Once upon a time in Los Angeles, a little girl recuperating in a hospital with a broken arm befriended a crippled silent film stuntman who was trying to kill himself after his girlfriend left him for a dashing movie star. In an attempt to hide from his broken heart, he began to tell her a story about five heroes trying to defeat a nefarious governor. As his tale unfolded and […]
There’s a peculiar flatness to The Orphanage, sort of a half-finished feeling like everyone involved knew what the Themes and Meanings of the film were supposed to be, but just stubbed it in and saved the hard work for another day. I have absolutely no doubt that the film is “about” the fears of being a parent, and wondering if you will ever lose your child, and how you deal […]
And so another prestige season comes to a close, making the cinema safe for cheap romantic comedies and cheaper slasher films once more. Just four Fridays of Oscarbait between here and what I’m already taking to calling “RamboMonth.” Out of giddy anticipation, of course. Not really. 7.12.2007New Line is pitching money hand-over-fist to convince us that The Golden Compass and its presumptive sequels are the natural and inevitable heirs to […]
As I’ve mentioned before, the Oscars were never about quality, but after last year they’ve become nothing more than a bad joke. Still, I am compelled to predict them: as I’ve also mentioned before, film culture is my lifeblood, and unfortunately, these awards are part of film culture. So, with six days until the ceremony this Sunday, here are my predictions. Let it be noted, in 2004 and 2005 my […]
Updated: my extremely tenuous Cinematography picks. I’m not sure if I ever really trusted the Oscars to give the award to the actual most deserving films. Certainly, it’s been many years since I thought that “Best Picture” meant anything – hell, it’s usually not awarded to the best nominee, let alone the best film of any given year. But I think that we can all agree that after the hideous […]
Whenever people use the phrase “a fairy tale for grown-ups,” I always get a little cranky, because it suggests something that is not true: that adults cannot watch fairy tales unless they have been tarted up. Adults like fantasy as much as anyone. I think it’s also mostly inaccurate, anyway. Nine times in ten, a “fairy tale for grown-ups” is adult only in terms of sex and violence, neither one […]
For a month where the best that Hollywood has to offer is supposed to be spewing forth over the cinematic landscape, this is a simply appalling month. Not since…July?…have I looked forward to so few releases. 1.12.2006If there’s a movie that I’m “excited” to see this weekend (there’s not), it would have to be Turistas, if only because it will allow me to bookend my year with mediocre splatter films […]
The official selections for the Cannes Film Festival have been announced. Without going into everything, the Jury this year is full of people who I love without necessarily trusting them to judge a damn thing about movies (President of the Jury: Wong Kar-Wai). The films in competition:–L’amico di famiglia, Paolo Sorrentino [The Friend of the Family]–Babel, Alejandro González Iñárritu–Il caimano, Nanni Moretti [The Caiman]–Fast Food Nation, Richard Linklater–Flandres, Bruno Dumont–Idigènes, […]
