UKGabriel Range In my initial notes, I called Death of a President the scam of the festival. After some reflection, that’s probably too harsh. But it is a waste of a perfectly good controversy, and another blow for the politcally aware audience which wants more films like Fog of War and less of Michael Moore’s … Continue reading
I wonder how many times John Cameron Mitchell will have to answer a variation of “If you’re going to have real sex in a movie, why don’t you have real violence?” when he does press for his excellent new film Shortbus? It’ll probably come up in most interviews, and I can’t decide if it reflects … Continue reading
Usually when you hear that a great novel that helped earn its author the Nobel Prize is being made into a movie, you would get a little nervous. Especially when that book is Jose Saramago’s Blindness, a novel that is easily imaginable as a movie, but not easily imaginable as a good movie. In Blindness … Continue reading
The saga of Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain continues. When I walked out of my screening many months ago, I was elated – I had just seen a masterpiece. It didn’t even occur to me at the time that this film could divide audiences; what I had seen was so beautiful, so touching and so truthful … Continue reading
I respect James Ellroy’s love for Los Angeles. I don’t understand it – there may not be a city that wasn’t once part of the Confederacy that I hate more – but I can respect it. He loves his city in the same way that I love mine and his novels are like bitter love … Continue reading
After adapting two of the most beloved properties of the Twentieth Century – remaking The Great Muppet Caper as Meet the Feebles and adapting As I Lay Dying into Dead Alive – Peter Jackson is turning his attention to a much lesser known property, Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series of fantasy novels. The books reimagine the … Continue reading
This week we see two people retiring from movies – Luc Besson and the perpetually befuddled-looking looking Juliette Lewis. Besson, whose “final” movie is the upcoming Arthur and the Minimoys, says that after ten films he’s all done and that he wants to turn his attention to civic good work, including setting up a foundation … Continue reading
(Nick’s Review) Watching Pan’s Labyrinth doesn’t just deliver the joy of seeing a well-made film. It doesn’t just deliver the wonder of a darkly beautiful fantasy brought to life. Watching Pan’s Labyrinth gives you the excitement of experiencing a filmmaker blossoming into true greatness, a director taking his spot alongside the other genius fantasists of … Continue reading
This week Amazon.com unveiled their “Unbox” movie download service. It’s expected that Apple will be introducing something similar this week. The question has become whether lots of people will want to watch full length movies on their computers or video iPods. But that question was answered over a year ago by a movie made by … Continue reading
Last week my father went to see Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and was surprised to see people getting up and leaving when the group launched into some of the stuff off Neil Young’s latest album. It was the political music, especially Let’s Impeach the President, that sent them scurrying out of the venue, which … Continue reading