Flames are never far from Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper), starting with those lapping near, but not too near, his heels as he exits the house that he’s just set alight over the body he’s deposited beneath the floorboards. In Guillermo del Toro’s oneiric vision of William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel, NIGHTMARE ALLEY. Notice, too, the… Read More »
STONEWALL
STONEWALL is a sudsy, underwritten, overwrought effort that is less than the intended tribute to the unsung heroes of the eponymous riots that accelerated the gay liberation movement into the social mainstream. Instead, it is a melodrama of truly epic proportions told with every cliché of gay life as lived in less enlightened times, and with… Read More »
SEASON OF THE WITCH
SEASON OF THE WITCH is not a painfully bad film. Its not a particularly good one, either. Rather, it falls into that middling ground of an effort that provokes in the audience the collective sigh of Eh, Ive seen worse. And they have. GULLIVERS TRAVELS springs to mind, and would that it would spring out… Read More »
HELLBOY
There are a lot of tentacles in HELLBOY, squiggly, slimy-looking, Lovecraft-inspired killing machines with a taste for human flesh. Actually, any flesh. And theyre done with a nod to special effects legend Ray Harryhausen. Theres just a suspicion of his brand of stop-action movement that makes for a bit of 50s-style nostalgia amid the impending… Read More »
HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY
The most important thing to know going into HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY is that the chances are excellent that you will leave the theater humming Barry Manilow. Barry Manilow at his treacly, pop music-est. The next most important thing to know is that this outing, though Hellboy creator Mike Mignola gets a co-story credit,… Read More »
BLADE II
It is a sad but inexorable fact of life that in order to get by in this world, it is necessary to have an income of some sort. There are groceries to buy, shelter to secure and clothes to be put on ones back. And so it is that I look at Guillermo del Toros association with… Read More »