I dearly wish I could have another go at Sam Raimi’s overwhelming “Spider-Man 3” before I take a crack at writing this review. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen, so here goes nothing, adventure fans. There’s no way to know for sure, but my guess is Raimi was thinking the likelihood everybody comes back to […]
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A raggedy B-movie tarted up with A-list actors like Nicolas Cage and Julianne Moore, “Next” showcases the best of what B-movies have to offer and little else. Featuring a bare bones script that relies completely on the strength of its premise and not its characters, “Next” also has the courtesy to not overstay its welcome. […]
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When I saw the pitch-perfect zombie movie homage “Shaun of the Dead,” I figured the reason there was so much gore was pretty obvious. It’s a zombie movie. Duh. Having just seen Edgar Wright’s second feature, the pitch-perfect action movie homage “Hot Fuzz,” I now know that the director uses decapitated heads and buckets of […]
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With a bazillion “Law & Order” spin-offs on TV and tons of generic courtroom thrillers on the big screen every year, there’s not a lot of room left to reinvent the legal drama these days. So it is all the more impressive when a film comes along that manages to combine the genre’s tried-and-true formulas […]
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“Perfect Stranger” is an offensively slick and soulless piece of Hollywood crap. A movie filled with scuzzy people doing scuzzy things, there is not one person to care about— least of all Halle Berry, whose plunging necklines and tight skirts project a sexy working woman’s confidence, while her cardboard character exposes her as nothing but […]
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In 1954, the iconic Japanese monster movie “Godzilla” arose from that country’s post-World War II fear of more possible nuclear attacks. Over 50 years later, it seems that America is still inspiring new kinds of monster mayhem, as illustrated by the impressively sleek South Korean import “The Host.” Just because the film has obvious political […]
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After a raucous screening of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s “Grindhouse” in Kansas City, Eric & J.D. explain what the hell a grindhouse movie is and why you should go see it. Now! Click on the photo for the Windows Media version of this on-camera review.
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“Grindhouse” is a minor cinematic event. More of an overall theater-going experience than merely a movie, writer/directors Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez pay tribute to an exploitative style of filmmaking that is long dead with a double feature that is literally exploding with the dead. All told, “Grindhouse” is three hours and fifteen minutes of […]
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A small town in rural Kansas City is not the most obvious place to set a heist picture starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Isla Fisher, two of Hollywood’s brightest up-and-coming stars. Additionally, centering your movie on a brain-damaged bank janitor is about as far away as you can get from glitz and glamour, but that is […]
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Sometimes the best movie in town isn’t actually in the movie theater. DVD has singlehandedly saved the reputation of older movies, which can now be enjoyed by the cinephile and the average moviegoer at once without any crappy pan-and-scan ruining the experience. some of these are older movies, some are ones you just may have […]
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So often in movies, characters never really do the things that real people do in everyday life. We rarely see them at work, listening to music, or playing videogames. When a tragedy occurs in a movie, grief can be overcome quickly with a brief montage. In real life, the healing process is long and involved. […]
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…with clips from “300”! Eric and J.D. discuss the most violent movie since “Apocalypto” and the gayest movie since “Brokeback Mountain.” Click on the photo for the Windows Media version of this on-camera review.
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In terms of stylistic overkill, the new big screen adaptation of Frank Miller’s uber-violent graphic novel “300” ranks right up there with “Moulin Rouge.” Where Baz Luhrmann’s movie musical was overflowing with ripe emotion, though, “300” is a bombastic and cold affair, not unlike watching the story sequences between levels in a video game. Outmatched […]
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As I was leaving the theater I still hadn’t made up my mind about David Fincher’s (Seven) latest “Zodiac.” But as I got in my car, I glanced with noticeable tension in the rear view mirror into the back seat, half expecting someone to be there. Now, that’s what a thriller is supposed to do…entertain […]
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In “Zodiac,” Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Robert Graysmith, a former political cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle who becomes obsessed with finding the serial killer who taunted police and terrorized the Bay Area in the early 1970s. Although it was directed by David Fincher—the man behind “Seven”—this new movie has more in common with Gyllenhaal’s […]
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