Winner of nearly every prize in the book, this film, about a year in a public school French class, is absolutely remarkable in at least four or five ways. The film’s backstory begins with a teacher, in the 20th arrondissement, who kept a journal of such a year, translated… [»Read]
Azur & Asmar is a sincere animated fairy tale about two young boys raised by the same nanny in what appears to be the Middle East. Azur, Caucasian with blonde hair and blue eyes, is the son of the lord of the castle. Asmar, dark-skinned with black hair and eyes, is… [»Read]
The clumsy, overly long (129-minute) “adaptation” of the self-help best seller of two seasons past needs a little help itself—life-support. It’s hard to tell whether our movie-makers (including co-producer Drew Barrymore) were cynical or merely inept: they did manage… [»Read]
Alan Moore’s Watchmen, which Time Magazine named as one of the 100 best English language novels (not graphic novel, for which it was also named—but novel, taking a place alongside Harper Lee, Ralph Ellison, George Orwell and John Steinbeck), has… [»Read]
Leave it to the French to make a truly ugly, real and touching yuletide drama. American cinema will still decorate family holiday reunion gatherings with the trappings of holly and harmless Vaughn/Witherspoon quirk, but A Christmas Tale is a film about a family made… [»Read]
British filmmaker Sebastian Doggart’s film Courting Condi, playing Sunday as part of the Honolulu International Film Festival, is listed as a documentary. That’s half correct, but he’s managed to combine his documentary with a romantic comedy, a drama and, strangest… [»Read]
There are a few interesting surprises/shocks/injustices at the Oscar ceremonies every year: this time, on Sunday, the good news for TV audiences was that 45 minutes were effectively trimmed from the awards show—a compression in the right direction. And there were… [»Read]
By the time you read this, the Oscar for Best Actress will have already been awarded. The one thing that can be said with certainty at this writing, is that it went to the wrong woman. Kristin Scott Thomas deserved it for I’ve Loved You So Long and she wasn’t… [»Read]
Jason Voorhees, he of the iconic hockey mask, currently holds the record for the number of sequels for a horror franchise, as well as the most financially successful one. Over the past 29 years, the Friday the 13th series has done everything possible to its… [»Read]
The Temple Emanu-el Seventh Annual Kirk Cashmere Jewish Film Festival begins Feb. 21 and ends March 1, with six stellar features and docs from Israel, Germany, the Czech Republic and the U.S. Among those prize-winning films is the charming comedy-drama Noodle, winner… [»Read]
Let the Right One In sounds like the title for the sequel to He’s Just Not That Into You or the new single from Carly Simon, but the actual product can’t be farther from pop trash. This Swedish film directed by Tomas Alfredson and adapted by John… [»Read]
The ratings darling of American television is in trouble, with 2008’s Academy Awards presentation—the 80th—pulling in the lowest Nielsen ratings in its history. This pageant of wretched excess, celebrations of affluence and self-congratulation have fallen,… [»Read]
It’s Oscar season again, which means the Doris Duke Theatre at the Academy of Arts will once again be screening the nominees for Best Short Film in the Live Action and Animated categories. Here’s the rundown, starting with Live-Action. In the Swiss short On… [»Read]
The title character of Coraline, voiced by Dakota Fanning, isn’t a character you want to fawn over. In fact, she’s downright unpleasant to the boy who’s been following her, looking for friendship. Coming from a young adult story from Neil Gaiman, who is a hero… [»Read]
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Liam Neeson kick ass. After starring in such contemporary classics such as Rob Roy, Darkman and of course, Schindler’s List, he seems to have been festering in low-rent, under-marketed projects; even the serviceable… [»Read]
