It is with no small measure of relief that I am able to say Marvel’s THE FANTASTIC 4: FIRST STEPS finally succeeds in bringing one of my childhood favorites to the screen. This iteration centers itself on the lively dynamics of the Richards-Storm-Grimm clan of biological and logical family such that the quartet’s greatest superpower… Read More »
QUANTUM OF SOLACE
QUANTUM OF SOLACE does a tidy job of building on its predecessor, CASINO ROYALE, while introducing a sinister cabal that fills the void left by the collapse of the Cold War. Yet, there is still room in this brave new Bond world for wacko villains who so entertainingly populate the Bond universe, and who are… Read More »
THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX
THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX is as bold, as brave, and as charming as its eponymous mouse hero. Adapted from the book of the same name by Kate DiCamillo, this is an animated film for both kids and adults that is vibrant, complex, and fearless in its depiction of the good, the bad, and the careless… Read More »
ME AND ORSON WELLES
Click here to listen to the interview with Richard Linklater and Christian McKay (18:18). At the center of ME AND ORSON WELLES is Christian McKay’s performance as Welles during his reign as the enfant terrible of New York in the late 1930s. He is not so much doing an impersonation of him as he is… Read More »
ME AND ORSON WELLES
Click here to listen to the interview with Richard Linklater and Christian McKay (18:18). At the center of ME AND ORSON WELLES is Christian McKay’s performance as Welles during his reign as the enfant terrible of New York in the late 1930s. He is not so much doing an impersonation of him as he is… Read More »
THE WOLFMAN
THE WOLFMAN hearkens back with great hope and poor follow-through to Universal’s classic horror films. There is much that is improved in this retelling of the original 1941 flick, and much that suffers a surfeit of technology. The story follows the original’s arc, with Lawrence Talbot suffering the bite of a werewolf, a band of… Read More »
CLASH OF THE TITANS
It takes about 15 minutes to realize that the remake of CLASH OF THE TITANS is an irredeemable loss. Unfortunately, there is still another 105 minutes or so to endure until the ordeal is over. Where the original, no masterpiece to be sure, had a cheesy sort of charm, this offers only the irritation of… Read More »
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 1
It might be hard for someone unfamiliar with the Harry Potter universe to catch the nuances of HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PART 1. Fortunately, the larger themes are intact, despite some liberties taken with the chronology of the books and the usual necessity of streamlining a richly plotted novel into a workable screenplay.… Read More »
DIE ANOTHER DAY
Floating along as it does on a bubble of élan and a dash of wit, the Bond films, if theyre smartly done, move so quickly that you dont have time to let anything as pesky as logic take hold. And thus it is with the 20th installment, DIE ANOTHER DAY. There is a formula to these films… Read More »
CLOSED CIRCUIT
CLOSED CIRCUIT is a big, goofy simulacrum of a political thriller. There are all the key scenes. There are the requisite sotto voiced pronouncements with an eyebrow arched, well, archly. There are people running for their lives through dark streets at ungodly hours. There are double-, triple-, and quite possibly a quadruple-cross. And why that… Read More »