[6] A small, isolated village of puritan-like people come under siege by a killer in their midst, as well as woodland monsters that may not be what they seem… Whether or not you like M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village ultimately hinges upon two big conceits (or twists, if you will). I’m okay with the first, as it comes organically from the hopes and fears of …
[5] Personally, I’m not sure when I’ll ever be “ready” to see any dramatizations of September 11th, 2001. I definitely don’t want to see those events sensationalized. Thankfully, Oliver Stone exercises restraint with the material, opting to show the film almost entirely from two characters’ points of view. World Trade Center is a claustrophobic survival story centered around real-life survivors John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and …
[6] Ron Howard directs Cate Blanchett and Tommy Lee Jones in The Missing, an estranged father/daughter bonding flick by way of The Searchers. The story is set in motion after Blanchett’s eldest daughter is kidnapped by an evil Apache mystic who is collecting young women to sell at the Mexican border. Blanchett and Jones are reliably good, and Jenna Boyd is superb as the youngest …
[8] This version of Hairspray disarms you from the very beginning notes of “Good Morning, Baltimore” and builds to one of the most joyful finales of any movie in recent memory. The musical numbers are all superbly choreographed and staged by director Adam Shankman, but it’s the last half-hour of this movie that really seals the deal for me. The climactic performance of “You Can’t …
[5] This belated sequel gets by, for the most part, on good will and fond memories of the previous three installments. It’s light on memorable action scenes and heavy on silliness (the CGI mokeys and gophers are really, really hard to shake). What I really wanted were more special moments between Harrison Ford and Karen Allen. I mean, who didn’t always want to see Indy …
[7] James Cameron’s first film since Titanic is a supreme juvenile fantasy with a healthy sense of adventure and discovery. From its floating mountains to its bio-luminescent flora and fauna, the world of Pandora never stops unfolding before our eyes, and it’s a beautiful, trippy little place to visit. The core concept of Avatar — that of experiencing life through a separate host body — …
[5] How do you review a movie about a guy and girl with murderous mutant genitalia? In the hands of David Cronenberg, this could have been a truly disturbing, fascinating horror film. But in lieu of Cronenberg, we have Frank Henenlotter of Basket Case fame. Henenlotter, as always, takes the comedic route, which forces you to view the effort as one of those ‘so bad …
[8] It may be one of the most atypical Disney animated film, but I thoroughly enjoy The Emperor’s New Groove. It’s by far the funniest Disney flick I’ve ever seen, reminding me more of a Warner Brothers Looney Tune than anything Walt might ever have conjured. The irreverent script focuses on four very engaging characters, two good and two evil, and lets them run the …
[7] Two Boston detectives try to solve the mystery of a missing girl in this tight dramatic thriller from director Ben Affleck. Yeah, Ben Affleck. Who knew? Strong performances from Casey Affleck, Ed Harris, and Amy Ryan. I like how matter-of-fact Affleck’s approach is, and it definitely hooked me for a long while. But I liked it a bit less after the mid-point. The long …
[7] Ryan Gosling stars as Lars, a young man who begins seriously dating a life-size doll. His friends and family are instructed by a doctor to go along with it until they can figure out why he has engaged in this suspicious behavior. I love these types of movies — the ones that take ludicrous concepts, and then treat them very seriously. This is a …
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