George Ratliffs HELL HOUSE is a disturbing, fascinating documentary about the non-traditional house of horrors dreamed up by TrinityChurch in Cedar Hill, Texas. Over a decade old, the Halloween attraction doesnt have vampires and ghosts, instead vivid scenes of people committing sins and being dragged to Hell by demons are played out for paying patrons who… Read More »
AN UNREASONABLE MAN: RALPH NADER, HOW DO YOU DEFINE A LEGACY?
There is no doubt that Ralph Nader has been one of the most influential private citizens of the 20th century. Before he got riled up about it, car safety was optional as far as manufacturers were concerned, environmental degradation was the province of wild-eyed counterculture radicals, and food safety was an illusion. By being AN… Read More »
THE LOOKOUT
With fearless performances in Greg Araki’s poetically disturbing MYSTERIOUS SKIN, in Rian Johnson’s piquantly original BRICK and now in writer/director Scott Frank’s THE LOOKOUT, Joseph Gordon-Levitt has established himself as one of the finest actors of his generation. As good as Frank’s script is, and make no mistake, it is superb, it’s Gordon-Levitt who takes… Read More »
COLMA — THE MUSICAL
malls and cemeteries, to the wistful production number staged among gravestones, but the experience, the limbo, if yoCOLMA: THE MUSICAL is a serious, sophisticated piece of filmmaking that takes three kids suffering post-graduation blues and makes their struggle to get on with their lives speak to everyone, not just 18-year-olds. The setting is Colma, the… Read More »
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE starts with the Simpson family attending the ITCHY AND SCRATCHY MOVIE, with Homer loudly complaining that he feels like a sucker for paying money to see something that he can see on television for free. Maybe Itchy and Scratchy didn’t push any envelopes, but despite Homer’s literal finger-pointing, this is something you… Read More »
THE LOOKOUT DVD
THE LOOKOUT is another showcase in the burgeoning career of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, one of the best actors working today. It may be a low key noir in which he is working, but his performance as Chris Pratt, a brain-damaged former golden boy, is nothing less than riveting. The evolution of his character surpasses the seeming… Read More »
ROVING MARS
What Disney does better than anyone else out there, and has for fifty years, is take real-life science and fill it with all the wonder that the people involved feel for it. ROVING MARS is a prime example. This 40-minute documentary about exploring the red planet for signs of life, past or present, with the… Read More »
3:10 TO YUMA
Stark, intelligent, and supremely suspenseful, 3:10 TO YUMA is a masterpiece of psychological drama coupled with a darn fine action flick that uses the classic western as its idiom. And then turns it on its head. Though a remake of the film of the same name from 1957, there is a freshness and an edginess… Read More »
SHOOT ‘EM UP
SHOOT âEM UP is a high-impact, adrenaline pumping, laugh-out-loud film that is so preposterously over the top that it is almost poetry. From the first 30 seconds when all is quiet, until the end credits roll, and then some, there is virtually not a moment when guns arenât firing, people arenât running, either towards them… Read More »
DEFINITELY, MAYBE
DEFINITELY, MAYBE is a romantic comedy with bite as it follows the adventures of Will Hayes, a guy who started out thinking that he had it all figured out, and who, of course, didn’t. Rising above the commonplace and the cliché, it’s wry, smart and just sentimental enough to warm the cockles of an audience’s… Read More »