With THE REVENANT, Alejandro González Iñárritu has taken the true story of early 19th-century frontier scout Hugh Glass, and admirably manipulated it into a spiritual journey of savage poetry. Glass’s story, rendered cinematically in the 1970’s by Richard Harris in MAN IN THE WILDERNESS, becomes much more here. Iñárritu uses the bare bones of the… Read More »
YES MAN
YES MAN tries to be two kinds of Jim Carrey movies at once and fails twice over. The result is a flat and unappetizing work that is neither serious enough to win over an audience looking for something of substance, nor wacky enough to satisfy fans of the manic Carrey of THE MASK or ACE… Read More »
DAYBREAKERS
DAYBREAKERS is a film that has run through 99% of its good ideas by the time the opening credits have concluded. At least the stylish, if occasionally obvious, art direction gives the audience something to occupy its collective self as the half-baked tale unfolds. The time is 2019, and a bat-borne plague has turned all… 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 »
CAMPAIGN, THE
This being an election year, its natural for Hollywood to capitalize on it. Hence, THE CAMPAIGN, an ultimately disappointing melange of wit and silliness. There is much about which to make sport in the American democratic process, and much of it is covered here, but not consistently well, and with little originality. The eponymous electoral… Read More »
FADING GIGOLO
A few editing glitches towards the end of FADING GIGOLO does little to detract from the films Savvy charm, gentle humor and essential sweetness. Writer/director/star John Turturros exploration of sex, intimacy, and loneliness has knockout performances, sly insight, and a tantalizing premise going for it. Turturro stars as Fioravante, a part-time florist with a soulful… Read More »
THE PUNISHER
HAMLET is a tragedy about a man who cant make up his mind about taking action. The resulting exposition of his inner struggle produced some of the finest poetry in the English language. On a much diminished, but no less agonizing scale, THE PUNISHER is a tragedy about a film that can’t make up its… Read More »