Adult, adroit and truthfully dark, Roman Polanski’s latest, and perhaps last, suspense film–suspense, mind you, not shock–begins deceptively light and masterfully darkens into a film of great menace, designed for a knowing, worldly audience. Co-written by Polanski and… [»Read]
In his own heavily edited, hand-held, shaky-cam way, Paul Greengrass continues to analyze and lightly criticize America’s war on terror with Green Zone. The British director of the last two Jason Bourne movies seems to have devoted his career to observing our country’s… [»Read]
At this point in his adaptations, it’s pretty much a given Tim Burton doesn’t give a goth-hoot about the main character. It’s the Headless Horseman who tickles his claymation brain matter, not Ichabod Crane; Willy Wonka who sweetens his dark, shadowy cavities, not… [»Read]
Jackie Chan, the clown prince of kicking ass, is now 55. Critics have observed that many of his heavily choreographed fight scenes have begun to lose their intensity, which leaves us with the family-friendly Hollywood fare–mostly dreck like the recent The Spy Next Door…. [»Read]
George Romero is often deemed the grandfather of the zombie. Responsible for the pentalogy of genre films beginning with Night of the Living Dead, he’s also the inspiration for endless imitations, some good (Shaun of the Dead, 28 Days Later), most… [»Read]
“I don’t go to the Oscars anymore. I stay home and watch them on television. That way, I can boo.” That voice, crackling on the other end of the telephone line, belongs to a long-time Academy Awards voter, a member of five movie-industry guilds, a lady who said we… [»Read]
The White Ribbon is the front-runner for the Best Foreign Film Oscar this year, and for good reason. It’s cold, calculating and completely unlikable, yet, totally devastating in its absolute unmerciful execution. Suffice to say, it’s the most complex, infuriating… [»Read]
Early March again brings island cinema lovers a unique opportunity: the eighth annual Temple Emanu-El Kirk Cashmere Jewish Film Festival at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. All films are premieres for Hawaiʻi and each of the seven illuminates Jewish culture in careful,… [»Read]
After finally winning the Best Picture Academy Award for The Departed, if anyone deserves to cut loose and have some fun, it’s director extraordinaire Martin Scorsese. If you gave the world Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and Goodfellas, and still… [»Read]
Since the introduction of the first Harry Potter franchise, movie studios have been scrambling to find the next tween phenomenon based on a beloved children’s series, mostly with lackluster results (anyone remember A Series of Unfortunate Events?). Now, with… [»Read]
Even if the Academy Awards hadn’t bumped its Best Picture nominees up to 10 this year, many critics agree that Pixar’s Up would have made the list. It’s only the second time that an Oscar nod went to an animated film (the first being Disney’s Beauty and… [»Read]
Ruled by the dictates of a pluperfect moon, poor Lawrence Talbot–played by Lon Chaney Jr, in 1941, Benicio del Toro in this year’s The Wolfman–transforms into a slavering werewolf, ravages and kills savagely, then wakes up human again. There is no greater monster-as-victim… [»Read]
The quest for an heir to the Harry Potter franchise continues and amid the corpses of The Golden Compass and The Seeker: The Dark is Rising comes Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, based on the young adult series written by Rick Riordan…. [»Read]
We are in the movie doldrums. During this period, roughly three weeks before the Oscar ceremonies are held on March 7, the industry dumps all its iffy movies practically at once. Not lousy movies, mind you–just ones that didn’t work out so well in terms of marketing and… [»Read]
Guggenheim museum curator Beth (Kristen Bell from Veronica Mars) finds herself in Rome for her sister’s wedding. After a flirtation with Nick (Josh Duhamel) doesn’t work out, she drunkenly splashes around the Trevi Fountain, bitterly stealing coins from the water…. [»Read]
