Screaming, stalking, and exsanguinating is just about all there is to VENOM, a putrid bit of bad filmmaking whose only virtue, and that is an extremely relative term here, is that it doesn’t try to pretend to be anything but. Alas, in the process it manages to make mere schlock look good. We, like the… Read More »
SLITHER
SLITHER doesn’t just embrace the cheesy goofiness of those B-grade horror films from the middle of the last century, it also gives them a big wet sloppy French kiss. Taking what is so endearing about the ineptitude, it tweaks the bad dialogue and worst plot points, turning them into an homage to bad cinema that… Read More »
BORAT
The most important thing to know about BORAT is that you will be appalled by what you see, and then you will be appalled by the way it makes you laugh. Uproariously. And with wild abandon. The only down side to seeing this film based on a character by Sacha Baron Cohen, and played by… Read More »
SLITHER — DVD
SLITHER has perhaps the worst poster of any terrific film released in 2006. It may have actually kept people away, what with the way its space slugs converging on a bathtub cradling a classically nubile nymphette. It fails in every respect to convey the wicked humor and superbly self-aware irony that permeates every frame of… Read More »
TRANSFORMERS
TRANSFORMERS is a good-natured sci-fi romp complete with super secret government agencies, uber-hackers that are barely old enough to vote, and rampaging robots from outer space. Those last would be the eponymous Transformers, sentient robots on a mission. What sets this effort apart from the pack is the way all of that furthers a much… Read More »
MIST, THE
Would that THE MIST, Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novella, were just about things that go bump in the fog. It would be so much easier to reassure oneself that it’s just a story and then go out in the real world secure in the knowledge that nothing like that could ever happen except… Read More »
WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS
WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS is a perfectly likeable, perfectly forgettable film with a creaky plot and terrific chemistry between its stars, Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher. It attempts nothing novel in its retelling of the couple who don’t realize that they are perfect for each other, aside from positing an unsavory new popcorn topping. Then… Read More »
LAST STAND, THE
And so Arnold Schwarzenegger has returned to the silver screen after his sojourn in the theater of politics. The action star of dozens of blockbusters has wisely chosen for his vehicle a flick that acknowledges that he will not again see 40, nor even 50. Sort of. While this is an Arnold who wears reading… Read More »
SIDE EFFECTS
The great problem with talking about Steven Soderberghs latest (and putatively his last) film, SIDE EFFECTS, is that it would be criminal to give away any of the fiendishly clever plot twists involved. This is an elegantly executed sleight-of-hand that hinges on something most people have never thought about: why is it, exactly, that we… Read More »