The search for meaning has never been more puckishly considered than in DAVE MADE A MAZE, an ingenious horror-fantasy-comedy of existential angst. Rife with metaphor and deadly origami come to life, it finds the time-space continuum falling victim to one man’s determination to finally finish something he started, and explores the deadly results of leaving… Read More »
THE HITMAN’S BODYGUARD
In a way, it would be a shame to saddle Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds with too much plot in THE HITMAN’S BODYGUARD. The snark fest that they provide as adversaries forced to endure one another’s company is its own reward as they travel from Manchester to The Hague while fending off some very… Read More »
THE LITTLE HOURS
Jeff Baena has taken as his inspiration Bocaccio’s Decameron for his sly gem of a film about female frustration and empowerment, THE LITTLE HOURS. That 14th-century book is full of bawdy tales of people from all stratas of society behaving badly, and so they do in this film set very specifically in 1347. Like the… Read More »
THE HOUSE
If anyone could have saved THE HOUSE, it would have been Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell. Theirs is a deliciously insouciant sense of comedy delivered with deadpan sincerity that can make the most of anything tossed their way. And so it is with THE HOUSE, a raggedly written story with a creaky plot that no… Read More »
LOST IN PARIS
The spirit of Jacques Tati is alive and well in LOST IN PARIS, a charming comedy of coincidences (or is it fate?). As stylized as it is heartwarming, it is an unexpected love story set against the magical backdrop of Paris, with every movement, from a roasted red pepper on the loose, to a love… Read More »
BAYWATCH
One comes away from BAYWATCH wondering many things, none of them good, one of them why Spongebob Squarepants had to be involved. Based on the television phenomenon that swept the world a few decades back, this cinematic leap is neither faithful to the original, nor is it a loving spoof of same. It fails to… Read More »
SNATCHED
Amy, we hardly knew ye
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. II
When GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY blazed into theaters a few years back, it set a high standard for effects-laden sci-fi played for laughs. Volume II has now blazed into theaters, but that standard has not quite been met. This sequel drifts a bit into maudlin sentimentality that has no place in this particular universe, even… Read More »
PATRIOT’S DAY
PATRIOT’S DAY is two films, one perfectly competent, the other one a skillful blend of character study and taut suspense. Perhaps this is why the studio’s rep in San Francisco scheduled and cancelled not one, but two, For Your Consideration screenings for critics groups last month). Based on the events leading up to, during, and… Read More »
THE WATERMELON WOMAN
(Written on the initial release of THE WATERMELON WOMAN 20 years ago,). The opening sequence of THE WATERMELON WOMAN gives us a sly look at the social state of American affairs. An African-America lesbian is filming a heterosexual wedding. The bride is white, the groom is black and the wedding party is oh so very civilized.… Read More »
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