Jiri Menzel’s I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND is a delightful genre best described as romp played as tragedy. Or tragedy played as a romp. That’s the key to why it this tale of hope, ambition, and the unexpected importance of postage stamps in uncertain times is such a bitingly effective exercise in satire. The… Read More »
DEATH RACE
DEATH RACE takes the stock characters of the more pedestrian action flicks and folds them nicely into a story that is interesting for more than the number of cars and people that go crunch before bursting into flames. Based on the kitsch classic by Roger Corman from the 1970s, it has been adapted by Paul… Read More »
AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL
Near the beginning of Darryl Roberts’ disquieting documentary, AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL, he asks a young man why he prefers slender women. The young man assumes the thousand-mile-stare before owning up to not knowing exactly why that is his preference. Later this same young man will be asked why his flat stomach is not good enough, why… Read More »
BABYLON A.D.
Overbudget and behind schedule, BABYLON A.D. crept into theaters without a press screening. This never bodes well and this would-be epic lives up, or down, to that boding. Vin Diesel stars as Toorop, a mercenary in the Russia of the not-too distant future. Not your typical mercenary, though. Sure, he’s tough, sure he’s intimidating, sure… Read More »
THE HOUSE BUNNY
THE HOUSE BUNNY is yet another variation on the theme that it’s always better to be yourself. Only better. Of course, that takes a broad swath of heavy make-up, push-up bras, and platform sandals of dizzying heights. It’s a mixed message designed to sell what it purports to subvert, also known as having it both… Read More »
GIRL CUT IN TWO, A (La Fille Coupee en Deux)
It’s a very long way to go for a punch line, but Claude Chabrol fearlessly meanders along for the two hours it takes him to get there with A WOMAN CUT IN TWO, based loosely and badly on the infamous early 20th century Thaw-White murder scandal at whose center was Evelyn Nesbitt, the so-called Girl… Read More »
BANGKOK DANGEROUS
In 1999, The Pang Brothers made film called BANGKOK DANGEROUS. People liked it. It added luster to the Brothers’ reputation. They moved on to make other action flicks in Asia with great success and other kinds of flicks in America with less success. At some point the Brothers looked at one another, and this is… Read More »
TROUBLE THE WATER
Tia Lessen and Carl Deal went to Louisiana just days after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans with the idea of making a documentary about the Louisiana National Guard troops who returning home from Iraq to find their homes changed forever. Instead, while doing an interview for that film, two people walked up and introduced themselves.… Read More »
LAKEVIEW TERRACE
Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson) has very definite ideas about how things should be. His children, an adolescent daughter and a son a bit younger, must use proper grammar at all times, and there are rules about who and who can’t be a role model. His new neighbors, she’s black, he’s white, do not fit… Read More »
NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS 2-DISC COLLECTOR’S EDITION, THE
When Tim Burton was shopping around his idea for THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, animation was not considered a viable product for the big screen, at least not outside kiddie flicks. Even with the success of his dark and moody Batman franchise, even with the quirky but wildly romantic EDWARD SCISSORHANDS under his belt, and BEETLEJUICE,… Read More »
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