In terms of both concept and execution, it is hard to fault writer-director Paul Morrisson’s debut film, Solomon and Gaenor. Nor can the film be accused of not being daring in a number of areas. That is both its great strength and its central problem, because — as brilliantly made as it is — Solomon […]
I spent a lot of the first 20 minutes or so of Solaris thinking that George Clooney (especially in this era of Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio and Owen Wilson) is what a movie star should be. I also spent a period of time admiring a set of bookshelves behind Clooney in one scene. And as […]
If I was 10 years old, I’d probably love this predictable, silly little comedy. Since I’m not 10 years old, my feelings on Snow Dogs are somewhat less enthusiastic. I suppose you could say, “It’s good for what it is,” but even that’s somewhat stretching the truth. It’s more a case of “it’s adequate for […]
As if to prove to the world that he’s a good bit more than “Mr. Madonna,” writer-director Guy Ritchie has expanded on his low-budget breakthrough film, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, with this much larger-budgeted crime caper. The results may not make the bulk of the world start thinking of Madonna as Mrs. Guy […]
There was me — that is, one lone critic — and a tolerant friend sitting in the otherwise empty Sunday matinee of Slackers, trying to make up our minds as to whether anything even remotely positive could be said about the movie. The closest we could come was, “Well, it’s only 87 minutes long.” And, […]
Any movie can be made to look much worse than it really is by a trailer that innacurately suggests the film is a broadly-played non-stop parade of knee-slapping, rib-tickling, belly laughs. Yes, there are some pretty broad scenes in Simone — and some actually as funny as the filmmaker thinks they are — but all […]
This one’s good, but it’s still a disappointment coming from the man who made The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable. Those films — especially Unbreakable — were horrific fantasies that used their genre to make a larger point. Unbreakable, apart from some pretty significant issues of faith, was a film about myth and the power of […]
It’s obvious that Edward Burns thinks he’s the Wonder Bread Woody Allen. Unfortunately, he’s more like a half-baked third-year film student who has mystifyingly been given a budget and a releasing company. The ultra-tedious Sidewalks of New York is, I suppose, Burns’ Husbands and Wives — minus real characters and much in the way of […]
Much like the Big Surprise that awaits the viewer on this week’s other opener, Angel Eyes, the surprise ending of Shrek isn’t apt to startle anyone over the age of 10. There, however, all similarity between the two films ends, because Shrek is one of the season’s biggest and best delights. I was prepared to […]
You know you’re in trouble when the best thing about a movie is William Shatner. You know you’re in even more trouble when the best things William Shatner does in the movie in question you’ve already seen in the film’s trailer. And that’s every inch the case with Showtime, a movie that sets out to […]
Forget the MGM logo that’s been tacked onto modern prints, this is the 1936 Universal film by James Whale, who’d previously made his mark on the industry with his still-celebrated quartet of horror flicks Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein. For years, Whale’s version of the Show Boat stage […]
It’s a little disturbing to realize that the first really good release of 2003 (late-2002 movies like About Schmidt, Chicago and The Hours, all of which only opened here after the new year, don’t count) is a goofy Jackie Chan/Owen Wilson action comedy — and a sequel no less. No, Shanghai Knights is no a […]
With the possible exception of the legendarily bad Pootie Tang, I don’t know when I’ve gone to review a movie — even just to see a movie — more thoroughly prepared to hate it than Shallow Hal. And I don’t believe I have ever come out of one with my preconceptions so utterly shattered by […]
F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent horror classic Nosferatu is the granddaddy of all vampire pictures. An unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Nosferatu was a key work in the development of the horror film and one of the few silent horror films that still manages to be utterly chilling. (Nosferatu was so unauthorized, by the way, […]
It’s very good, but Sexy Beast should have been great. It never quite is. Violent, cold-blooded, bitingly funny, deliberately quirky and boasting a script by newcomers Louis Mellis and David Scinto — replete with outrageous profanity (including a word common in British slang that tends to send some American viewers running for the exit in […]
No, it’s not quite in the realm of the cosmically God-awful, but Serving Sara has some pretty formidable competition for that accolade at the present time. Almost anything is going to have that lesser evil relief the week after you were Blue Crushed and Pluto Nashed. On any other week, this low-octane effort at a […]
“Can an ‘ex-gay’ pacifist become a Contender?” asks the announcer of the fictional TV show, Series 7: The Contenders, that makes up the narrative of this film. It’s a question utterly typical of this fresh, funny and ultimately deeply disturbing work. Many films are touted as being “different” and even “unlike anything you’ve seen before,” […]
What do Serendipty and America’s Sweethearts have in common? Both are romantic comedies and both star John Cusack. The similarities end right there. America’s Sweethearts was a jokily contrived mess that never seemed to know what it wanted to be, and was as flatly directed as a sitcom. And Serendipity? Serendipity is not only the […]
See Spot Run is a cute, albeit predictable, movie for kids and dog lovers. The action scenes are admirably handled by first time feature-film director John Whitesell — indicating he has promise if given good material — but the movie’s inherent lack of substance suffers from his TV-only training. Spot is generously endowed with genuinely […]
Yep, it’s the year’s much-anticipated, much-discussed S&M romantic comedy. Is it worth the wait? And worth the discussion? Yes, and no. As a piece of writing, the movie is frequently fascinating. The acting by the two leads could not be better: James Spader handles an impossible role, bringing a depth I’d never have guessed he […]
It’s 90-plus minutes in a live-action Hanna-Barbera hell. It’s directed by the man who gave us Home Alone 3 and Big Momma’s House. It stars Freddie PrinzeJr. with a blonde dye-job and make-up that occasionally looks like it was applied by someone who flunked out of mortician school. I’m not at all sure that anyone […]
