[4] Roseanne Barr and Meryl Streep make one of filmdom’s most curious pairings in She-Devil. The comedy from director Susan Seidelman (Desperately Seeking Susan) is based on a novel by Fay Weldon, about a belittled housewife (Barr) who plots a years-long revenge on her husband (Ed Begley Jr.) and his wealthy mistress (Streep). The casting works, as does Seidelman’s colorful, dark fairy tale stylings and …
[4] Director David Slade (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night) tries to elevate the material to Lord of the Rings status, with several gratuitous aerial fly-over shots and a suitably brooding score from ‘Rings’ composer Howard Shore. But, somehow, infuriatingly, and against all probably odds, Eclipse is still an interminable snooze-fest. The first three-quarters are like New Moon all over again (ie, Chinese water torture). …
[6] A scientist sends a man with dangerous telepathic powers on a mission to destroy a renegade adversary with similar powers. David Cronenberg (Videodrome, The Dead Zone) wrote and directed Scanners, so you know it’s sure to be a bit slow-paced and sublimely melancholy, but with a couple moments of unforgettable gore. Here the big visceral accent comes about fifteen minutes in, when the bad …
[3] I want to be nice to this movie because so many of my friends adore it. But I’ve pondered this review for over a month and can’t put it off any longer. I don’t like this movie. Like, at all. I’m not even sure how to review the damned thing. Did I enjoy watching it? No. Do I appreciate it? Parts of it. Peter …
[9] Martin Scorsese helms this dramatic thriller about an undercover cop (Leonardo DiCaprio) and a gang mole in the Boston police (Matt Damon) who race to uncover each other’s identities while a powerful mobster (Jack Nicholson) manipulates them both to his own, nefarious advantage. The Departed, inspired by the true story of Irish mobster Whitey Bulger, hits the ground running and never lets up on …
[9] Martin Scorsese directs Leonardo DiCaprio in this biopic of Howard Hughes, the billionaire aviator, filmmaker, and playboy whose considerable ambition was tragically counterbalanced by his mental illness. The Aviator opens with Hughes’ mammoth, three-year-long production of the aerial battle movie Hell’s Angels and his budding romance with Katharine Hepburn (Cate Blanchett). He makes considerable advances in the field of aviation and challenges the movie …
[10] Peter Jackson (Dead Alive, The Frighteners) embraces the Herculean task of bringing Tolkien’s supreme fantasy to the silver screen, and hits a home run. The Fellowship of the Ring gets the trilogy off to a strong start, as Frodo Baggins and his companions set off to destroy the One Ring. Jackson is faithful to the source material while masterfully balancing action, horror, heart, and …
[9] Director David Fincher rebounded from Alien 3 with this seemingly innocuous serial killer flick penned by Andrew Kevin Walker. We’d seen buddy cop flicks and killers with gitchy modus operandis before, but characterization and style put Se7en over the edge. It’s a deeply creepy and unsettling movie centering around a seasoned detective (Morgan Freeman) and a rookie (Brad Pitt) who are paired in pursuit …
[10] I doubt Tim Burton will ever make a finer film. Armed with a powerhouse screenplay by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (The People vs Larry Flynt), Burton turns the biography of Hollywood’s most infamously bad director into a poignant and hilarious film about never giving up… no matter how much you might suck. The film is admittedly white-washed, concentrating and embellishing upon Ed Wood’s …
[9] Here we have a horror film so classy, it won the Oscar for Best Picture. Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster each deliver career-defining performances as Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling, the central characters in author Thomas Harris’ perverse contemporary retelling of Beauty and the Beast. The screenplay balances their provocative banter with a well-constructed mystery surrounding the identity and whereabouts of a serial killer …
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