[6] Ben Stiller gives a career-best performance in Permanent Midnight, based on Jerry Stahl’s autobiographical book of the same name. As Jerry, Stiller plays a Hollywood writer whose heroin habit almost destroys him. Elizabeth Hurley and Maria Bello play romantic interests, while Owen Wilson, Janeane Garofalo, and Fred Willard pop up in supporting roles. While Stahl’s downward spiral is certainly harrowing, complete with endangering the …
[8] In pre-World War II Florence, a group of elitist British dames and a garish American art collector take in a small boy and raise him. When Britain and America enter the war several years later, the young man returns the favor by looking after the women when they’re interned by the Italian police — and helping to smuggle one of them out of the …
[5] Even when a movie doesn’t come together, I sometimes admire the effort and ambition so much, that I have to give a little extra credit. Waterworld is one of those movies. First let’s focus on the positive: The atoll sequence is great, the boat and airplane battle is pretty good, James Newton Howard’s score is awesome, and Dennis Hopper steals the show. On the …
[4] Julian Sands and Sherilyn Fenn star in this odd-ball drama about a surgeon who chops off the limbs of his feisty lady love so he can have her all to himself. I appreciate a lot of what writer/director Jennifer Lynch (daughter of David Lynch) is trying to say in her script, especially with Sands’s character, a Freudian mess of a man who is trying …
[5] SPOILER REVIEW I really liked American Beauty when it was first released. Maybe I was wooed by its quirky introspection and aesthetic achievments. Or maybe it was screenwriter Alan Ball’s fresh new way of blending the real with the surreal. Or even the meditative lilt of Thomas Newman’s trend-setting score. But whatever the reason(s), watching the film ten years later, I realize — American …
[6] In this horror comedy from director Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings), Michael J. Fox stars as a charlatan ghostbuster who can communicate with the undead. After many of the local ghost community start disappearing, Fox gets roped into solving the mystery, which involves a 20-year old mass-murder at a nearby mental institution. If it sounds convoluted, it is. The narrative is over-complicated, involving …
[9] Who said period pieces have to be stuffy? Director Oliver Parker equips a talented and charming ensemble cast with the eviscerating words of Oscar Wilde. Rupert Everett owns the role Arthur Goring, a self-centered playboy who runs from responsibility and commitment, but who still manages to be a loyal friend. Julianne Moore is delightful as the nefarious Mrs. Cheveley, whose blackmailing threatens to upset …
[10] A profound, yes profound, pitch black satire that has become an anthem for a “generation of men raised by women”. From a gender studies perspective, Fight Club speaks to the fragility of masculine identity and the disturbing lengths to which misguided youth will go to feel like they belong, to have identity, to be men. Fight Club is famously reviled for its graphic depiction …
[10] The story of Titus Andronicus is a fascinating dissertation on human violence, and in the hands of visionary director Julie Taymor (Frida, Across the Universe), it becomes an orgasm of cinematic delight. It opens in the aftermath of war, as Titus (Anthony Hopkins) returns victorious to Rome, having just defeated the Goths and captured their queen, Tamora (Jessica Lange), and her sons. Fulfilling his …
[9] Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson follows Boogie Nights with another sprawling emotional epic full of spectacular acting and rich directorial style. The screenplay is an exercise in whimsical allegory, connecting the lives of nine different characters in a sometimes obtuse retelling of the Exodus story, complete with an audacious, climactic rain of frogs. The many characters and subplots are held together remarkably well through Anderson’s …
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