The key moment in Clint Eastwood’s LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA is when General Kuribayashi, the commander of the doomed Japanese forces defending the eponymous island from Amercan invasion, stops the summary execution of two soldiers by their immediate commanding officer for having committed the crime of not dying at their post. Kuribayashi, played by Ken Watanabe, tells… Read More »
NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM
It’s not that NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM is a bad film, it’s just that it’s not a particularly inspired one either. Fine special effects, an interesting plot line, and competent direction, those are all there and greatly appreciated. Still, the very best thing about this fantasy aimed squarely at kids is that it reminds us… Read More »
CHARLOTTE’S WEB
A spider that sucks the blood out of her victims is a tough sell as the sympathetic heroine of any story, much less one directed at kids. Yet, using the perfect blend of warmth and bite, and not a little humor, CHARLOTTE’S WEB has been doing that for over 40 years. A film version, such… Read More »
SMOKIN’ ACES
Somewhere in Joe Carnahan’s SMOKIN’ ACES there is a really good film trying desperately to get out. Several actually. And therein lays the problem. Dashing blithely as he does through several different genres Carnahan shows moxie and a genuine flair for each one: black comedy, gut-wrenching drama, farcical silliness, and a deeply affecting morality tale. It’s… Read More »
BECAUSE I SAID SO
To judge from the level of insight into the mother-daughter dynamic and/or the relative proficiency in turning out a decent script, the women who co-wrote BECAUSE I SAID SO might have been raised by iguanas. This sad spectacle degrades everyone participating in it, including the audience hornswaggled into thinking that it was going to get some… Read More »
THE MESSENGERS
There is much to be said for letting a horror film build slowly. The audience moves from the everyday world into one where the unknown lurks with intentions that seem anything but friendly. And so it is with THE MESSENGERS, the latest from the Pang Brothers, a duo that can make an empty room seem like the maw of hell using little… Read More »
CHINA BLUE
Micha Peled uses a tried-and-true device in his documentary, CHINA BLUE, contrasting those at the top of the food chain, in this case the Chinese new economy, with those at the top. Not only does he use this method with startling effectiveness, it may well have been the only way to bring home to audiences in… Read More »
MUSIC AND LYRICS
There’s nothing wrong with a fluffy film that doesn’t try to be anything more than what it is: a pleasant way to pass the time. Executed well, it can offer a welcome break from the mundane and such is MUSIC AND LYRICS. Delicately spun and deftly acted, it’s a harmless trifle that amuses and sometimes delights. Hugh Grant is Alex,… Read More »
BREACH
In a moment of supreme and unintentional irony, Robert Hanssen, the quarry in BREACH, tells his assistant, Eric O’Neill, who doesn’t know yet what his real assignment concerning Hanssen is, that he was never interested in making headlines, only history. Of course, they will shortly be making both, but neither of them is aware of that yet.… Read More »
GHOST RIDER
GHOST RIDER is the first guilty pleasure of 2007. Driven along strictly by the personalities involved, never surrendering to an internal logic that might slow things down to bring them back to earth, it barrels along a dicey path between camp and melodrama and rises above them both while never for a moment demanding to be… Read More »
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 127
- 128
- 129
- 130
- 131
- …
- 147
- Next Page »