Love is a funny thing. You cant predict where it will bloom or what havoc it will wreak when it does. Thats at the heart of THE COOLER, another of those quirky parables set in Las Vegas where darkness and light fight it out and the outcome is, well, it depends on your point of… Read More »
NOWHERE
Once, as Gertrude Stein was reminiscing about her hometown of Oakland, CA, she said, and I quote, “There’s no there, there.” It’s unfortunate that she was never asked about LA, or if she was, that her response was not recorded for posterity. I shudder to think what she would have made of a place that… Read More »
BASIC INSTINCT 2
It is said that the reason there were so many years between the first BASIC INSTINCT and its sequel is that Sharon Stone was waiting for just the right script to do justice to her character, Catherine Trammell, the novelist and putative murderess of the original. She didn’t wait long enough. And judging by the… Read More »
THE DA VINCI CODE
The book by Dan Brown on which THE DA VINCI CODE is based will never be mistaken for a work of genius. It is not a work for the ages, but rather fills the guilty pleasure niche in the literary food chain. It’s a fast read with an intriguing premise where a great deal happens… Read More »
PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER
The first image in Tom Tykwer’s PERFUME is of a nose in close-up emerging from the twilight. The first sound is of its drawing a deep breath. It is stark, it is simple, and it is perfect. Smell is the point of this decadent gothic tale, and it is the driving force of the nose’s… Read More »
SOUTHLAND TALES
There are bad movies. CATWOMAN was bad. GOOD LUCK CHUCK was bad. And then there are movies that are not just bad, they are events. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. ISHTAR. WATERWORLD. BATTLEFIELD EARTH. SWEPT AWAY (the remake), PEARL HARBOR. Many contend, but few achieve the apotheosis to that rarified circle, but SOUTHLAND TALES, with… Read More »
INSIDIOUS
The most resonant horror films, the ones that stand the test of time, are the ones that speak most directly to some aspect of reality that is magnetically identifiable to the viewer. Such is the case with INSIDIOUS, a smartly conceived film by James Wan and Leigh Whannell, the founders of the SAW franchise. While… 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 »