Taken is the film for you if you simply love Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme flicks and are constantly bemoaning the fact that they have been relegated to direct-to-DVD and made-for-TV projects. If you, however, want more out of a film than pace, so-so action, and a high body count, you’re going to be […]
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Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino” plays like some sort of R-rated Hallmark made-for-TV movie where the lead character, a horribly racist Korean War veteran named Walt Kowalski, finally learns firsthand that people are people everywhere, no matter what their background, and that racism is bad. For Walt to learn this valuable lesson, it takes his wife’s […]
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Scene-Stealers reader Aaron Hale was nice enough to send in his capsule review of “Let the Right One In” (#4 on my Top 10 Movies of 2008), so let’s we’ll start with his comments before I chime in and we see what you all have to say. Here’s Aaron: This is the year of vampires, […]
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This is part two of an article that starts with a review of “Frost/Nixon.” ‘Tis the season for play adaptations, as the recent releases of “Doubt” and “Frost/Nixon” can attest to. Adapted from his own 2005 Tony-winning play, writer/director John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt” is one of those movies that you come away from thinking mainly […]
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‘Tis the season for play adaptations, as the recent releases of “Doubt” and “Frost/Nixon” can attest to. Adapted from his own 2005 Tony-winning play, writer/director John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt” is one of those movies that you come away from thinking mainly about the strength of the performances. For my review of “Doubt,” click here. Peter […]
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The Holocaust took a horrific human toll in both casualties and emotional scars that will last forever. Two movies coming out this Oscar season (and a third—“Defiance”—next month) are haunted by the spectre of this shameful event, although each takes a very different approach. Click here to read a review of “Valkyrie,” Part One of […]
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The Holocaust took a horrific human toll in both casualties and emotional scars that will last forever. Two movies coming out this Oscar season (and a third—“Defiance”—next month) are haunted by the spectre of this shameful event, although each takes a very different approach. “Valkyrie” recounts the true story of two attempts by German officers […]
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Will Eisner’s “The Spirit” comic may have been about a masked crimefighter, but his hugely influential series (that ran originally from 1940-1952) was not a superhero comic. “The Spirit” blended elements of lighthearted adventure, romance, and horror, sometimes with a flair for the comedic. Writer/director Frank Miller seems to be on a mission to cram […]
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Nothing I write in this movie review will convince you whether or not you should see the new Jim Carrey comedy “Yes Man.” Let me explain. I’ve seen the film, so let me tell you this much: You already know whether you want to see it because you’ve learned everything you need to know from […]
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Q: What movie genre best describes Danny Boyle’s newest film, “Slumdog Millionaire,” about an orphaned street kid from Mumbai who never gives up hope of finding his lost love? Romance C. Social problem drama Action/Adventure D. Comedy The answer is all of the above because this electrifying movie combines so many different genres […]
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Director Gus Van Sant’s biopic about Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay men to be elected to public office, may be set in the mid 1970s, but the culture war 30 years ago is eerily reminiscent of the one being waged today. Luckily, Van Sant is as concerned about Milk as a person […]
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Those of you who follow this site regularly know that we are becoming more and more interactive as we movie forward. In the spirit of that, I’ll do a short capsule review and give you some comments from Aaron Weber, a writer from Transbuddha and Razorfine. Please leave any comments that you have after seeing the […]
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Baz Luhrmann is the type of filmmaker who revels in excess. His last picture, the lush and melodramatic “Moulin Rouge!” was a lesson in how to make the old seem new again. He toyed with the formulas of tragic romances, over-the-top musicals, and slapstick comedies, and pillaged the back catalog of rock n’ roll’s greatest […]
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A life is a series of moments, lived chronologically one at a time, until death. A person looking from the outside in on someone’s life will have a perspective, but the only person who knows the inner workings of one’s soul is the person who lived the live and whose thoughts are constantly racing through […]
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It may not be the most original comedy ever, but what “Role Models” lacks in originality of concept, it makes up for in the natural wittiness of its actors. Directed and co-written by David Wain (director of “Wet Hot American Summer” and an alumni of MTV’s early-1990s sketch comedy show “The State”), “Role Models” follows […]
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