-
Corporate Power
My latest feature for IFC News should be right up the alley of those Americans frightened to death of Wal-Mart and Starbucks. It’s a list of cinema’s ten most powerful corporations, and can be found via the stunningly efficient link below. Ten Disturbingly Powerful Fictional Film Corporations (IFC News)
-
Pineapple Express (2008): B
Endeavoring to be a buddy-action comedy, a good-natured deconstruction of buddy-action comedies, and the ultimate stoner flick, Pineapple Express is likeable but nonetheless more skunkweed than kind bud. Judd Apatow’s latest production closely hews to Superbad’s “bromance” template, charting the pseudo-romantic friendship that develops between pothead process server Dale (Seth Rogen) and his drug dealer…
-
LOL (2006): B
Charting the deleterious effect of technology on human relations, Joe Swanberg’s LOL follows three twentysomething males whose obsession with being online or on a cell phone proves problematic for their romantic prospects. That devices designed to foster greater (and easier) communication have, in many respects, had the opposite effect is not a particularly novel notion,…
-
No End in Sight (2007): B+
Charles Ferguson’s concise, efficient No End in Sight begins inauspiciously, detailing the build-up to the Iraq War with a swift intro marked by somewhat dubious implications and cause-effects arguments. After this initial stumble, however, his documentary proves a thorough, level-headed examination of the Bush administration’s failure to properly prepare for, and execute, the war itself,…
-
Back to Reality
Remember when this year’s summer movie season suddenly, surprisingly featured a raft of intelligent, exciting films? Well, that time has now past, as this week’s main release – The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor – is typical summer crapola. I’m off to the beach next week, so updates around here will be sparse. But…
-
Two-Step
Not counting my thoughts on The X-Files: I Want to Believe (posted below), I’ve only got two new published reviews for this Friday. And both films are well-worth the time of any moviegoers suffering from The Dark Knight fatigue. Now Playing: Step Brothers (Slant magazine) Man on Wire (Cinematical) UPDATE: The Order of Myths (Cinematical)
-
The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008): C
The title of The X-Files: I Want to Believe is apt, articulating its story’s (and the cult TV show’s) principal theme with a thudding literalism indicative of its graceless, overtly-state-everything script. Ten years after their last big-screen outing, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) live together and have left the FBI, she…
-
Hype, Justified
Though I stand by my original criticisms, I’ve grown increasingly fond of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. His immensely anticipated follow-up, The Dark Knight, needs no such qualifications. It’s flat-out great, and – let me also note – worth catching in IMAX, if at all possible. Friday: The Dark Knight (Slant magazine) Felon (Slant magazine) Transsiberian…
-
Pre-Knight Roundup
The Dark Knight screens tomorrow, so that review won’t be up until later this week. In the meantime, though, I’ve got this somewhat belated batch. Enjoy. Now: Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008) (Slant magazine) The Exiles (Slant magazine) Diminished Capacity (Slant magazine) Harold (Slant magazine) Later: Red (Slant magazine) Year of the…
-
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008): A-
Fathers figure prominently in Hellboy II: The Golden Army – their sins, their legacies, and the responsibility that comes from turning into one. In this superlative sequel from Guillermo Del Toro, a cloud of parental duty hovers over Hellboy (Ron Perlman), who – having lost surrogate dad Trevor “Broom” Bruttenholm (John Hurt) in the 2004…
