This is a wildly imaginitive, intensely visual, vividly colorful rollercoaster ride of a movie. I was constantly surprised and delighted by the sheer chutzpah of director Baz Luhrmann. To combine KISS’ “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” with “The Sound of Music” and about a hundred other (literally) popular tunes and marry them with a […]
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The real-life events depicted in this fascinating documentary about the rapid rise of dot-com businesses are infinitely more entertaining than 70% of the stories being told in Hollywood today. The filmmakers were able to get real and candid footage of two twentysomething friends– a self-centered, egotistical overacheiver and a down-to-earth single father– who begin a […]
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This French thriller borders on the absurd, quite like the Coen brothers “Fargo,” one of my favorite movies of all time. The first time I saw “Fargo,” like “Harry,” I didn’t know whether to laugh or be horrified. Director Dominik Moll does a fantastic service to this international hit by letting the events unfold completely […]
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Wayne Wang directed this digitally shot tale of sex, money and consequences on location in Las Vegas. The premise is mildly interesting, but it never really picks up steam. The two main characters are fleshed out very well. Peter Skarsgaard (the rich computer geek) and Molly Parker (the broke stripper) are totally believable, they’re just […]
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I wanted something fun and dumb with good special effects last year, so I saw the first new “Mummy” movie with Brendan Fraser. What I got was a surprisingly tongue-in-cheek fantasy adventure, with great special effects and a pretty engaging story– like a low-rent, yet amusing Indiana Jones movie. So I was actually pretty fired […]
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Texan Rene Zellweger pulled off the English accent required for this role perfectly. It took awhile for me to get used to seeing her as a British woman, but the movie’s brisk pace and very funny dialogue helped. I have to confess, I like Hugh Grant a lot. I’m a big Monty Python fan, so […]
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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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