There is no getting around the prurient interest that STRANGER BY THE LAKE evokes. Set entirely on the rocky shore of the titular lake, it teems with beautiful young men madly in lust both with each other and with being in a state of nature. It is the stuff of porn flicks and of classical… Read More »
GANGSTER SQUAD
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but while GANGSTER SQUAD obviously admires Brian De Palmas THE UNTOUCHABLES, and tries very, very hard to be a variation on that classic, it does not have Mr. De Palma directing, nor does it have David Mamet writing the script. What it does have is a series… Read More »
BROKEN CITY
There is a scene in BROKEN CITY that serves as the perfect metaphor for the entire film. In it, corrupt New York Mayor Hostetler (Russell Crowe), and Billy Taggert (Mark Wahlberg), an ex-cop, are having an informal meeting to discuss the former hiring the latter to tail his wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones), whom he suspects of… Read More »
HANSEL & GRETEL — WITCH HUNTERS
HANSEL AND GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS is a stumblebum exercise that explores many tones, skipping over the good as well as the bad, with an uneven script and curiously inert direction. This is a shame, because the irreverent re-telling of the Grimms fairy tale had so much potential, glimpses of which still peek through, much to… Read More »
BULLET TO THE HEAD
It was a gutsy thing to do casting Jason Momoa as the villain in BULLET TO THE HEAD, what with star Sylvester Stallone obviously being under the impression that he is still in his action-hero prime, and Momoa being all that Stallone ever was and a whole lot more. Momoa, all musky charisma and bulging… Read More »
MAMA
MAMA is an imperfect horror film, but one that is highly effective in the moment. Stressing suspense over gore, it is blessed with an original story, elegant direction, a gifted cast, and a suitably unsettling subtext about the pleasures and perils of childhood. Specifically, the vulnerability of children negotiating an adult world that has fallen… Read More »
PARKER
Patton Oswalt once opined that Jason Statham can make any movie better. He is not wrong. For those who have succumbed to Mr. Stathams particular appeal as a cool and deadly action hero, his charisma is an umbrella over the rougher patches of all but the most cretinous scripts. In PARKER, he has found a… Read More »
A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD
It is the way of franchises. They begin with breathless delight and end with a wheezing sigh. And so it is with the Die Hard series. Bruce Willis, whose name was not above the title in the first installment, was a quipping wonder as police detective John McClane, a man out to save his marriage… Read More »
INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE, THE
THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE is a sweet little film about finding, losing, and then rediscovering a sense of wonder. Any sense of the ponderous, however, in telling this tale with a definite moral is more than offset by the gentle silliness with which the story is told. Its a deft bit of sleight-of-hand as befits… Read More »
BLESS ME, ULTIMA
Based on the bestseller of the same name by Rudolfo Anaya, BLESS ME, ULTIMA is a profound story told in a deceptively simple way. Deceptive, but curiously suitable for a film about identity, belief, and the nature both good and evil in all their guises. Set in the rural New Mexico of the mid-1940s, this… Read More »
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