Posted on August 4, 2008 by admin
SOME SMALL (THOUGH NOT EXTREMELY IMPORTANT) DETAILS ARE DISCUSSED. As a gawky teenager, with few friends and awful braces, there was little hope for me to find anything to even talk about in 8th grade. Then the adventures of Mulder and Scully appeared on Friday nights — when I was home. Alone. In the middle…
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Posted on July 26, 2008 by admin
This one finally landed on the top of my Netflix list and I had a chance to watch it last night. Made during the height of the “Orientalist” craze, this must have been the Lawrence of Arabia of its time. It begins like most silent films of the era – a downtrodden fellow looking for…
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Posted on July 22, 2008 by admin
THIS REVIEW IS NOT A SUMMARY BUT DETAILS ABOUT THE FILM ARE DISCUSSED. Of all the styles in film history, film noir is one of the most far-reaching and and hard to pin down. A few of the things critics and historians have agreed on are these: 1. Abject social degeneration which forces those who still…
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Posted on July 18, 2008 by admin
Toy Story, Bug’s Life, Monster’s Inc., Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo, Cars, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and now WALL-E. The folks at Pixar have figured something out. They have managed to recapture an audience that was starving for the simplicity and humanity found in the cartoons of 40 years ago. Cartoons had devolved into flashing whizbang,…
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Posted on July 11, 2008 by admin
I haven’t made it to the theatres for a couple of weeks so I decided to review a classic – one that I found deserved revisiting. It’s true that every time we show an Audrey Hepburn film at the theatre, we get at least 100 more people to show up. It’s such a drastic increase…
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Posted on June 30, 2008 by admin
To be sure, the setting in which I viewed this formulaic film (a nearly sold-out stadium seating screen with teens who also managed to simultaneously carry on full-volume conversations and text absent friends) did not help my opinion of it. There were actually elements that made me think at some point a real writer had…
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Posted on June 18, 2008 by admin
Try to forget what you already know about M. Night Shyamalan. Forget his tropes, his types and patterns. Look at this film on the face of it. Like any horror movie, “the terror” is a simple, basic thing, with consequences that affect humanity. But the presentation of the ‘facts’ is muddled, and the intelligence of…
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Posted on June 9, 2008 by admin
This little gem will sit and rot out in the multiplex for a week before being swept aside for the next big blockbuster. But if it came to your town, do go see it. It’s a sweet, nostalgic tale of childhood, imagination and growing up. Set in 1980s Britain (rural, not London) two school boys…
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Posted on May 24, 2008 by admin
** This review will contain information that you may want to preserve for the film.** It is great to see Indy again. It is so strange to realize that at one time there was no Indy. What dark days they must have been. And so it was with relish that I looked forward to seeing…
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Posted on May 20, 2008 by admin
I am a great lover of literature. I am also a great lover of these books, these tales. They are a modern “1001 Nights”, born of a war-torn society with Blitzkrieg ringing in their ears, and Coventry freshly wounded. “The Chronicles of Narnia” reflect British pride yet give away a certain sense of doubt and…
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Posted on May 11, 2008 by admin
I finally rented this movie a couple of nights ago. I suppose that makes me behind the wave, but I think perhaps it gave me more perspective than those who raved about its fantastic clothing and fast-paced lifestyle portrayal of the fashion industry. I found very, very little redeeming in this poorly cobbled-together script. Anne…
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Posted on May 9, 2008 by admin
By far, the most over-rated film of the year, this offering from the Coens brings nothing to the world of cinema worth noting. The best I can say is that it is consistent — consistently empty. It is devoid of all the elements that make up narrative film. To start with, Javier Bardem‘s character, a…
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Posted on May 2, 2008 by admin
I admit to being wary of this film. I generally find the “toast of the Oscars” films to be less than satisfactory as a complete package. That buzz coupled with the two headline actors – Keira Knightley and James McAvoy – caused yet more trepidation. And as if that wasn’t enough, I was also doubtful…
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Posted on May 1, 2008 by admin
For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved movies. I love their power, vision, simplicity and their complications. I wanted to direct (don’t we all) but was discouraged from such a profession by others who cited it to be too cutthroat. They were probably right but I still feel like a part me got…
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