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Snowbound
The blizzard of 2005 has hit the Northeast, so it’s likely that many people will be staying home rather than going to the movies this weekend. Nonetheless, I’ve got reviews of three new releases, none of which are worth braving the nasty weather outside. Assault on Precinct 13 (filmcritic.com) She’s One of Us (filmcritic.com) Are…
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The Great Train Robbery (1979): B-
A Victorian-era caper in which Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland attempt to rob a moving train of gold headed for British soldiers fighting in the Crimea, The Great Train Robbery is drenched in convincing period details even as its story remains imbued with the spirit of the ‘60s and ‘70s counterculture. Connery’s Edward Pierce is…
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Hell’s Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films (2003): C
If watching car crashes is your idea of fun – and as the innumerable traffic jams on I-95 confirm, it’s a favorite hobby of many drivers – then Hell’s Highway: The True Story of Highway Safety Films will be right up your carnage-loving alley. A comprehensive history of the highway safety films forced upon high…
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Dull Duo
One is about a sexy assasin, the other is about a boarding school music teacher, and both aren’t worth your time. My reviews of Elektra and The Chorus are now up at Slant magazine and filmcritic.com, respectively. Elektra (Slant magazine) The Chorus (filmcritic.com) And brand new reviews of Tarnation and Scarface are posted below.
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Scarface (1983): B+
Hip-hop’s favorite gangster fantasy, Brian DePalma’s Scarface is a thrillingly opulent, lurid and vulgar – not to mention morally questionable – saga about the criminal corruption of the American dream. Charting brash Cuban émigré Tony Montana’s (Al Pacino) homicidal ascension to white china-fueled power, DePalma’s epic (written by Oliver Stone) revels in its extravagant orgy…
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Tarnation (2004): B+
A twisted pastiche of pain, suffering, and narcissistic indulgence, Tarnation utilizes an MTV-frantic collage of sound and images image (culled from 19 years worth of home movies, amateur short films, phone conversations and confessional first-person interviews) to tell the twisted life story of director Jonathan Caouette. Intensely personal and stylistically striking, this avant-garde documentary functions…
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Published Film Reviews – 2005
12/31/05 – Café Lumière – DVD (Slant magazine) 12/26/05 – Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World (Slant magazine) 12/26/05 – Why We Fight (Slant magazine) 12/26/05 – When the Sea Rises (Slant magazine) 12/26/05 – Munich (Slant magazine) 12/26/05 – Rumor Has It (Slant magazine) 12/26/05 – Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (Slant magazine)…
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Static Schlock
January is the month in which studios dump their garbage into theaters, and the first new piece of rubbish to wind up on multiplex screens is White Noise, a lame Poltergeist-ish horror story starring Michael Keaton. My take can be found at the newly redesigned Slant magazine. White Noise (Slant magazine) And to kick off…
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Being Julia (2004): C
Alternately duplicitous, egotistical, insecure, nasty, weepy, headstrong, selfish and needy, the titular stage star of István Szabó’s Being Julia is portrayed with such stunning versatility and flair by Annette Benning that the actress’ excellence almost outweighs this slapdash period piece’s myriad shortcomings. Julia Lambert – an acclaimed actress in 1939 London who’s married to a…
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Absolute Power (1997): C
Clint Eastwood assembled an astounding cast for 1997’s presidential malfeasance thriller Absolute Power (based on David Baldacci’s novel), and one can only surmise that their participation had more to do with Eastwood’s involvement than with William Goldman’s moronic, plot hole-filled script. Eastwood plays an un-retired thief who, during a burglary, happens to witness (from behind…
