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The Sith Hits the Fan
Given our culture’s collective insanity over Star Wars, I’ll begin by noting that my review of Episode III – Revenge of the Sith is directly below this post. Those less interested in George Lucas’ overhyped piece of cinematic space junk, however, can check out five other new reviews, covering films that range from great (1955’s…
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A Less-Than-Chilling 13th
Perhaps Monster-in-Law or Unleashed (two films I haven’t yet seen) will provide moviegoers with some scares on this Friday the 13th. But the two films reviewed below – Will Ferrell’s disappointing new family comedy, and a documentary on global child labor – are, unfortunately, neither terrifyingly bad nor frighteningly good. Kicking and Screaming (Slant magazine)…
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May Flowers?
May is in bloom, but of the five new releases reviewed below – four of which are in theaters right now, one of which (Mindhunters) will be out next week – only a couple avoid my withering criticism. The pretty good: Crash (Slant magazine) Double Dare (Slant magazine) Not So Much: Kingdom of Heaven (Slant…
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The Start of Summer
The summer movie season is upon us, and to kick things off, I’ve got a review of the new XXX, an upcoming Russian sci-fi/horror film called Night Watch, a fantastic Warner DVD for The Big Red One: The Reconstruction, and NY Press critic Matt Zoller Seitz’s impressive, distributor-less debut Home. XXX: State of the Union…
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More Good Than Bad
It’s a rare post that has more positive than negative reviews. But surprisingly enough, most of these films are worth your time and money. This remake of 1978’s Fingers is one of the best films of the still-young year: The Beat That My Heart Skipped (Slant magazine) A well-done documentary on Enron: Enron: The Smartest…
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The Horror!
I’m an advocate of remaking movies that stunk, since they – rather than films that were successful the first time around – are the ones most in need of reworking. Thus, I had high hopes for an updated version of 1979’s The Amityville Horror, which I found disappointingly mediocre. Oh well. I should have known…
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1-4
Of the four films I saw last week – including a pre-summer wannabe blockbuster, a French dramedy, and a ghost story from Japanese auteur Takeshi Miike – only one gets a passing grade. For those unwilling to guess which one I liked, here’s a hint: it’s the LAST film listed below. Sahara (Slant magazine) Happily…
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Running the Gamut
Today’s post features a kung fu comedy, an earnest family drama, an anthology of shorts about love from three acclaimed directors, and a DVD review of a collection of haunted house films. Kung Fu Hustle (filmcritic.com) Winter Solstice (Slant magazine) Eros (Slant magazine) The Amityville Horror Collection – DVD (Slant magazine)
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Project: Makeover
Bored with the old site design, I decided to give The Nick Schager Film Project a visual overhaul. I think it gives it a cleaner, more compact look, and hopefully is a bit easier to both read and navigate. And a big ol’ Thanks to Yancey and his friend Marie for helping with the new…
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Slacking Off
After last week’s mammoth ten-film post, I only have seven new online reviews for your reading pleasure. Sorry for being so lazy. But hey, at least this current batch of write-ups covers a few winners (including Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s stunning Sin City). This weekend’s two duds: Guess Who (Slant magazine) Miss Congeniality 2:…
