In THE LAST SAMURAI, we have a puffed up popcorn flick that is not without a certain kitschy charm. It is a throwback to those glorious action-adventure films that Hollywood churned out with astonishing regularity during its golden age with little regard for the limitations of reality. It was all flash, glamour and really pearly… Read More »
MY FLESH AND BLOOD
Johnathan Karshs documentary, MY FLESH AND BLOOD, takes us to a place that many of us will find difficult and joyful at the same time. It is a year in the life, told in sometimes painful detail, of Susan Tom, a divorced woman who having raised her own two biological children, has adopted 11 special… Read More »
COLD MOUNTAIN
If you already know that war is hell, then you can safely give COLD MOUNTAIN, based on the critically acclaimed novel of the same name by Charles Frazier, a miss and save that almost three hours of your life for something else. If for a reason unfathomable by me you need the lesson driven home for… Read More »
LORD OF THE RINGS: RETURN OF THE KING
Before we get to the business of reviewing LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING, let’s take a moment to marvel at the fact that Peter Jackson persuaded a studio, New Line, to give him not only the money, but also the free hand to bring this trilogy to the screen while remaining… Read More »
MONA LISA SMILE
MONA LISA SMILE is what can diplomatically be called a safe film. Its full of lush cinematography that evokes a cloying sense of nostalgia for the early 1950s where the action takes place. There are the adorable outfits the almost all-girl cast wears. The soundtrack is full of pop standards calculated to set the mood… Read More »
THE STATEMENT
Conspiracy buffs will enjoy THE STATEMENT more than just about any other sort of moviegoer. For the rest of us, this story about a Frenchman who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II fails as the thriller that the filmmakers may have had in mind. It is, rather, more along the lines of a… Read More »
HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG
I’ve never read the bestselling book, House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III, but I admire the concept of it infinitely more than I admire the film of the same name that was made from it. This is a poignant tale about what the idea of home means to people, how they will… Read More »
PAYCHECK
Click here to listen to the interview with John Woo.After a brief excursion into the uncertain waters of reel history with WINDTALKERS, John Woo has returned to the action/martial arts genre he does so well with PAYCHECK. Based on the short story by Philip K. Dick, it starts with the classic Hitchcock formula of a… Read More »
THE FOG OF WAR
For years now, Errol Morris has been turning out visually sophisticated, intellectually dexterous documentaries about life’s eccentrics. Those who not only march to the beat of a different drumming, but who also may not be using any form of percussion at all with which to keep time. With the FOG OF WAR, he turns his inquiring lens… Read More »
BIG FISH
BIG FISH may be Tim Burtons most magical film to date. Paradoxically, its also one rooted firmly in reality, a la ED WOOD. Dont let that throw you. This is a landscape of the imagination as potent as anything Burton conjured up with EDWARD SCISSORHANDS or THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. There is a giant named… Read More »
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