MICHAEL CLAYTON begins with a monologue by Arthur Edens (Tom Wilkinson), a brilliant but unhinged litigator who has spent too much of his life defending the indefensible. In it, beautifully encapsulated, is the heart of the film, which is to say, that it’s only a madman who has the clarity of vision to do the… Read More »
DIARY OF THE DEAD
Some artists work in oils, some artists work in marble, George A. Romero works in zombies. With DIARY OF THE DEAD, he continues his work in that most unusual of mediums, making this incarnation as fresh, as timely, and as grotesquely funny as all that he has purveyed before. Maintaining the conceit of using zombies… Read More »
LA VIE EN ROSE (LA MOME)
Edith Piaf was no ordinary singer. She lived live at a fever pitch, driven by demons from her horrific childhood, and cruel twists of fate that together drove her to an early grave. No ordinary bio-pic would do to capture the essence of what Piaf was, rather than what happened to whom and when. And… Read More »
FLAWLESS
FLAWLESS is a classy, smart, and fiendishly sly piece of filmmaking that keeps the audience on the edge of its seat. There are herrings aplenty here, red and other, courtesy of writer Edward Andersen, who has a knack for subverting audience expectations by neatly playing into them. Cool and crisp direction by Michael Radford takes… Read More »
BEE MOVIE — DVD
BEE MOVIE is a perfectly sweet little film that suffered from audience expectations. Fans of Jerry Seinfeld were, perhaps, expecting the same sensibility in this, his first post-television film project, as they had enjoyed on the series. It wasn’t an unreasonable expectation, Seinfeld and series writers Spike Feresten and Andy Robin were among the films… Read More »
RUN FATBOY RUN
Dennis Doyle (Simon Pegg), the oddball hero of the sweet-and sour-romantic comedy, RUN FATBOY RUN is a man who has lived for five years with the fallout of one bad, impulsive decision. That would be running out, literally, on his fiancée, Libby (Thandie Newton). His >pregnant< fiancée, Libby, and doing it as the guests were… Read More »
CHAOS THEORY
CHAOS THEORY is a torpid piece of filmmaking that is at once a fluffy drama and a dreary comedy. Like its hero, Frank (Ryan Reynolds), it’s decided never to make a definite decision and the shambles that results is as predictable as the story of which it is part. The story is told in flashback,… Read More »
COLMA — THE MUSICAL
malls and cemeteries, to the wistful production number staged among gravestones, but the experience, the limbo, if yoCOLMA: THE MUSICAL is a serious, sophisticated piece of filmmaking that takes three kids suffering post-graduation blues and makes their struggle to get on with their lives speak to everyone, not just 18-year-olds. The setting is Colma, the… Read More »
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE starts with the Simpson family attending the ITCHY AND SCRATCHY MOVIE, with Homer loudly complaining that he feels like a sucker for paying money to see something that he can see on television for free. Maybe Itchy and Scratchy didn’t push any envelopes, but despite Homer’s literal finger-pointing, this is something you… Read More »
THE LOOKOUT DVD
THE LOOKOUT is another showcase in the burgeoning career of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, one of the best actors working today. It may be a low key noir in which he is working, but his performance as Chris Pratt, a brain-damaged former golden boy, is nothing less than riveting. The evolution of his character surpasses the seeming… Read More »