Like a cut-rate package tour that promises much but delivers little, THE BIG BOUNCE, sucks the joy right out of you while offering little glimpses of the paradise that is forever beyond your reach. Based on the Elmore Leonard novel of the same name, its filled with the robustly eccentric characters that he dreams up… Read More »
A KNIGHT’S TALE
No doubt about it, A KNIGHTS TALE is an odd film. Part adventure tale, part romance, part social commentary and dont forget the one thing that will stick with you long after Heath Ledgers dreamy smile and Rufus Sewells wildly sexy sneer have drifted away. The way these denizens of 14th century Europe break into… Read More »
CATWOMAN
Cheese on the silver screen can be a lot of fun in a kitschy sort of way. CATWOMAN, on the other hand, is cheesy in the cheese that you find in the back of your refrigerator way, the cheese that’s been there a really, really long time. So long, in fact, that it’s developed its… Read More »
ELEKTRA
ELEKTRA’s mission as a film was to be better than DAREDEVIL, the benighted Ben Affleck vehicle in which the character of the knife-wielding super-heroine previously appeared. It succeeds, but then again, it’s not like it had a high bar to clear. Fans of Jennifer Garner will not be disappointed with ELEKTRA, which brings back that… Read More »
HITCH
HITCH is a pleasant enough meringue of a romantic comedy. Light, sweet, and essentially insubstantial. What it has going for it is its attitude, one that champions true love over a roll in the hay, some nice physical comedy by Kevin James, and Will Smith, a leading man in the old school mold. Hes Alex… Read More »
FANSTASTIC FOUR
It’s Ioan Gruffudd for whom I feel the most sorry. He’s a fine British actor who distinguished himself in, among other efforts, the most recent television adaptation of THE FORSYTE SAGA. In FANTASTIC 4, he’s relegated to the role of an earnest, if super smart, beagle. As the first installment of what the studio… Read More »
RED EYE
Most horror films are dedicated to the proposition that females are prey and little else.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3 asks the cinematic question, “Why wander away inconspicuously from the scene of the latest mission when you can speed away at full throttle on the Tiber River?” It’s a spy fantasy and the answers to questions like that, and there are lots of them throughout the needless running time of over two hours,… Read More »
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND
Oh how the mighty have fallen. X-MEN: THE LAST STAND is the third installment in what until now has been a sterling franchise and its failings are an affront to what has come before. To be sure, the fine philosophical underpinnings, one of the series’ hallmarks, are still there, but with a new director, Brett… 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 »