The makers of MIRACLE certainly had their work cut out for them. How to maintain a sense of suspense when the whole reason for making the film was to celebrate how the US Olympic hockey team trounced the unbeatable Soviets at the 1980 Winter Games? With the outcome a foregone conclusion, they decided to drive… Read More »
50 FIRST DATES
With 50 FIRST DATES it seems as though Adam Sandler is going through an identity crisis of some sort. The film itself is an ill-conceived amalgam of sentiment played sweet not sappy, mixed uncertainly with the usual lower-than-low-brown humor with which Sandler’s films, PUNCH DRUNK LOVE excepted, are saturated. Hence the walrus spew scene less… Read More »
OLIVE OR TWIST
Consider the martini. That just what Peter Moody has done with OLIVE OR TWIST, a kitschy 55-minute valentine to that most persistent and evocative of cocktails. Standard references will give you facts, figures, and the twisted history surrounding Martini’s origins, but only Moody will also give you the ambiance, the gestalt, and yes, the cult… Read More »
WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT
The best moment in WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT comes when former president Monroe Eagle Cole (Gene Hackman) comes to visit his rival in the mayoral race in Mooseport, Maine, Handy Harrison (Ray Romano) at the latters hardware store. As he prepares to step into Harrisons ramshackle office for a private chat, the secret service agent doing… Read More »
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
There is a reason that the early church did not make the cross its primary symbol. Early tombs display the friendlier, more positive images of the fish, as in, to quote Jesus, “go forth and be fishers of men”, and the good shepherd, as in, again quoting “I am the good shepherd.” People in that… Read More »
HIDALGO
At way over two hours in length, HIDALGO is overlong, no doubt about it. Still, this rip-snorting answer to the old-time Saturday morning serials has two things going for it that save it from its stock characters and cliché situations. One is Viggo Mortensen, a rugged sort of eye candy who brings a soulful yet… Read More »
STARSKY & HUTCH
I think I know what happened here. Someone came up with three really good jokes and decided that an entire film could be created around them. For insurance, that same someone decided to slap those jokes into a big-screen version of a 70s television series, hoping that the identification would also bring in a ready-made… Read More »
SECRET WINDOW
There are many things wrong with SECRET WINDOW, the latest in a long line of failed adaptations of a Stephen King opus. Top of the list would be how ridiculously easy it is to figure out the twist that I think was supposed to leave us gasping. While not an insurmountable obstacle, it is a… Read More »
THE PRINCE AND ME
It is eminently fitting that THE PRINCE AND ME includes a scene where all-American heroine Paige (Julia Stiles) gives incognito Danish prince Edward (Luke Mably) a lesson in how to do laundry. This occasionally whimsical potboiler churns suds like an industrial washing machine spiffing up 100 pounds of bland with almost as much soft soap. Think… Read More »
TAKING LIVES
When I do my annual interview with the Head Berry of the Golden Raspberry Awards Foundation, the name Angelina Jolie almost always pops up, as in, if shes in a movie in any given year, shes going to be nominated for a Razzie. Gone are the glory days of that >other< award that she won.… Read More »
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