RED RIDING HOOD begins well in its misguided attempts to plumb the rich territory of what lies beneath the surface of the most persistent of fairy tales, wallowing in the subtext that goes directly to the subconscious, but disguised in a form easily assimilated the most delicate of sensibilities. That remains true here, the unreality… Read More »
FRIDA
At one point during Julie Taymor’s exquisite film, FRIDA, Diego Rivera tells Frida Kahlo that while he can only paint what he sees, she paints from the heart. And so it is as it should be that Taymor’s biopic of Frida’s life is the landscape of Frida’s heart than a straightforward telling of the events… Read More »
TUCKER AND DALE VS EVIL
TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL is a mordant comedy of errors that juggles the clichés of its genre with a buoyant impudence. And blood. A whole lot of blood. The genre is slasher flick, the sub-category is dumb college students in the woods, and in a refreshing turn of events, it is their very dumbness… Read More »
THE THING
THE THING by Matthijs van Heijningen, Jr. is the prequel to John Carpenters re-make of the same name, which was a re-make of Howard Hawks THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD. Its a confusion that would seem to have been easily avoidable, but for some reason wasnt taken care of at any point during pre- or… Read More »
TOTAL RECALL
TOTAL RECALL is a pleasant revisiting of Philip K. Dicks short story, I Can Remember It For You Wholesale that also, and with a whole heart, acknowledges its cinematic predecessor of the same name. While that version was plastic and kitschy, not unlike its star, Arnold Schwartzenegger, this one takes a grimmer view of a… Read More »