In the French language there is a particularly evocative suffix, -atre. There is no equivalent in English, but applied to a color, yellow, for instance, it bespeaks the sickly quality of that color. And it is that sickly yellow that permeates BELLFLOWER, a crushingly dull look at the lives of crushingly dull people, two of… Read More »
OUR IDIOT BROTHER
OUR IDIOT BROTHER, profane title notwithstanding, is a liltingly transcendent comedy. The humor, character-driven and smart, is pointed, but delivered compassionately. And this is perfectly in keeping with the esoteric underpinnings at play here. The eponymous character, Ned (Paul Rudd), is not so much the hero of the piece as the Holy Fool, a hippie… Read More »
LITTLEROCK
The serendipity at work in LITTLEROCK is of a profoundly subtle nature. And like the title itself, which refers to a dusty backwash in California rather than the capital of Arkansas, things are never quite what they seem. Expectations are subverted, assumptions exploded, and the meaningless nature of words is replaced by the importance of… Read More »
I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT
Chick-flicks, like the chick-lit on which some of them are based, are like comfort food. Not necessarily good from a nutritional standpoint, but soothing, predictable, and offering nothing challenging. The plot arcs will follow the accepted formula: cutesy and funny, before moving on to the inevitable conflicts, think of it as the crunchy topping on… Read More »
DREAM HOUSE
There are fine moments in DREAM HOUSE, but not enough so that the easily parsed story and oddly soporific direction fail to become insurmountable hurdles. Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts, and Rachel Weisz give performances that are visceral without being obvious, performances that amplify the sense of foreboding and suspense that should be coming from the… Read More »
HORRIBLE BOSSES
Some men are born great, some men have greatness thrust upon them. Nick, Kurt, and Dale (Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day), the three schlubs at the center of HORRIBLE BOSSES fall in the latter category. Sort of. As the heroes of a subversively prescient black comedy, they are the quintessential little guys rendered… Read More »
THE IDES OF MARCH
THE IDES OF MARCH is a suitably Machiavellian portrait of how politics works. Not in the bastardized sense of ruthlessness for ruthlessness sake, but rather in the classical Machiavellian sense, ruthlessness to manage any given situation in order to achieve ones goals while making as little fuss with the population at large as possible. In… Read More »
THE BIG YEAR
Birds are sublime creatures. THE BIG YEAR, a film about the birders who rabidly pursue a sight or sound of them, is not. Based on the book of the same name by Mark Obmascik, it is a flat pastiche of painfully clichéd moments strung together around the theme of three guys competing for the honor… Read More »
MIGHTY MACS, THE
It took two years for THE MIGHTY MACS to finally make it to theater screens. It also took a title change from OUR LADY OF VICTORY. Granted, a G-rated film is a tough sell in the current marketplace, but this wholesome fare, based on a true story, is not as dull as its familiar idioms… Read More »
INTERVIEW WITH THE ASSASSIN
There are so many ways to go with the whole Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory. Check out any conspiracy website and youll find everything from aliens to the hoax scenario, as in JFK didnt really die and for all we know, hes still living in a more or less vegetative state on that private island Onassis… Read More »
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