My friend Jon says I’m too easy on movies. He says if I take them to task a bit more it would be more fun to read. He’s probably right. This one in particular is a case in point. I wasn’t expecting much, and I mainly went because I was intrigued by the fact that […]
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Having read some fairly good reviews of this Ted Demme-directed movie, I was pretty fired up to see it. After all, it looked like (from the previews at least) that it had equal parts “Boogie Nights” and “Traffic” going for it. Plus, the extra bonus of one of Hollywood’s riskiest actors, Johnny Depp, and Paul […]
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Pierce Brosnan sends up the James Bond British spy cliche with strange and humorous results in this offbeat spy yarn from longtime directing great John Boorman. Geoffrey Rush is also excellent as the tailor mentioned in the film’s title, but Brosnan really steals the show, if not for anything else than being a complete asshole. […]
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This is my favorite movie of the new year, hands down. Yes, I’m a sucker for the mystery/noir/thriller. Like “The Usual Suspects,” “Memento” takes a familiar plot device and does something completely new with it. Director Christopher Nolan also wrote this amazing screenplay, and it warrants many repeated viewings. Without giving too much away, it […]
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Judging a movie by what it is trying to accomplish, I can say “Enemy of the Gates” was mediocre at best. Great actors, great opening battle scene, great set-up, slow exposition, bad third act. Some of the WWII battle scenes are pretty successful. Jude Law makes a believable and endearing hero, but there’s a needless […]
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Nick and I did a double feature the Friday night before the Oscars. It was kind of a cramming session to study up for Sunday night’s main event. It just so happened that both films were biographies of artists. First up was “Pollock,” a dreary movie directed by and starring Ed Harris. I really liked […]
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First off, this is where I’m coming from on this one. I’ve read all 3 books in Thomas Harris’ series and loved them all. Yes, even “Hannibal.” And I own the first two film adaptions, “Manhunter” and “The Silence of the Lambs” on DVD. OK, now that that’s out of the way, let’s dispense with […]
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I think Jack Black is just about one of the funniest guys ever. I obsess over his band, Tenacious D, and I thought he stole “High Fidelity,” one of my favorite movies of last year. So why did I hate this so much? I think it’s because the level of humor is so below sea […]
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The first Coen brothers film I didn’t like was “The Big Lebowski.” It didn’t have any of the drama or surreal hilarity of their other modern masterpieces like “Blood Simple,” “Miller’s Crossing,” “Barton Fink,” or “Fargo.” I may have been to quick to judge “Lebowski” since I loved the Coen’s earlier pictures so much. I […]
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Javier Bardem was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for this, and I really wanted him to win. Not only was the story tons more interesting and involving than “Pollock,” (the other Best Actor biopic nominee)but it was told in a visually inventive way. Bardem plays Reinaldo Arenas, a gay Cuban poet who is viewed […]
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Interesting backstory: When I watched “Chocolat” get the 5th Best Picture nomination weeks ago live at 7 a.m. (a time I am not up at very often), I actually screamed at the TV. THAT WAS “ALMOST FAMOUS”S NOMINATION!!! And it should have been. Or at least “Almost Famous” was the likely 5th selection, after winning […]
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This is something I made up with my bass player, Mr. Nick Colby, to ease the pain of watching John Travolta’s love letter to L. Ron Hubbard. The “Battlefield Earth” drinking game You must drink every time someone says: 1. “Psychlo” – 2 drinks when Travolta says he is a Psychlo of his word. 2. […]
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This is essentially a pared-down version of Jackie Chan’s much-revered 1994 film “Drunken Master II.” It’s 15 minutes shorter, and for me at least, probably better. I have to be honest. I am not really a martial arts fan and I absolutely HATE watching movies that have been dubbed in English. That said, I enjoyed […]
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Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges and especially Gary Oldman all shine in this modern political morality tale, but it gets a bit preachy towards the end. What a great set-up, though. The first half of this film raises many ethical questions, none of them black and white, and all of them infinintely more interesting than the […]
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Spike Lee’s latest is a seriously challenging movie with such a ridiculous premise and caricatured characters that I didn’t believe a moment of it. That’s not to say I didn’t like it. In “Do the Right Thing,” one of my faves of all time, Spike shows us that race relations are anything but black and […]
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