No, it couldn’t actually happen, but that doesn’t stop the plot of SWING VOTE from being an irresistible idea. A presidential race comes down to one vote, and that vote belongs to a guy who isn’t quite sure who’s running for office. As a matter of fact, voting not only wasn’t his idea, it wasn’t… Read More »
BIG TROUBLE
BIG TROUBLE, you might recall, was pulled from its original fall 2001 release because of the incidents of 9/11. The film’s finale features a plane hijacking and a really big bomb. Releasing it then would have been so far beyond wrong that a whole new circle would have had to be added to Hell order… Read More »
GHOST WRITER, THE
In THE GHOST WRITER, Roman Polanski takes Robert Harris novel of the same name and gives it his own unique stamp. The tale is the classic one of an innocent man suddenly finding himself in the midst of intrigue and danger not of his making, The ominous overtones are pure Polanski. The innocent, who is… Read More »
10 YEARS
There is nothing unexpected in 10 YEARS, a tale of the eponymous high school reunion. Instead the emphasis is squarely on the similarly unsurprising cross-section of high school types, which is a risky proposition but one that pays off with a superior cast allowed to do what they each do best, and with writing that… Read More »
NOW YOU SEE ME
NOW YOU SEE ME begins with a giddy sense of mischief and ends with a contrivance that bespeaks the desperation of failing to plan for a proper ending. In between, it quietly devolves from slam-bang fun to barely coherent as four magicians lead the FBI and a debunker on a merry chase through ancient mysticism… Read More »
PIECES OF APRIL
Any film that declares Krispy Kreme donuts as proof of God’s existence is a film that has much to teach us no matter what our level of metaphysical enlightenment. In this perfect film, writer/director Peter Hedges astutely observes with sardonic wit and aching emotion the two great train wrecks of family life, the car… Read More »
DINNER GAME, THE (DINER DE CONS)
There was in France a game in which a group of friends would meet for dinner. Each would bring an idiot and the competition, waged without the idiots knowing about it, was to determine who had brought the biggest idiot. Writer/director Francis Veber, who also penned LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, has gifted us with his take… Read More »
CLICK
Having been roundly castigated for MR DEEDS, his attempt to remake a classic film, Frank Capra’s MR DEEDS GOES TO TOWN, Adam Sandler has taken a more oblique, but no more successful, approach to remaking A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Instead of the Yule Season, it’s the Fourth of July. Instead of a miser who shuns humanity,… Read More »
THE SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS
Based on the 1960 film THE SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRESL OF HOW TO WIN WITHOUT ACTUALLY CHEATING!, which was, in turn, very loosely based on the 18th century play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, THE SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS never deviates for a moment from the textbook arc for tales such as these. Loser at life, love, and… Read More »
DREAMGIRLS
If Jennifer Hudson never makes another movie, if she never sings another song, if she drops off the radar tomorrow, her place in cinematic history will nonetheless be cemented forever by her acting debut in DREAMGIRLS. It’s as though fate has conspired to keep the Broadway hit loosely based on the rise of Diana Ross… Read More »