There are a few bright moments punctuating HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ALIENATE PEOPLE based the memoir of the same name by Toby Young. Very few. And all of them courtesy of its star, Simon Pegg, a man of great comedic gifts who finds himself in a vehicle greatly unworthy of them. Pegg plays Sydney… Read More »
BLINDNESS
BLINDNESS, based on the novel of the same name by Jose Saramgo, takes away one of the five sense in order to examine the larger picture of humanity. It’s not the newest of conceits, nor is it the most original. Removing one item from ordinary life and speculating on the outcome is a time-honored premise.… Read More »
BODY OF LIES
In BODY OF LIES Hollywood continues its attempt to examine the War on Terror while still making it palatable for a mass audience. It so very desperately wants to be this year’s SYRIANA, and for the first hour or so does a credible job of exploring the complexity of current events before succumbing to the… Read More »
CITY OF EMBER
CITY OF EMBER is a triumph of art direction trumping everything else. Based on the novel by Jeanne Duprau, it is brimming with imagination, a pointedly political subtext, but not a whit of the wonder that should drive a tale such as this. The eponymous city contains the remnants of humanity, sent to the underground… Read More »
W
With all the hubbub in Oliver Stone’s W, it might be easy to miss the key line in it. That would be the one delivered by W himself. He’s having a heart-to-heart with the clergyman who is shepherding him through his born-again experience. In a moment of anguish, he bemoans the fact that people just… Read More »
MAX PAYNE
MAX PAYNE begins laudably enough. Based on the video game of the same name, it reproduces the graytone pen-and-ink world with appropriate shadows, stark lighting, and a hard-boiled protagonist that would make Sam Spade look like a cream puff. This is a man who literally crawls on broken glass without much noticing. Most of the… Read More »
ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO
Kevin Smith has the unique ability to find the tenderest of emotions in the most profane of situations, and that talent is what makes ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO more than just a one-note dirty joke. Not that there aren’t a lot of dirty jokes working here. There are. A LOT. Frequently. Mostly. The… Read More »
BALLAST
Set in the rural Mississippi delta, BALLAST brings home the effects and consequences of self-imposed isolation with one arresting image: a stain on a wall. It got there when Lawrence (Michael J. Smith, Sr.) attempted suicide in the wake of his twin brother’s death. Though a neighbor was there to check on him, though that… Read More »
PRIDE AND GLORY
PRIDE AND GLORY offers passionate performances in a story that is a series of letter-perfect clichés. The topic is police corruption grafted onto the innernecine struggles of the Tierneys, an Irish-American family of New York City cops with a thorny problem of malfeasance in their midst. The thorn is Jimmy Egan (Colin Farrell), the cop… Read More »
ROLE MODELS
ROLE MODELS is ragged around the edges and pretty threadbare in between. Co-writer Paul Rudd, sharing credit with a small army of fellow screenplayers, has a genuine gift for a sight gag, and there plenty popping up here. Alas, he falls short with all the stuff that links them together. Yet, for all its failings… Read More »
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