Neil Young thought he was going to die, so he recorded an album. It’s what you do when you’re an artist, try to get those last thoughts out. The album he recorded was called Prairie Wind, and it’s one of his quiet records (Neil Young is notable for the manic-depressive aspect of his music, in … Continue reading
High school is one of the most fertile topics for pop culture. It seems like few people make it through unscathed, so films, books and TV shows set in high school can resonate with all age groups. One of the great things that Joss Whedon did with Buffy the Vampire Slayer was to make something … Continue reading
It’s quite possible that The Pink Panther has one of the most brilliant advertising campaigns of all time – the studio makes the film look like complete and utter shit so that when it’s finally released and the reviews come in, the consensus is “I certainly thought that would be worse.” Which isn’t to say … Continue reading
If you’re looking for a film to make you believe in Harrison Ford once again, move along. Firewall isn’t it. If this heist/techno-thriller isn’t quite as rote and pedestrian as his last couple flicks, it’s just as formulaic as you’d expect polished moneymaking product to be. There are enough tense moments to keep you awake, … Continue reading
Do you remember when you would come to school and do your homework for the day in your homeroom? That’s exactly what When A Stranger Calls is like – sloppy and lazy filmmaking that’s so terrible you wish Simon West would have just claimed his dog ate the movie. The movie was ill-fated from the … Continue reading
Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story is brilliant, hilarious, wonderful and warmly entertaining. The concept is simple and complicated – Tristram Shandy is known as a book that is impossible to adapt for film because of its purposefully jumbled structure (it’s an autobiography that gets so sidelined by tangents and asides that the author … Continue reading
The strangest thing about Steven Soderbergh’s Bubble isn’t that it was shot on a shoestring budget with non-actors in all the roles, or that it’s being released essentially simultaneously in theaters, on cable and on DVD. It’s that what begins as a meditation on the lives of small town people suddenly veers into a murder … Continue reading
Annapolis is the perfect movie for someone who has never before seen one. The film is aggressive in its attempt to hit as many clichés as possible in its running time, while shamelessly cribbing – and occasionally flat out ripping off – other, better movies. The only interesting character arc in the whole thing is … Continue reading
Albert Brooks films are like little treats. They come along every four or five years, and even when they’re not great, they’re worth seeing. If only more people would see them – I feel like Defending Your Life is the last Brooks film that was seen by anything approaching a wide audience. And I fear … Continue reading
BUY IT AT AMAZON: CLICK HERE!LABEL: Sony ClassicalMSRP: $18.98TRACKS: 15MUSIC BY: John Williams I don’t know if controversial is the right term, but John Williams’ scores for the Star Wars prequels have certainly provided the material for much discussion over the previous six years since 1999’s The Phantom Menace. Of course, the music for the … Continue reading