RORY OSHEA WAS HERE is an earnest, unpretentious film from Ireland that has the virtue of treating its subject, the disabled and their struggle for dignity and independence, without weepy sentimentality. Beyond a break-out performance by James MacAvoy in the title role, though, it has little to set it apart from the usual disability of… Read More »
THE UPSIDE OF ANGER
From an evolutionary sense, anger makes sense. It might have sent civilization teetering off balance, but in individuals, it insures that you got enough to eat and a good seat by the fire, not to mention a better shot at having your chromosomes play in the genetic pool. Like most stuff that did us all… Read More »
KISS KISS BANG BANG
Films detailing the dark side of Hollywood have been around for a long time and for a long time they’ve suffered from the excesses of hack films that approach the subject with a taste for the lurid and the seamy. Shane Black’s KISS KISS BANG BANG certainly doesn’t skimp on the lurid stuff nor on that… Read More »
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
The difference in outlooks between Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) and his late wife, Tessa (Rachel Weisz), can be summed up in a conversation they have while driving on the squalid streets of Kenya’s capital where Justin, a British diplomat, is stationed. Tessa wants him to stop and give a lift back to her village to… Read More »
THE CONSTANT GARDENER — DVD
THE CONSTANT GARDENER is a thriller with a conscience and a romantic streak, both equally memorable. The DVD of it is memorable for what it doesn’t have: a commentary track. One could speculate endlessly about why that is, or one can move on to the bonus features that are available, including the usual deleted and… Read More »
BROKEN FLOWERS — DVD
Jim Jarmusch’s BROKEN FLOWERS has been accused of being his most accessible film. Perhaps it’s because the narrative is more linear than his last film, the equally brilliant COFFEE AND CIGARETTES. Perhaps it’s because its star, Bill Murray, plays a character that is facing his mid-life crisis in a way that is more identifiable than… Read More »
UNITED 93
UNITED 93 begins and ends with prayers in Arabic. Those are offered by the terrorists who seized the plane. There are prayers throughout the film as well, some offered in English and all mouthed in wonder, or in terror, or in fear, or in anger. Writer and director Paul Greengrass has kept politics, at least… Read More »
HOLLYWOODLAND
HOLLYWOODLAND deals with the death of George Reeves, television’s Superman and the idol of millions of kids who were devastated by not just his passing, but that it was reported to have been suicide. It was during a party at his house, when he went upstairs and was later found with a bullet through his… Read More »
UNITED 93 — DVD
In the course of the commentary track by writer/director Paul Greenglass, he answers those who thought that it was too soon to make a film about UNITED 93. It’s not too soon, he says, it’s high time. As with the feature film release of UNITED 93, the DVD is also a tribute to the people who… Read More »
FIRST SNOW
The theme of a man trying to outrun his fate is an old one. Laius tried getting around the prediction about being done in by his son, Oedipus, with less than stellar results. More recently, Puritans in colonial America worried themselves silly over predestination at the hands of an angry deity, while hedging their bets… Read More »