Writer-actress Agnes Jaoui’s directorial debut is a deliciously funny and insightful comedy about people’s varied tastes and perceptions, especially perceptions of other people. The intricately criss-crossed plot of The Taste of Others centers on a wealthy manufacturer (just what he manufactures is never made clear and it hardly matters), Castella (Jean-Pierre Bacri, who also co-authored […]

There is more than what (or whom) meets the eye to the obviously talented Mountain Xpress staffers — one of them, production artist Jean Williams, turns out to be a hobbling (she recently broke her ankle) encyclopedia of information about film. I had been bugging her to critique a movie, but she was too shy […]

To enjoy Cradle 2 the Grave, you have to leave your intellect in the theater parking lot. During the turbo-charged 100 minutes of the film, all you can think (if you can think at all with the riveting sights and sounds on the screen) is: Wow, this is one fantastic action movie! So what if […]

The Bourne Identity, based on Robert Ludlum’s 1980 espionage page-turner, is perfect summertime fare. It roller coasts up and down death-defying escapes (literally), sizzles a little with two attractive stars, keeps your knuckles white with one of the best car chases ever (throughout Paris in a tiny Austin Mini, yet), creates unremitting visceral suspense — […]

The incomprehensible mystery in Dark Blue isn’t who is the most crooked cop, but how could a movie blessed with so much proven talent and potential turn out to be such a dud? With a story by famous crime writer James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential) and a screenplay by David Ayer (who wrote last year’s brilliant […]

The Brothers is a feel-good, Saturday-night-date movie that should also have a successful home video run for privacy-deprived parents on those rare when-the-kids-are finally-asleep nights. The story: Four good-looking, upscale “(“We are the cream of the crop!”) young African-American friends in Los Angeles — the “brothers” — use one another to gain wisdom on how […]

No, it’s not great. It isn’t going to change the world. It isn’t even going to change the way you think about movies. It isn’t going on anybody’s “10 Best” anything list. Almost no aspect of its plot is going to surprise even the most unsavvy moviegoer. However, The Wedding Planner is a fairly consistently […]

A surprising number of laughs can be had in Traffic-author Stephen Gaghan’s directorial debut, Abandon. Unfortunately, most of them weren’t intended. The incredibly muddled screenplay includes such amazing moments as our heroine (well, sort of) Catherine Burke (Katie Holmes, The Gift) telling her shrink (Tony Goldwyn) how she’d awakened in the library late one night […]

I’ve followed — though not morbidly — Wayne Wang’s career ever since he broke onto the international film scene with his $20,000 indie, Chan Is Missing, in 1982. In that time, Wang has made some good films (The Joy Luck Club) and some near great ones (Smoke), but he’s never quite crossed the line into […]

Admitting to liking a movie directed by Joel Schumacher is like peeling the skin off my face, yet I have to confess that I had a very good time at Phone Booth. The film is as nicely nasty a little suspenser as could be imagined. Little of its quality, alas, has much to do with […]

The new film from the creators of Being John Malkovich has been praised up one side and down the other for its originality, daring, creativity and inventiveness. And I can’t deny that has all those things. I also can’t say I like it very much. I admire Adaptation’s audacity and, God knows, I’m glad to […]

Writer/director Francis Veber, who gained international recognition in 1978 with La Cage aux Folles, has cooked up another engaging comedy with its heart in the right place and something on its mind. The Closet details the story of a drab latex-factory accountant, Francois Pignon (Daniel Auteuil, The Widow of Saint Pierre), who’s about to be […]

“If people would leave most of their stuff at home and just look at the paintings, I don’t think they’d have any trouble enjoying them. It’s like looking at a bed of flowers — you don’t tear your hair out over what it means.” So says Ed Harris as Jackson Pollock in his film, Pollock, […]