Movie Reviews
Flaky film: What a Load of #$*!
Published on Oct 7th, 2004
0 comments Being as stupid as David Letterman pretends to be, I like movies that make me feel intelligent. Mark Vicente, Betsy Chasse, and William Arntz, the makers of What the #$*! Do We Know? (a.k.a. What the...
Karl & George: Bush's Brain explores Rove's power
Published on Sep 30th, 2004
0 comments Fahrenheit 9/11, Going Upriver: The Long War Of John Kerry, Silver City, The Manchurian Candidate (redux)– what a year for political films. If those haven't sated your political cravings, the...
Burnout: Firefighters without fire
Published on Sep 30th, 2004
0 comments Apparently Denis Leary hasn't put out– or ignited– all the fires on the East Coast. Ladder 49 is Backdraft for the post-9/11 world where firefighters get a little more respect. The action...
Apt name: The Forgotten probably will be
Published on Sep 23rd, 2004
0 comments You're not paranoid if they're really out to get you. It's not knowing that's such a bitch. And when she gets into that situation in The Forgotten, Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) can be a bitch too...
Ay, robots!: Sky Captain flies but doesn't soar
Published on Sep 16th, 2004
0 comments The good news about Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is that the tail doesn't wag the dog. With everything but the principal actors and a few props being created or assembled in the computer,...
Mule train: Maria more slick than gritty
Published on Sep 9th, 2004
0 comments The economy sucks everywhere. In Colombia they have the overwhelming numbers of poor people, the legitimate businessmen who exploit them, and the people involved in the drug trade. Maria Full of...
What's it like? Depends on who you ask
Published on Sep 9th, 2004
0 comments The HamiltonsStarr Hill RestaurantSaturday, September 4 I met a dude about a week ago who had just moved into the area from Florida. He proclaimed himself a diehard music lover and inquired about...
Un-Fair! Reese-- not dull, but not Sharp
Published on Sep 2nd, 2004
0 comments We knee-jerk liberals hear a title like Vanity Fair and automatically think, "Vanity Unfair!" After all, we're the spiritual children of Marlon Brando's rebel in The Wild One who, when asked what he...
Threeway: Man, woman-- and a shark
Published on Aug 19th, 2004
0 comments A good filmmaker doesn't need much to keep an audience involved for 79 minutes. A man, a woman, and a shark will do quite nicely, thank you. Actually Chris Kentis, a good filmmaker, has several...
New 'Candidate': The sorcerer's a Prentiss
Published on Jul 29th, 2004
0 comments Jonathan Demme's 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate is the kindest, warmest, bravest, most selfless movie I've ever seen. Ignore that. I don't know what made me say it. Because of its political...
Up to here: Roots have had their fill
Published on Jul 29th, 2004
0 comments The RootsThe Tipping Point  (Geffen Records) Never ones to settle, The Roots have continually explored the depths of what it is to be a live hip-hop band. Not only that, they're the only group...
Captive-ating Redford: Wait to see it on video
Published on Jul 22nd, 2004
0 comments He's Robert Redford and you're not. That simple fact is enough to bug the crap out of some people. In The Clearing Redford is Wayne Hughes, and that bugs the crap out of at least one person: Arnold...
Bionic cop: More sci-fi for summer fun
Published on Jul 15th, 2004
0 comments Does the fact that more movies are created by artificial intelligence mean we'll be seeing more movies about artificial intelligence? It's taken Isaac Asimov's i, Robot over 50 years to make it to...
Soft history: Square knights of the Round Table
Published on Jul 8th, 2004
0 comments Last year about this time, Jerry Bruckheimer opened Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and exceeded everyone's expectations, critically and financially. This year he claims the...
Hot stuff: Moore's screed should be seen
Published on Jul 1st, 2004
0 comments Sending a Republican to review Fahrenheit 9/11 would be like having an atheist review The Passion of the Christ. Don't worry. The Hook did neither in my case. The polarizing effect of these films on...
Cryin' time: Notebook brings out the hankies
Published on Jun 24th, 2004
0 comments I've got to get in touch with my feminine side for this one because we "real men" don't like romantic tearjerkers– unless there's a football involved. The Notebook could be one of those classic...
Time warp: Keeping mama in the dark
Published on Jun 17th, 2004
0 comments If ever a movie was meant to be seen on Mother's Day, it's Good Bye Lenin! Germany's submission for this year's Academy Awards. (It didn't get an Oscar nomination, but it was nominated for a Golden...
McMovie: Bulking up with Ronald
Published on Jun 10th, 2004
0 comments Everything's super in the summer: superstars playing superheroes in superbudgeted supermovies that often turn out to be superdisappointments. The most super movie of Summer 2004 may turn out to be a...
<I>HP3</I>: Darker, more Sirius
Published on Jun 3rd, 2004
0 comments The big news about HP3, or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, is that its "13-year-old wizards" have managed to avoid the onset of adolescence one more time, even as the world around them...
Station master: Agent's backer speaks at Jefferson
Published on May 27th, 2004
0 comments A man who helped make possible the surprise indie hit The Station Agent will speak between screenings of the show at the Jefferson Theater. Barry Sisson, who gave up his career in the security...
Kiddin' with Kate: <I>Raising Helen </I>raises laughs
Published on May 27th, 2004
0 comments She was good in Almost Famous, but Kate Hudson is rapidly becoming my least favorite offspring of a most favorite parent. When she has to choose between acting and being cute, acting almost...
Happily ever... Follow-up is Shrektacular
Published on May 20th, 2004
0 comments There's nothing like your first time. One reason for the Shrektacular success of the original Shrek was that it came out of left field and surprised everyone with its hilarious twisting of fairy...
Troy-mendous: Make movies, not war
Published on May 13th, 2004
0 comments In terms of historical accuracy, Troy, inspired by Homer's The Iliad, is probably on a par with Van Helsing. In terms of balancing intimate stories with spectacular battles in an old-school-sized...
Balled up: Hard to tell good from bad
Published on May 13th, 2004
0 comments "I lied and cheated," a contrite dad tells his pitching prodigy son late in Mickey, "and I taught you how to lie and cheat." His Little League son's answer is supposed to console us– the music...
Transylvania Jones: Drac, Frank swing into action
Published on May 6th, 2004
0 comments The movie hog stuck his head in a theater and saw Van Helsing, which means four more months of summer movies. On the premise that nothing succeeds like excess, Universal let that infernal showoff...
Mean Girls: Teen-y meanies could be worse
Published on Apr 29th, 2004
0 comments You'd think everything there is to say about teenage girls and the perils of high school had already been said. And you'd be right. But that doesn't mean it can't be said again when someone surveys...
Aging: 13 to 30 gets old fast
Published on Apr 22nd, 2004
0 comments If you could see yourself through 13-year-old eyes, would you like the person you've become? That's the question posed by 13 Going on 30, a comedy most notable for proving Alias star Jennifer Garner...
Satisfying: Uma's the man!
Published on Apr 15th, 2004
0 comments Some say Uma Thurman was robbed by not getting an Oscar nomination for Kill Bill, Vol. 1. Not really, but she'll be robbed if she doesn't get one for Kill Bill, Vol. 2. This superior continuation of...
Forget this Alamo: Viewers surrender to boredom
Published on Apr 8th, 2004
0 comments At last the truth can be told about the 1836 Battle of the Alamo. Although the 185 defenders of the mission-fortress were hopelessly outnumbered by the forces of Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (...
The next Tango: Two men in a tub
Published on Apr 1st, 2004
0 comments From The Conformist to The Sheltering Sky and 1900 to The Last Emperor, Bernardo Bertolucci has never been about the pursuit of trivia. He even made sex seem weighty in Last Tango in Paris.  ...