I want very badly to call Volver the best film I’ve seen in 2006, and it might actually be the best film I’ve seen in 2006, but the problem is that it’s simultaneously the worst film by Pedro Almodóvar in almost ten years, and somehow, that manages to quash it. The bigotry of high expectations. […]
According to the invariably-correct Wikipedia, 2006 has borne witness to the highest number of theatrically released animated features in Hollywood’s history, and the great majority of those involved sassy CGI animals behaving like humans in obnoxious and unamusing ways. What a relief – and honestly, a thrill – that the final animated film of the […]
It’s certainly not the case that For Your Consideration is an unfunny movie. Look, there’s the poster over there on the left, and longtime readers know that can only mean one thing: “this is worth spending money on.” But it’s next to impossible to deny that it’s much the weakest of the films by the […]
It’s a wonderful thing to have ludicrously heightened expectations, and then to see them surpassed. I give you Casino Royale, the best James Bond film since the ’60s, starring Daniel Craig as the best James Bond since Sean Connery. British spy thrillers aren’t for everyone, and if the notion of a really top-drawer Bond film […]
Nothing in the world of cinema is more godforsaken than the biopic, a genre that has probably produced few masterpieces than any other – I could probably name more great slasher films than great biopics. But of course it’s not the case that they can’t be good, just that they usually aren’t. The new collaboration […]
From the advertisements and concept, I expected A Good Year, in which Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe push themselves far outside of their comfort zones, to be a tepid romantic drama. That would have been a fairly mediocre film. It also would have been better than the film that they actually made. Ladies and gentlemen, […]
The short version: Babel is a punishingly long movie. This is not an easy thing for me to say. I adored Amores perros, director Alejandro González Iñárritu’s first collaboration with writer Guillermo Arriaga, and while I had problems with their second film, 21 Grams, I still enjoyed it and recognised it as the product of […]
The newest vehicle for the “comic” “talents” of “actor” Will Ferrell is fitfully amusing, much smarter in concept than execution, emotionally thin, and blessed by performances that make the characters seem much fuller than they actually are. It is, in other words, the finest picture of his career. It’s not Ferrell’s career that I found […]
About time for me to get back to what you all really want, I suppose. Assuming that what you want is film reviews. The short version: yes, Borat really is as funny as you’ve been led to believe. I’m not going to explain why, becuase I think there are jokes that should be left unspoiled […]
I don’t recall the last time I encountered a movie with so many sold-out screenings as Borat: et cetera, and I wasn’t part of any of them, because “Fandango isn’t necessary.” I lucked out with my back-up, thankfully, and a film that I hadn’t really been looking forward to turned out to be one of […]
