Patty Jenkins’ film, MONSTER, is brilliant, breathtaking, and completely unforgettable. Those are words that are sorely overused in the land of crit-speak, and yet there are few films that are so very deserving of them. Jenkins biographical story of Aileen Wournos, convicted serial killer, has all the earmarks of a tabloid tale from one of… Read More »
THE COOLER
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 »
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT
I’m going to say something now that will be the deciding factor for some of you about whether or not you want to see THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT. Its star, Ashton Kutcher, spends an extended sequence barely wearing a towel, his taut, toned, and ripped physique on display for the multitudes. For the rest of you,… Read More »
THE DREAMERS
Bernardo Bertoluccis THE DREAMERS is a moody bit of erotica that devolves into a muddle. Trying as it does to mix the heady and revolutionary nature of politics and sex in the 1960s, when it is set, it fails to draw the parallels necessary to elevate the porn-lite into a more profound, not to mention potent, realm… Read More »
JAPANESE STORY
JAPANESE STORY is an ambitious film that does something intriguing. It plays like life itself. At times tedious, at times ridiculous, at times infuriating, at times moving almost beyond our ability to bear it, becoming in retrospect a memory to be savored and to be pondered. It reminded me of nothing so much as the… Read More »
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN may not have the spectacle of Nicholas Rays KING OF KINGS, but it also lacks that films terminally bland Jesus. Nor does it boast the art direction of Franco Zeffirellis exquisite JESUS OF NAZARETH, but Henry Ian Cusick as GOSPELs Jesus is seems more of this world than Robert Powell, though… Read More »
OSAMA
In the course of Siddiq Barmaks OSAMA, an old man dangles a string of heavy and ornate locks in front of the child whom he has forcibly married and asks her to choose one. He jingles them playfully while looking at her with an indulgent smile because for him it is a mark of his… Read More »
JAMES’ JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM (Massa’ot James Be’eretz Hakodesh)
When we first meet the eponymous James (Siyabonga Melongisi Shibe) of JAMES JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM, hes basking in the presence of that city. His bright face is aglow with a smile that can light up the farthest corners of the universe. That glow is reflected in the sun-drenched image of such familiar landmarks as The… Read More »
YOUNG ADAM
There is no one actually named Adam in YOUNG ADAM, based on the novel by 50s Brit Beat Alexander Trocchi. Its use is open to interpretations, biblical and other. Make of it what you will, but be prepared for a harsh, yet mesmerizing dissection of the way morality is often lived rather than how it is always… Read More »
LATTER DAYS
Oh no, it’s another film about a religious good boy moving to the big bad city and discovering that he’s gay. I know, it sounds awful in that we’ve seen this a gazillion times sense, but LATTER DAYS is a cut above the rest for its gentle message about finding the strength to see other… Read More »
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