Before we get to the business of reviewing LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING, let’s take a moment to marvel at the fact that Peter Jackson persuaded a studio, New Line, to give him not only the money, but also the free hand to bring this trilogy to the screen while remaining… Read More »
BIG FISH
BIG FISH may be Tim Burtons most magical film to date. Paradoxically, its also one rooted firmly in reality, a la ED WOOD. Dont let that throw you. This is a landscape of the imagination as potent as anything Burton conjured up with EDWARD SCISSORHANDS or THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. There is a giant named… Read More »
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
I’m going to say something now that will be the deciding factor for some of you about whether or not you want to see THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT. Its star, Ashton Kutcher, spends an extended sequence barely wearing a towel, his taut, toned, and ripped physique on display for the multitudes. For the rest of you,… Read More »
ELLA ENCHANTED
Taking aim squarely at a society that demands that its women be obedient, or at least self-effacing, ELLA ENCHANTED, based on the classic book by Gail Carson Levine, uses the archetypal story of Cinderella to skewer convention with that most deadly and effective of weapons: humor. Theres not a trace of bile or vitriol, either,… Read More »
HELLBOY
There are a lot of tentacles in HELLBOY, squiggly, slimy-looking, Lovecraft-inspired killing machines with a taste for human flesh. Actually, any flesh. And theyre done with a nod to special effects legend Ray Harryhausen. Theres just a suspicion of his brand of stop-action movement that makes for a bit of 50s-style nostalgia amid the impending… Read More »
VAN HELSING
VAN HELSING is a film that does not do things by halves. One might, in principle, admire the way it pulls out all the stops early on, but the results, a hemorrhaging husk that eventually dissolves into the same sort of dust as the staked vampires that people its running time, prevents admiring it in… Read More »
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) spends a lot of time being knocked cold in the third installment of J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter series, HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN. Its hardly surprising, between mishaps at Quiddich matches, the Dementors, particularly nasty creatures that Ill get to later, and the amount of story to get though,… Read More »
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW
THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW understands that its premise, a cataclysmic climate change that happens in less than a week, is hard for even the most sympathetic audience to swallow. It thoughtfully has its characters mentioning that its all very odd and to be suitably surprised by it all. Given that expositional permission, the audience is… Read More »
CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, THE
As THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK opens, Vin Diesel, playing the eponymous Riddick, is faced with impossible odds in a life-and-possibly-death situation. He prevails with a combination of strength, cunning, and attitude that is a lethal weapon in and of itself. And there, boys and girls, is the film in a nutshell. Of course, it doesnt… Read More »
SPIDERMAN 2
I so want to like SPIDERMAN 2 with the unreserved satisfaction that I found with the original. Here is a franchise that is unafraid to tackle serious, real-life issues such as the stickiness of human interaction and dwindling bank accounts, while still pursuing serious reel-life fun. Alas, where the original SPIDERMAN dealt metaphorically and with… Read More »
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