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Bride of Chucky (1999): C+
Given the Child’s Play franchise’s ludicrously non-terrifying premise – a cute and cuddly children’s doll with the soul of a killer terrorizes kids and teens – it’s not surprising that by the third go-around, 1999’s Bride of Chucky, the series had devolved into intentional self-parody. Ronny Yu’s sequel follows Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) and…
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The 2004 Final Tally
Starting with Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star and ending with Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, 2004 was my busiest movie-reviewing year to date. Given my regular contributions to both online and print publications – not to mention the reviews I penned exclusively for this site – I figured it’d be interesting to see…
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Closer (2004): C
If Closer’s examination of adult sexual relations is accurate, then women crave louses and men are gripped by an obsession with whores. Such a simplistically cynical worldview certainly allows director Mike Nichols and his illustrious cast to freely indulge in nasty wordplay and cruel adulterousness, both of which are meant to expose the brutal truths…
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Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
(Originally published in Rocky Mountain Bullhorn) Harry Potter’s more menacing children’s fantasy rival, Daniel Handler’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events” novels (written under the pseudonym Lemony Snicket) weave fantastic spookiness and mortal danger into their stories of adolescent moxie and resourcefulness. Thankfully, Brad Silberling’s savorily sinister Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events – adapted…
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Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera
(Originally published in Rocky Mountain Bullhorn) Those who love Andrew Lloyd Webber and his Broadway version of “The Phantom of the Opera,” may well take to Joel Schumacher’s messy, excessive cinematic adaptation of the stage musical. For those of us less inclined to suffer through Webber’s bombastic tunes or his dramatically mushy retelling of the…
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Take Six
My second end-of-the-year list appears in this week’s edition of The Village Voice. I was fortunate enough to be invited to participate in the Voice‘s Take Six: The Sixth Annual Village Voice Film Critics’ Poll, and below, you’ll find links to my ballot – listing my various “best of” selections – as well as a…
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Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004): D+
Win a Date With Tad Hamilton! regurgitates the hackneyed ‘50s romantic comedy formula in which a pretty, naive waif (Kate Bosworth’s country bumpkin Rosalee) meets and wins her dream guy (Josh Duhamel’s movie star Tad Hamilton), only to realize that her one true love has been right beside her all along (Topher Grace’s nerdy Piggly…
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Mona Lisa (1986): B+
An atmosphere of desperate neediness permeates Neil Jordan’s Mona Lisa, the story of a recently paroled criminal underling named George (Bob Hoskins) and the sleek, imposing black prostitute named Simone (Cathy Tyson) he’s ordered to chauffeur to and from high-class establishments. Jordan shoots nocturnal London in scraggly, hard-edged shadows, transforming the city into an empty,…
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Infernal Affairs (2002): C+
Infernal Affairs’ cinematic family tree isn’t hard to trace – start with American crime movies from the ‘40s to the ‘70s, then look to John Woo and the Hong Kong cop-yakuza flicks of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, and finally to Quentin Tarantino, Michael Mann, and the crime epics of the past decade –…
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The Parent Claptrap
Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro recruited Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand for Meet the Fockers, the sequel to their 2000 hit Meet the Parents, but more starpower doesn’t result in more laughs. My take on this visit to the in-laws is now up at Slant magazine. Meet the Fockers (Slant magazine) Meanwhile, Sean Penn is…
