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 »
DEEP BLUE SEA
THE DEEP BLUE SEA is Renny Harlins latest attempt to revive a career that withered and should have died a long, long time ago. Harlin, perpetrated, I mean, directed CUTTHROAT ISLAND, which ended his marriage to Geena Davis, but oddly enough, it did not stop studios from giving him big bucks to repeat his mistakes. His latest… Read More »
THE SPIRIT
There is much that is irksome about THE SPIRIT, so much, alas, that it overwhelms the spiffy art direction that is nothing short of dazzling. Written for the screen and directed by Frank Miller, and based on the graphic novels by Will Eisner, it is a syncopated series of missteps and gaffes served up in… Read More »
OLDBOY
I cant pretend that I havent seen the original Korean version of OLD BOY, the one that blew away an international audience and earned cult status. Yet, even knowing the twist, nicely rearranged for this remake by screenwriter Mark Protosevich, is not enough reason to dismiss this flick. Despite Josh Brolins committed performance as a… Read More »
CAPTAIN AMERICA — THE WINTER SOLDIER
fIn CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER, Captain Steve Rodgers, aka Captain America (Chris Evans), is experiencing an existential crisis. Its not just that he has a lot of catching up to do after being cryogenically asleep for seventy years or so. The novelty of Thai food and the internet dont get him down, its the… Read More »
KITE
KITE is a sadistic little film that returns us to a dystopian future where civilization is just a suggestion, and mayhem is the main occupation of everyone, no matter what their official calling. Based on the popular anime of the same name by Yasuomi Umetsu, this live-action rendering is all flashy directing and disjointed plot.… Read More »
BASIC
The first words we hear Tom Hardy say in BASIC is in a conversation this ex-Army and currently DEA agent in Panama is having with a colleague, the gist of which is that if he doesnt have the trust of those around him, he cant function. Those are words that will figure greatly in the… Read More »
S.W.A.T.
Did or does S.W.A.T. the television series have the sort of cult following that made a film version inevitable? Are there conventions of kids who dress up in ersatz S.W.A.T. uniforms and stage mock rescues? Are there Hondo worshipers? A frightening thought, but not as off-putting as sitting through this film. The passel of writers… Read More »
THE INCREDIBLES
Ive been looking forward to THE INCREDIBLES ever since I saw the superbly antic trailer for it that accompanied FINDING NEMO. Thats what makes the experience of having seen it last all the more deflating. Despite first-rate CGI animation and some clever atomic 50s-style art direction, THE INCREDIBLES commits the worst cinematic sin of all,… Read More »
FREEDOMLAND
In FREEDOMLAND, Samuel L. Jackson’s character, Lorenzo, spends a great deal of time professing his belief in God. There is nothing in his life or in the lives of anyone around him that would back up that belief, never mind that at one point he proclaims that after 22 years of being a cop, he… Read More »