People around the world watched in horror during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, but there was, at first, a surreal, disjointed feeling that came from the footage of a weeping Anderson Cooper, a weather-beaten Sean Penn attempting to rescue people in a… [»Read]
Yes, Virginia, there is a Romantic Comedy genre. As long as the human heart yearns for romantic love, the sweeping embrace of a kewpie doll wearing hair extensions or a many-shouldered priapic jock who’s real sweet beneath the bluster, we will seek out a well-told, funny… [»Read]
Director Sam Mendes must really hate the suburbs. The last time he cinematically visited the setting was in American Beauty and we all know things didn’t exactly come up roses for those characters. The picture isn’t any prettier in Revolutionary Road, and even though… [»Read]
Robert D. Seigel, screenwriter of The Wrestler, used to hold down the top position as editor of The Onion, the satirical newspaper whose recent top story had the headline, “Obama Inauguration Speech Ruined By Incessant Jackhammering.” The people… [»Read]
Lovers of good films should run, not walk, to see Waltz With Bashir, currently in limited release and scheduled to open in Honolulu on Feb. 13. They can then add a new film term—documation—to their repertoires, much better than The New Yorker’s… [»Read]
With The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Good, The Reader and Valkyrie, Hollywood has the Third Reich on the brain this awards season. Of all the years, there’s finally a new Indiana Jones movie and Indy’s stuck fighting the Russians…. [»Read]
During its production, rumors flew all over the Internet that Clint Eastwood’s latest project was actually the sixth Dirty Harry movie. Heck, even the title sounded like a new entry in the franchise. Of course, the gossip turned out to be false, but it may as… [»Read]
[Editor’s Note: Our critic has elected to reveal the conclusion to The Unborn in the penultimate paragraph of this review. Read at your own risk.] The film The Unborn is so bad it isn’t boring. This bottom-feeder horror movie literally has… [»Read]
Doubt, adapted from the Pulizer Prize-winning play by John Patrick Shanley and directed by the same, is a film for actors. When your top-billed stars are Philip Seymour Hoffman (just off another amazing performance from Synecdoche, New York) and Meryl Streep… [»Read]
In the midst of the murderously competitive holiday/Oscar-nomination season, a gaggle of quality films surface, practically on top of each other, vying for audience attention. Of these, The Reader, from a controversial German novel, has opened to deeply divided reviews–for… [»Read]
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a $150 million fable masquerading as an epic, could have been a minor masterwork had its talented moviemakers removed 30 or 35 minutes from its three-hour running time. Designed as a series of vignettes, the story concerns the… [»Read]
It’s been a long time since an engaging, non-animated dog had the lead role in a motion picture. Airbud, anyone? Underdog? We’re going to ignore a certain other obnoxious flick from earlier this year since this space is a CGI-enhanced Chihuahua-free zone, whether… [»Read]
By now, Slumdog Millionaire is on pace to win dozens of awards and make hundreds of critics’ top 10 lists, and for good reason. It is that rare feel-good movie that earns its feel-goodness through genuinely sincere and nuanced character development. In director Danny… [»Read]
The urge to re-make alleged classics, like l95l’s The Day the Earth Stood Still, could be ascribed to many unpleasant motives, with lack of creativity or imagination high on the list. Remakes hardly ever work, however “up to date” the parasite movie is rendered, however… [»Read]
Sliding Liberia (with the subtitle “A Story of War, Peace, and Surfing”) is the docu-tale of four young surfers who travel to Liberia, Africa to surf. This 49-minute film isn’t necessarily a documentary, even though it’s set in a political powder keg and the community… [»Read]
