Nineties Fever

Thu 21 Feb 200207:54 PM

Lens Crafters

Mon 18 Feb 200206:22 PM

Though its promise is greater than its reality, the movie rating and recommendation engine MovieLens is at least a lot of fun. Users rate a slew of movies (I was able to quickly rate about sixty-five) and MovieLens returns a list of recommended current features and recent video and DVD releases. It’s a project from the University of Minnesota, but it’s practically begging for a deal with Amazon or Citysearch.

Park Life

Sun 27 Jan 200202:01 PM

Given the films he’s made lately, it would be hard to blame anyone for giving up on director Robert Altman. But his latest, “Gosford Park,” is assured and deftly-made enough to reaffirm his reputation as one of the greats, and certainly as the master of nuanced ensemble pieces. In fact, “Gosford Park” is a complete delight, as comic and touching as any film from the past few years, and filled with terrific, minutiae-filled performances from some formidable performers.

Jung

Tue 27 Nov 200107:36 PM

“Jung (War): In the Land of the Mujaheddin” is a harrowing documentary about the civil war in Afghanistan, shot by three Italian filmmakers who are nearly as heroic as their subjects. It follows the efforts of a team of international doctors and nurses who set up an emergency hospital for war victims, but takes great care to give voice to the ravaged Afghani population. The movie spares nothing in depicting the brutal reality of its subject matter, and it left me physically distraught. Please go see it.

Toys of Summer

Wed 7 Nov 200107:48 PM

Writing in the New York Times on Wednesday in an article called “Summer of the Spinoff,” Rick Lyman takes a look at the impending movie season, which, even moreso than those in recent memory, is chock-full of what some call “the inevitable result of more than a decade of growing influence for studio marketing departments and corporate risk-aversion strategies.” In spite of my growing excitement over next week’s release of “Spider-Man,” it’s alarming to realize that, according to Lyman, at least sixteen films this summer will fall into the category of “sequels, prequels, spinoffs, remakes and franchise films based on comic books, television series or video games.”

Send in the Clones

Wed 22 Aug 200107:08 PM

The title of the next installment in the Star Wars saga is “Attack of the Clones,” which nearly everyone I know thinks sounds ridiculously silly. This poster, on the other hand, looks promising — which in itself might be a small but hopeful clue that Lucas might be looking to redeem himself for the heinousness of his past crimes. Props to Suction.com for the tip.

The Ghost and Mr. Clowes

Sat 18 Aug 200103:53 PM

Forget the “X-Men” and even next year’s “Spiderman” movie. The best-ever cinematic adaptation of a comic book is Terry Zwigoff’s “Ghost World,” based on the work of the same name by Daniel Clowes. “Ghost World” was, admittedly, my least favorite of the serialized stories that appeared in Clowes’s brilliant “Eightball” comic book, but it remains head and shoulders above most anything drawn and written by hand. Zwigoff has turned it into a sublime and incisive feature film that’s likely to leave just about anyone laughing satsifactorily at its pathetic cast of characters and their prosaic circumstances — and there’s no simple, Hollywood-esque redemption at the end, no tidy comedic denouement, no happily ever after.

Does Whatever a Spider Can

Fri 13 Jul 200102:30 AM

As a former North American adolescent male, how can I not be completely giddy at the thought of the upcoming Spider-Man movie (due to be released in May 2002)? Columbia Pictures has just released the first teaser trailer for that movie in QuickTime format, and some of it looks fantastic. The bank robbery scene is filmed with a fairly generic hand, but the Spider-Man costume itself is an impressive feat, and the CG animation of ol“ Webhead swinging through Manhattan canyons is a pitch-perfect realization of a million hand-drawn comic book panels.

Action-Packed Weekend

Mon 9 Jul 200110:38 PM

A twenty-dollar bill threatened to burn a hole in my pocket this weekend, so I took the opportunity to go and see some mindless Hollywood actioners. The new Jet Li film, “Kiss of the Dragon,” is a competent facsimile of standard Hong Kong fare, and I got a kick out of Li’s kung fu mastery. In the final analysis though, it’s a squandered opportunity that never really rises above expectations — eerily similar to Chow Yun-Fat’s “The Replacement Killers.”

I had much lower expectations for director Dominic Sena’s “Swordfish,” if for no other reason than his “Gone in Sixty Seconds” was a pathetic waste of time and money. So I was pleasantly surprised when it turned out to be moderately entertaining. Though I think John Travolta needs a personal trainer and a year off to reconsider his approach to his craft, Hugh Jackman has the makings of a real star. No need to rush out to see either film; a Saturday night rental will serve you just as well, plus you get to hang on to a greater portion of your own twenty dollar bill.