, it is followed by almost two hours of meandering randomness that quickly dispenses with… Read More »
SPEED RACER
As a film, SPEED RACER is one of the great storyboards of all time. Unfortunately, that’s about all it is. Overplotted and underwritten, it is ultimately trumped by an exuberant color scheme that splays itself across the screen showing as little restraint as the chimpanzee of the piece. There are some yellows that might actually… Read More »