Click here to listen to the interview with Joel Edgerton (17:21)THE SQUARE is a film noir in the classic mold but with a distinctly contemporary flavor. A good man, the temptation of a younger woman, and an indistinct dream of a happily ever after far from the monotony of a cushy, if bland, married life.… Read More »
A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD
It is the way of franchises. They begin with breathless delight and end with a wheezing sigh. And so it is with the Die Hard series. Bruce Willis, whose name was not above the title in the first installment, was a quipping wonder as police detective John McClane, a man out to save his marriage… Read More »
BASIC
The first words we hear Tom Hardy say in BASIC is in a conversation this ex-Army and currently DEA agent in Panama is having with a colleague, the gist of which is that if he doesnt have the trust of those around him, he cant function. Those are words that will figure greatly in the… Read More »
COLLATERAL
Max (Jamie Foxx) is an easygoing guy who is going places. For now hes driving a cab, but its just temporary until his limo business gets off the ground. Okay, its been twelve years, but there are a lot of details to work out. Tonight, though, he is on a roll. A gorgeous woman (Jada… Read More »
DOPPELGANGER (Dopperugenga)
DOPPELGANGER is a sly excursion into the paranormal. It takes the story of the doppelganger, in this case a sort of mirror self, and expands on the idea that to see ones own doppelganger means death. Director and co-writer Kiyoshi Kurosawa starts there and then tweaks the genre and the audiences expectations, subtly changing from… Read More »
DOPPELGANGER (Dopperugenga) DVD
DOPPELGANGER is one of those deliciously off-beat films that, barring a name filmmaker or star, have an annoying tendency to fly under the radar of most film lovers. It starts out as an interesting, if somewhat formulaic horror tale about a scientist (Koji Yakusho) who may or may not be going insane after his assistant… Read More »
ALONE IN THE DARK
All you really need to know about ALONE IN THE DARK is that its based on a computer game and that the people who brought it to the screen aimed very low when it came to fleshing out the premise into a storyline. So low, in fact, that only the most die-hard fans of the… Read More »
NO MAN’S LAND
NO MAN’S LAND, Danis Tanovic’s black comedy about the absurd futility of war, is a prime example of why I adore films from the former Yugoslavia and have since before it was a former. They are like a knife to the gut, they are beautiful, and they are poetic with their shattering intensity. They are… Read More »
SYRIANA
At two different points during SYRIANA, two different men in traditional Arab robes sits on a floor surrounded by two different sets of rapt listeners sitting in a circle. Each explains with perfect conviction how to make the world a better place. One is an eloquent imam in a poverty-stricken madrassa, advocating a return to… Read More »