Performance artists have done a lot of audacious things in the name of art or to make a statement of some sort, whether personal or political, but high-wire artist Phillippe Petit will forevermore remain on the list for his daring and illegal stunt of running a steel cable between the two towers of the World Trade Center and crossing the void on the wire on August 7, 1974. Tempting death makes for compelling drama and director Robert…Read More
Review: Self/less
Such a great idea for a movie. Such a dull, uninspired film. Here’s the premise: what if you could transfer your consciousness to another body and add decades to your life? The catch: you can’t interact with anyone from your old life, you have to start over with the new body. Would you do it? The central deceit of the story is that the new body isn’t actually a perfect human grown in a laboratory, as…Read More
Review: Exodus: Gods and Kings
When it comes to back stories, there’s no work more frequently tapped than The Bible. A rich document with thousands of stories, it’s produced solid cinema, like 1956’s The Ten Commandments, 1988’s The Last Temptation of Christ, 1959’s terrific Ben-Hur, the silly fun of Life of Brian from 1979, and even daft reinterpretations like the recent Noah [read my review of Noah]. There’s something inherently epic about the mythic story of the origin of humanity, and the…Read More
Review: The BoxTrolls
Children’s films are generally pretty darn benign, with little tension and few intense visual effects or scenes. Yeah, sure, the hero’s in peril from the monster or bad guy, but most children’s films take the Disney way out of 95% sweet, fun, light and 5% tension. Don’t want to scare the kiddies, after all. Except drama is all about tensions, and great storytelling is all about the protagonist being threatened and having to figure out…Read More
Review: Ender’s Game
Orson Scott Card’s book “Ender’s Game” stands as one of the best sci-fi titles ever written and is one of my personal favorites in the genre. Turning its sweeping story of alien invasion and complex war game simulations into a film that retains the ethical dilemma faced by the main character, Ender Wiggin has been a daunting task. Rumors of cinematic adaptations have swirled around the industry for almost 25 years. Director Gavin Hood took…Read More
Review: Iron Man 3
After the narrative train wreck that was Iron Man 2, I was curious where the story would take us with inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) in the Marvel universe. Last time he was on screen was the terrific The Avengers, where his sarcasm and narcissism was balanced by having other characters share the screen, but in Iron Man 3, it’s all about Tony. Or is it? Turns out that when James “Rhodie” Rhodes (Don…Read More
Review: Hugo
Once in a while, a film comes along that defies simple explanation. The story proves complex, the characters unexpectedly nuanced, and the entire narrative experience is beyond anything you expect. Hugo is just such a movie, a story that succeeds as a children’s fable in the spirit of childhood fantasies like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and City of Ember, and simultaneously offers a surprisingly deep and profound exploration of love, family and what it means to be…Read More
Review: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is the first big blockbuster to come out for the summer season. It’s tremendous fun, non-stop action and an adventure film with an appealing story. I not only enjoyed it but kept wondering when I could get a Blu-Ray copy so I could really step through some of the scenes and see how they were assembled. I bet you’re going to like it too. The film starts with…Read More
Review: Shutter Island
The film version of Dennis Lehane’s creepy psychological thriller Shutter Island has taken a while to get on the big screen, but it was worth the wait. With Leonardo DiCaprio in the starring role as US Marshall Teddy Daniels, it’s one of the best psychological thrillers in quite a while. With its leisurely pace, moody ensemble and positively sinister exteriors, it’s also a nice reminder that intense movies don’t need to involve massive explosions, zombies,…Read More