PI, the film and the number, addresses the deep human longing for order and pattern in the universe. Yes, it posits, there is a pattern, a grand scheme hidden to all but the chosen few, and the result of discovering it is fraught with peril. The story concerns Max, a driven, asocial mathematician who spends his days… Read More »
PI
NOWHERE
Once, as Gertrude Stein was reminiscing about her hometown of Oakland, CA, she said, and I quote, “There’s no there, there.” It’s unfortunate that she was never asked about LA, or if she was, that her response was not recorded for posterity. I shudder to think what she would have made of a place that… Read More »
THE PINK PANTHER
Peter Sellers is so deeply identified with monumentally bumbling Inspector Clouseau that one wonders why Steve Martin would want to take a crack at the character with a remake of THE PINK PANTHER. Others, including the character’s co-creator, Blake Edwards, have taken their shot and failed miserably. Martin, who co-wrote the script, at least makes… 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 »
16 BLOCKS
Think of 16 BLOCKS as Bruce Willis’ transition film. It’s as though now that he is gamely moving towards his golden years, he is also gamely moving beyond the action films that filled his cinematic oeuvre and bedeviled those who had to endure them when he kept making them even after they had reached the… Read More »
FAILURE TO LAUNCH
There is one wildly funny sequence in FAILURE TO LAUNCH, an otherwise pallid and predictable slog. That it features the supporting players and a bird rather than stars Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey is emblematic of where this film went so very, very wrong. Parker plays Paula, a professional interventionist hired by concerned parents… Read More »
THE ZODIAC (2006)
It is the stuff of gazillion urban legends, two kids making out in a car on a deserted country road only to be attacked by a psychopath. Only this is true. The psychopath was THE ZODIAC, and he started his killing spree in 1968 and, depending on whom you talk to, continued on for another… Read More »
SHE’S THE MAN
The only thing worth noting in SHE’S THE MAN, the latest vehicle for ‘tween idol Amanda Bynes, is how completely free of anything resembling competence that is exhibits. And yet is has the temerity to proudly proclaim in its opening credits that it was inspired by Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”. As for any actual similarity between… Read More »
THANK YOU FOR SMOKING
Aaron Eckhart should have been a much bigger movie star than he is by now. He’s got the dazzling good looks and the killer charisma required, but after several first-rate performances in little films (THE COMPANY OF MEN, YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS), fine journeyman’s work playing second-fiddle to powerhouse female leads (Julia Roberts’ boyfriend in… Read More »
ICE AGE 2 — THE MELTDOWN
Sometimes there is a piquant irony to be relished even with a bad film that, if it doesn’t save the movie going experience, still gives one something to ponder while enduring the running time. In ICE AGE 2: THE MELTDOWN, it’s the contrast with another film that dealt, however briefly with the same theme. That… Read More »
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