16 Blocks (On Video)
Brainless action films have become the dominating force at the box office. Popcorn movies, big-screen
extravaganzas - if you've seen one, you've seen them all. Occasionally, an action film sneaks up and surprises
you. Leave it to Richard Donner, one of the genre's great pioneers, to take the form and give us something
unexpected - an action film with a little more depth and substance behind it. 16 Blocks is the director's
first feature since the dreadful Timeline, and one of the best and most thoughtful action movies in years.
(Posted 07/06/2006)
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French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's early films were dark and disturbing. Delicatessen was set in a
post-apocalyptic wasteland where there was never enough to eat. So the residents of an old apartment complex would
hire a handyman to work for a few months, then they would kill and eat him. His next film, The City of Lost
Children was a fantastic fable involving a mad-scientist who steals children's dreams because he can't
have any of his own. A young girl, accompanied by a circus strongman, sets out to rescue her younger brother. When
Amélie was released in 2001, it was a refreshing and delightful change of pace for the eerie and atmospheric
director.
(Posted 07/06/2006)
Alejandro González Iñárritu is part of the new wave of Mexican filmmakers breaking down cultural barriers left and right. Iñárritu, along with Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men) and Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth), have taken the film community by storm, crafting some of the most vibrant and exciting movies in recent years. His international breakout – Amores Perros – set the style and tone of his future work, disparate narratives that weave in and out of one another, interlocking and doubling back to provide a greater depth and insight than the story would achieve had it been told in a strictly linear fashion. His follow-up (and his first film in English), 21 Grams, looked at three broken lives and the ways they collided with one another. The subtle performances he teased out of veterans like Sean Penn and rising stars like Naomi Watts garnered several Academy Award nominations for the film. Now he returns with his most ambitious film to date – the fascinating, sprawling Babel.
(Posted 01/15/2007)
With the exception of sex comedies like Porkey's or Screwballs, the eighties brought us teen
comedies at their pinnacle. Led by the early films of John Hughes (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club,
and Ferris Bueller's Day Off), the eighties were a time of surprising depth and sensitivity in portraying
teenage characters. Stereotypes were used, but also subverted - especially in the memorable final moments of
The Breakfast Club. The films were vehicles to launch young stars (Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Matthew
Broderick), but at the same time they were films that gave these young actors real characters to work with. Most
teen comedies today are either the American Pie sex comedies or plotless drivel to make sure Freddy Prinze,
Jr. has a steady paycheck. However, in 1998, Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan wrote and directed Can't
Hardly Wait, an ode to the best teen comedies of the nineteen-eighties.
(Posted 07/06/2006)
Lets be honest, you and I. 2006 was not a banner year for movies. Sure, there were a few gems out there in the midst of all the overblown action films and trite, tasteless comedies, but for the most part, the multiplex has been full of unremarkable, instantly forgettable movies. However, Alfonso Cuarón’s latest film, Children of Men, made me remember why I love movies. Adapted from the novel by P.D. James, Children of Men is both gritty and poetic, bleak and hopeful. It’s science fiction steeped in realism. And it is, hands down, one of the best films of this year.
(Posted 01/15/2007)
Toward the end of the Vietnam War, as public outrage was growing and sympathy was fading, President Ford attempted to
save face by authorizing “Operation Babylift,” a program designed to allow Amerasian orphans to be airlifted to the United
States, adopted and fully integrated into American society and culture. However, many of the children sent to the United
States were not actually orphans. Adoption workers pressured Vietnamese mothers into sending their children overseas. Others were told
that the Vietcong would brutally murder their bi-racial children. Now, decades later, children and parents are attempting to
reconnect with one another, but the barriers of culture and change keep familial bonds from fully being forged anew, as Gail Dolgin
and Vicente Franco show us in their wonderful and gut-wrenching documentary, Daughter from Danang.
(Posted 01/03/2003)
George A. Romero practically invented the zombie film with his 1968 classic of gore and terror –
Night of the Living Dead. Using undead ghouls who feed on human flesh, Romero was able to craft an
examination of human nature and a sharp satire on political issues of the day – especially bigotry and racism.
With Dawn of the Dead he revisited the zombie genre, using the creatures as a metaphor for American
materialism and our mindless consumer excess. Both films were phenomenal, gory works of genius, utilizing the
horror template to convey truth in visceral, fascinating allegory. But his third zombie film, 1984’s Day of
the Dead, misses out on the artistry of the previous films and is so ham-fisted that any message gets lost in
the midst of its hysterical performances.
(Posted 12/07/2006)
Back in their heyday, Disney used to produce an unending supply of true-life animal adventures. Much of it was
simply nature photography put to a simple story of survival, a parable that audiences could relate to and get
something out of while they sat at home on a Sunday night. Every so often, they would script their true-life
adventures and send them to the local movie theater. The Incredible Journey, released in 1963, told the
story of a cat and two dogs attempting to find their family across the country. There were no cute voice-overs or
actors interpreting what the animals were thinking, it was simply the beautifully filmed journey of three animals.
Of course, in today's need to be bigger, faster, and better, Disney has abandoned their true-life adventures.
All of their animals talk. Everything is just a little too cute and cuddly. But then, surprisingly, they made
Eight Below, a stirring film about a dog-sled team abandoned in the Antarctic that is as close to a return
to their classic form as we are likely to see?
(Posted 06/28/2006)
Sidney Lumet is one of the truly great film directors working today. Beginning his career in 1948 directing for
television, Lumet went on to direct such varied classics as 12 Angry Men, Network, The Wiz,
Serpico, and Dog Day Afternoon. His shots are confident and precise, his pacing deliberate and
thoughtful. He has been able to pull amazing performances from actors as diverse as Al Pacino, Henry Fonda, Faye
Dunaway, Robert Duvall, and Andy Garcia. He moves effortlessly between drama, satire, comedy, thriller, and
musical. In his latest film, Find Me Guilty, Lumet is able to pull a tragically comedic performance out of
the normally dull and wooden Vin Diesel, playing the real-life small time gangster Jackie DiNorscio.
(Posted 07/19/2006)
Steven Soderbergh is one of the hardest working professionals in Hollywood.
In any given year he will be directing – at the very least – two movies and
producing a handful of others. Sometimes the films are big-budget blockbusters
(Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve) and at others they are small
features meant only for art houses and film festivals (Bubble, Full
Frontal). No matter the scale, there is always an exciting sense of risk and
adventure to a Soderbergh film. Erin Brockovich was a courtroom drama with no
courtroom scenes. Solaris was a measured adaptation of a Russian science fiction
classic. He shot Bubble on consumer-grade video and used a cast of non-professional actors.
He always seems to be interested in placing restrictions on himself to see what he can do within a
series of constraints. His latest film, The Good German, is no exception
to this desire for the unfamiliar challenge.
(Posted 01/17/2007)
Director Harold Ramis could easily have taken the route many of his contemporaries have taken, sticking with
infantile comedies developed as vehicles for whatever new comedy star is on the rise. He could have gone to
directing mediocre children's films full of pratfalls and ridiculous antics like John Hughes. Instead, it
seems that Ramis has only gotten better as a director, consistently choosing interesting projects over safe projects.
From his beginnings with Caddyshack and National Lampoon's Vacation to his masterpiece
Groundhog's Day and the more recent Analyze This, Ramis is always experimenting and trying new
things. His latest film, The Ice Harvest, is a fascinating break from anything the director has done before
now.
(Posted 07/06/2006)
For a time, Shane Black was the writer to get if you wanted a smart and funny action movie. He penned the first
two Lethal Weapon movies, The Last Boy Scout, The Last Action Hero, and The Long Kiss
Goodnight. All of his films, while falling strictly within the action genre, were grounded in character and
story and attempted to be a little more thoughtful than the majority of shoot ‘em up adrenalin-pumpers. He fell
off the map several years ago, saying in interviews that just being a writer wasn’t quite doing it for him anymore.
Now, more than six years after his last produced screenplay, Black has written a new script for his own directorial
debut. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is a delightful film, an exuberant send-up of the action movie conventions
Black has worked in for so many years.
(Posted 07/19/2006)
The battle between good and evil is an age-old motif and theme. Storytellers have told the tale over and over again
since the dawn of time. And while we're used to seeing this battle play out on American soil with participants
who all speak English - even if they do use funny accents from time to time - it's refreshing to discover that
other nations and cultures have their own versions of what happens when good and evil meet. Night Watch,
the most expensive and most successful Russian film of all time, has finally made it to America with its unique,
fantastic, and horrific vision of this universal battle.
(Posted 06/28/2006)
When the Coen Brothers' released O Brother, Where Art Thou? in May of 2000, it opened to critical
indifference and modest box office success. It was the film's soundtrack, selling more than five million copies,
which stirred interest in the film. The rambling comic narrative, based loosely (very loosely) on Homer's The
Odyssey, tells the tale of three escaped convicts on their quest for buried treasure in the Depression-era
South. But treasure isn't the story's point. No, like all good road movies, the point is in the process
and the Coen Brothers' have fashioned a road movie full of episodic delights.
(Posted 06/28/2006)
On its surface, the movie must have seemed like a ridiculous idea. After all, it was a movie based on a theme-park
ride. How could there be anything meaningful or substantial to it at all? Expectations were low. There were no
major stars in the film. Did anyone even think it would make back the money it cost to produce it? All signs
pointed to early box office failure and its premiere on DVD a few weeks later. Instead, something magical happened
with Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The moment Johnny Depp shows up
onscreen as Captain Jack Sparrow, the film comes to life. Suddenly, we are willing to forgive its flaws – the
wooden dialogue and uneven performances – and surrender ourselves to its delightfully off-center world.
(Posted 07/19/2006)
It was pretty much a given that Disney would attempt to make a sequel to their 2003 smash hit
Criticism is important. Criticism is healthy and good. Honest feedback can help us become the men and women we're
meant to be. Sometimes it takes a voice from the outside to be able to effectively speak truth into our lives.
Sometimes it takes a person from a different background and worldview to be able to point out our blind-spots.
Sometimes it takes that voice of "the other" to let us know where we're dropping the ball. Criticism is hard. We
don't always like it. We don't always like what we hear. We don't always like what we see. But it's important
nonetheless. The trick with criticism is separating out the truth from the falsehood. It's figuring out where our
critics are right and where they're wrong. Just because someone says one thing that isn't true doesn't mean that
everything else they have to say is wrong as well. In watching Saved!, a biting satire set in a Christian
high school, it's important to be able to distinguish between the honest, healthy criticism that is given to us
as Christians and where the filmmakers are simply venting their anger at the church and trying to remake us in
their own image. It's all too easy to dismiss the entire film because of some of the rather substantial fallacies
it accepts as truth.
(Posted 06/28/2006)
In 1978, director Richard Donner reinvented the world of campy comic book adaptations, bringing Superman to
moviegoers everywhere and catapulting its star, Christopher Reeve, into the spotlight. Since then, the wave of
superhero films has ebbed and flowed, but when independent filmmaker Bryan Singer brought the X-Men to the
screen in 2000, he started a deluge of comic book adaptations that hasn't let down since. It seems only natural,
then, that Singer is the director brought in to helm the first Superman film in nearly twenty years,
bringing that most iconic of superheroes back to life on the big screen.
(Posted 07/06/2006)
Graham Greene wrote murky political thrillers charged with ambiguity and a stubborn refusal to paint the world in
an easily definable black and white. There aren’t so much heroes and villains in a story by Greene as there are
real men and women trying their best to do what’s right and often winding up on the wrong side of the law. Most
of the films adapted from his works were made during the Hollywood system of the forties and fifties, and the
studios decided that audiences didn’t want to see the murkiness of real life. So in most of the adaptations the
villains wear black, the heroes save the day, and ambiguity is vanquished once and for all. It took the author’s
collaboration with a British director, Carol Reed, for an adaptation that finally reflected Graham Greene’s
sensibilities. The Third Man was an original screen story developed by Greene (he published a novella
developed at the same time, but was less than satisfied by the result) concerning life in post-war Vienna and a
dark mystery that the film’s blundering “hero” inadvertently stumbles into.
(Posted 07/19/2006)
Lawrence Sterne’s 1759 novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman was one of the first
post-modern works of literature – and that was even before the “modern” literary movement had been conceived.
In it, the novel’s protagonist, one Tristram Shandy, attempts to relate the story of his life, but he is consistently
sidetracked by tangential stories that become long and elaborate divergences from the main thrust of his own
narrative – mainly focusing on the life of his kindly but eccentric Uncle Toby. As the story continues to unfold,
or rather, as it continues to get further and further away from the main story, Tristram finds that as he tries to
tell his own story, he can’t keep up with the speed at which his life is moving. By the time the novel ends and
Tristram dies, he hasn’t even been born yet. With hand drawn figures, sketches and illustrations (even an entire
page that consists of one large black box), Tristram Shandy is widely thought to be un-filmable. So who
would bother to attempt such a feat? Director Michael Winterbottom and British comedian Steve Coogan thought they
were up to the challenge and proceeded to make one of the most entertaining and exhilarating films I’ve seen in a
long while.
(Posted 08/09/2006)
Ultraviolet is one of the worst movies you are likely to ever have the misfortune of seeing. If you see it
at all. As I prepared to write my critique for the film, I was ready to go off on all of the reasons movies based
on video games are rarely effective. Then I discovered that the film didn’t find its genesis in the descendents
of “Pong” and “Pac-Man.” No, this movie is bad all on its own. Its director, Kurt Wimmer, showed promise with
Equilibrium, a stylish piece of science fiction that had more substance to it than the pseudo-pop-philosophy
we found in The Matrix films. But his second major film suffers from more than your standard sophomore
slump – it’s more like a sophomore nosedive.
(Posted 07/19/2006)
In his farewell address to the nation on the eve of leaving office, President Dwight D. Eisenhower remarked that
we, the American people, must beware of the growing power and influence of the “military industrial complex.” He
was a soldier and had lived through the Second World War. He saw the necessity of maintaining a standing army in
the wake of communism’s rise in the Soviet republics. However, he also saw the dangers inherent for a nation that
would soon have the largest and most powerful military in the world. Documentarian Eugene Jarecki’s Why We
Fight examines Eisenhower’s warning and looks at the way his concerns have gone unheeded.
(Posted 08/24/2006)