Only Terrence Malick could get away with this. The legend of Malick is one I partially understand, but the holier-than-thou critical reputation he seems to revel in is completely overblown. The man has directed five films since 1969 but really made a name for himself with Badlands (1973) and Days… Continue reading
Ah, good old January. The holidays are over, it’s cold outside, and the holiday/Oscar cinematic rejects slog their way into theaters. Such a specimen is Grandma’s Boy, a film that would have been infinitely better off as a short subject high school project. But, the film is a product of… Continue reading
Surely you are all familiar with the “name the actor” game. It is that game people play under their breath in the theater during a movie when an actor they know shows up on screen and they feel it necessary to blurt out that name in either a loud whisper… Continue reading
The last thing I expected Syriana to be was an endurance test. The intriguing trailers have been floating around for several months now and my anticipation was at its peak as I headed into the screening. Low and behold, writer/director Stephen Gaghan, working from the book by Robert Baer, manages… Continue reading
The running gag in The Weather Man is that quite often Chicago weatherman Dave Spritz (Cage) gets pelted with some type of food product, whether it is a burrito or a Frosty or a Slurpee. Spritz theorizes that it’s because the public views him as a clown, but I theorize… Continue reading
The Man is a smörgåsbord of bits taken from infinitely better films, numbering far too many to name here. The only thing keeping its head above water is the presence of two fine actors in Samuel L. Jackson and Eugene Levy. How depressing it is to see them in something… Continue reading
I fully expect that this review will serve as a ringing endorsement for some. Perhaps I am the wrong audience for a film like this, or perhaps I am over-analyzing. One thing is for sure, however. I’ve had more than a few bad nights of sleep because of this film.… Continue reading
I love it when the tagline for a movie doubles as hidden instructions to the unassuming crowd about to view it. It’s almost like a disclaimer that you only understand after, in this case, eighty-seven minutes of life draining stupidity that you can’t get back without a time machine and… Continue reading
The phenomenal success of 2002’s The Ring confuses me to this day. For the life of me I could not buy into the film’s preposterous story of a video tape that kills people one week after viewing it. During the screening I attended of the film I had to oftentimes… Continue reading
There seems to be a relatively new undeclared law in Hollywood for some films, particularly sequels. These are the movies that have such awful scripts that the studios think they can cover up the whole mess with loads of star power. 2004’s The Whole Ten Yards is a fine example… Continue reading