It’s not that NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM is a bad film, it’s just that it’s not a particularly inspired one either. Fine special effects, an interesting plot line, and competent direction, those are all there and greatly appreciated. Still, the very best thing about this fantasy aimed squarely at kids is that it reminds us… Read More »
CHILDREN OF MEN
In a here-and-now where the primacy of children is given ample lip service by proponents of any and all social issues, it is refreshing, and not a little thought-provoking, to see in Alfonso Cuaron’s CHILDREN OF MEN, based on the P.D. James novel of the same name, a world in which this is actually the case.… Read More »
CHARLOTTE’S WEB
A spider that sucks the blood out of her victims is a tough sell as the sympathetic heroine of any story, much less one directed at kids. Yet, using the perfect blend of warmth and bite, and not a little humor, CHARLOTTE’S WEB has been doing that for over 40 years. A film version, such… Read More »
2006 TOP TEN LIST — THE BEST AND THE WORST
As the year winds down, it’s time to sum up the cinematic efforts for the last 12 months by picking the best and the worst releases. Let’s start with my traditional rant against a list of only 10 films. The best films of the year are those that move beyond mere entertainment, though there is… 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 »
PREMONITION
Blithely unfettered by internal logic, exhibiting the pacing of a banana slug, and boasting a heroine who makes Betty Crocker seem like a radical feminist, PREMONITION is exactly the reason that the Razzie Awards exist. Dishonoring the premise of Kurt Vonnegut’s “Slaughterhouse Five”, it stars Sandra Bullock as Linda, a woman who comes unstuck in time.… 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 »
THE GOOD SHEPHERD – DVD
Doing the wrong things for the right, even honorable, reasons is the heart of the conflict in THE GOOD SHEPHERD, director Rober De Niro’s history of the CIA as told through the story of one of its founders. The tale is fictional, but the events, from the fall of the Third Reich to the Kennedy-era… Read More »
HOT FUZZ
Co-writers Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright made an indelible impression with SHAUN OF THE DEAD, an unconventional look at what happens to human relationships when zombies run rampant through a London neighborhood. Wright directed, Pegg co-starred as Shaun, with Nick Frost as his pear-shaped and singularly unhelpful flatmate. All three of them are back in HOT… Read More »
THE QUEEN — DVD
There are some of us who knew in the first five minutes of THE QUEEN that at the very least Helen Mirren in the title role of Queen Elizabeth II would be nominated for every acting award out there. The wistful yet unselfconsciously regal way in which she discuses the election with the artist painting… Read More »