With SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD, George Romero has finally answered the prayers that his fans didnt know they were praying. The zombie-meister has produced a zombie western, and done so without missing a beat in picking up a thread from his last flick, DIARY OF THE DEAD. As with that most excellent flick, its not… Read More »
SPLICE
Before Oppenheimer and company at the Manhattan Project detonated their first A-bomb on the Alamogordo testing grounds way back in 1945, they were almost completely positive that the resulting chain reaction would stop at some point, probably, very probably, long before it destroyed the planet. Science is not without its risks and when humans start… Read More »
COCO CHANEL AND IGOR STRAVINSKY
COCO CHANEL AND IGOR STRAVINSKY is a lush yet curiously lifeless retelling of the affair between the eponymous duo. Each was the driving force behind a redefinition of art in the 20th century, she fashion, he music. Each was unswerving in following a inner muse that led them to unexplored country. The film about the… Read More »
ONDINE
Neil Jordan reaches deep into his Celtic soul and comes up with ONDINE, a dark romance that teases the meaning of myth into the starkly contemporary setting of a small Irish fishing village. The time is the present, but the location gives a timeless quality to the story of a fisherman who nets a beautiful… Read More »
CYRUS
A man, a woman, her son. It’s a situation of jealous hostility explored many times, but never more honestly, more painfully, or with bigger laughs than in Jay and Mark Duplass CYRUS. Made with an improvisational style that perfectly evokes the awkward immediacy of three people working through a new relationship that changes all their… Read More »
DESPICABLE ME
In DESPICABLE ME, the direct honesty of childhood innocence, in the form of three orphan girls, goes head to head with the evil machinations of a super villain feeling his evil competition nipping at his heels, usually with marine life. The result is a smart, funny, and perceptive animated film that dresses up its unabashed… Read More »
SORCERER’S APPRENTICE, THE
THE SORCERERS APPRENTICE starts with so much promise. Nicolas Cage as Balthazar, the eccentric and eponymous sorcerer on a quest to find Merlins heir and with him conquer the evil sorcerers bent on ruling the world by first destroying it. Jay Baruchel as Dave, the sweet but stuttering science geek and, as a magic dragon… Read More »
ANTON CHEKHOV’S THE DUEL
A learned man with a small mind munches a banana while explaining the theory of evolution, totally unaware of the irony. It is one of the finer examples of how screenwriter Mary Bing has distilled the essence of Anton Chekhov in her engrossing adaptation of his novella, THE DUEL. The arch ironies, the piquant comedy,… Read More »
INCEPTION
Christopher Nolan spent eight years perfecting the script for INCEPTION, the first script of his that hes directed since is stunning, time-bending debut, FOLLOWING. The result is a complex meditation on the interplay between the conscious mind and the layers below it, and the insidious tendency they have to pull the strings of perception on… Read More »
DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS
The greatest crime committed by DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS, and there are many, is that it might prevent the viewers who have suffered through it to never discover the original, Francis Vebers delicious LE DINER DE CONS, on which it was based. An original of which the re-makers have completely missed the point. Of course, Americanizing… Read More »