FAST FIVE understands its target audience and does nothing to disappoint it. The fifth installment of the FAST AND FURIOUS franchise, not tied by the restrictions of being chronologically later than the previous ones, incorporates as many of the elements and characters as it can from those outings into its two hours and ten minutes… Read More »
PRIEST
PRIEST, based on the graphic novel by Min-Woo Hyung, is a dark and murky thing. The apocalyptic alternate universe, where vampires and humans have battled throughout history to the detriment of the planet at large, has confused both ennui and obvious symbolism with an arch style. Only Paul Bettany, as the title character taking it… Read More »
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN — ON STRANGER TIDES
Sometimes an actor finds a role that becomes his second self, so precisely does he embody it, and so identified does he become with it. William Powell had Nick Charles in THE THIN MAN series. Basil Rathbone became Sherlock Holmes to a couple of generations. Johnny Depp has Captain Jack Sparrow. Unlike Powell or Rathbone,… Read More »
Jacobs, Azazel & Creed Bratton — TERRI
Director Azazel Jacobs and actor Creed Bratton were ebullient on the subject of their film, TERRI. It’s a tale of small-town high school outcasts, good hearts, bad hearts, and the subtle shift in mentoring that takes place between the lonely, ridiculed, but oddly self-sufficient, pajama-wearing title character, played by Jacob Wysocki, and the school principle, Mr.… Read More »
CONTAGION
Steven Soderbergh begins CONTAGION with a black screen, the sound of a cough, and, when the picture comes up on screen, the caption Day 2 in appropriately lurid red letters. The cough belongs to Gwyneth Paltrow, one of the legion of stars that shuffle through this sprawling tale of social devolution, and in a nicely… Read More »
KILLER ELITE
Though inspired by actual events, and based (loosely) on an actual book, The Feather Men by Sir Ranulph Fiennes, THE KILLER ELITE is a vehicle expertly tailored to the particular talents of Jason Statham. This is, in itself, not an indictment. Mr. Statham has starred in high-adrenaline action flicks that are more than worthy of… Read More »
THE IDES OF MARCH
THE IDES OF MARCH is a suitably Machiavellian portrait of how politics works. Not in the bastardized sense of ruthlessness for ruthlessness sake, but rather in the classical Machiavellian sense, ruthlessness to manage any given situation in order to achieve ones goals while making as little fuss with the population at large as possible. In… Read More »
REAL STEEL
REAL STEEL follows a traditional, and somewhat ROCKY-esque, path with some ingenious devices that keep the action lively. Set in a near future where boxing has gone robotic, the main thrust of the story is still very human, with a neer-do-well of an ex-boxer having second chances thrust upon him by the son he abandoned 11 years… Read More »
THE BIG YEAR
Birds are sublime creatures. THE BIG YEAR, a film about the birders who rabidly pursue a sight or sound of them, is not. Based on the book of the same name by Mark Obmascik, it is a flat pastiche of painfully clichéd moments strung together around the theme of three guys competing for the honor… Read More »
SHERLOCK HOLMES — A GAME OF SHADOWS
Theres a nefarious plot to force the collapse of western civilization in SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS, and as befits an eponymous character, Sherlock Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.) is the only person who can save the day. Not just because he is scathingly brilliant, as is his arch-nemesis Professor Moriarity (Jared Harris). No, as… Read More »
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