There is something deeply satisfying about a fable with a time-honored story line that may offer no surprises as to plot points as it barrels along to its conclusion, but that does, nonetheless, pay strict attention to the serious moral lesson to be learned from it while also strictly adhering to a loopy, almost anarchic… Read More »
PI
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 »
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 »
NIGHT WATCH (NOCHNOY DOZOR)
Check out the contests and giveaways section for a chance to win a poster from NIGHT WATCH!The Russian import, NIGHT WATCH, has the right touch of otherworldliness. In the stylish visuals and the snazzy effects there is the sense of reality reconfigured into a place where good and evil aren’t so much philosophical premises as… Read More »
DOOGAL
When a film is released without a press screening, as was the case with DOOGAL, one expects to find in it a certain level of ineptitude. Here, though, is something that transcends merely being bad, merely inspiring a torrent of vitriol before consigning it to the more insulated portions of one’s memory. This has done… Read More »
X-MEN: THE LAST STAND
Oh how the mighty have fallen. X-MEN: THE LAST STAND is the third installment in what until now has been a sterling franchise and its failings are an affront to what has come before. To be sure, the fine philosophical underpinnings, one of the series’ hallmarks, are still there, but with a new director, Brett… Read More »
THE LAKE HOUSE
It’s not that THE LAKE HOUSE, based on the Korean film SIWORE, is an insipid bit of romantic fluff, it’s just that it drags by much like the two-year gulf between our chronologically crossed would-be lovers. And when a film is 108 minutes long, that’s not a good thing. Never mind that its own internal logic starts to… Read More »
SUPERMAN RETURNS
The rumors of a Christ-like cast to SUPERMAN RETURNS are definitely true. The Man of Steel (Christopher Reeve look-alike, Brandon Routh) has been sent to Earth by his father to help the inhabitants, to lead them to the light, and to help them follow their instinct for goodness. There is also the moment of self-sacrifice… Read More »
LADY IN THE WATER
With LADY IN THE WATER, M. Night Shyamalan wanted to achieve two things. He wanted to find the magic that exists in daily life if we only had the wit to see it, and he wanted to get even with the film reviewers that didn’t like his last film. Or couple of films. In the… Read More »
STRANGER THAN FICTION
In STRANGER THAN FICTION, Will Ferrell bravely sets aside the manic side of his personna in favor of that personna’s innate sweetness. It’s a bold move and one that is not without charm, but it’s also one that should have been better served than it is by a script that takes far too long to get… Read More »
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