If I have as much fun in a theater with another movie this year as I had with Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, 2005 will go down in history as the greatest year for cinema ever. Shane Black, best known for his high-octane buddy pictures like Lethal Weapon and The Long Kiss Goodnight, makes his directorial … Continue reading
The issue film seems to have been relegated to TV for the last few years, but every now and then one rears its head and lumbers to the Academy Awards – The Insider, or Erin Brockovich or Boys Don’t Cry. For 2005 it’s North Country, a fictioned up version of true events that led up … Continue reading
Every couple of years the other Steve Martin emerges from his hole, blearily blinks his eyes, makes a good movie, and then goes back to sleep again. While that Steve Martin sleeps there’s a different guy who runs around making shitty and broad comedies like Bringing Down the House and Cheaper by the Dozen 2. … Continue reading
Doom, the latest video game turned into a movie, presents us with a cinematic first. In the film a character dies and then gets a free life. It’s during the much vaunted “first person shooter” scene – our hero is overtaken by an enemy and knocked down. In a truly amazing moment of bizarre filmmaking, … Continue reading
BUY IT AT AMAZON: CLICK HERE!AUTHOR: Frank BeddorPUBLISHER: EgmontMSRP: N/A for AmericaPAGES: 376 For many writers, there’s an undeniable lure in remaking an existing property. Hollywood falls to the temptation far more often than it should. Writers of fiction are a touch less prone to overzealous reimagining, simply because the market doesn’t support it, but … Continue reading
Cameron Crowe’s new movie, Elizabethtown, is like the shambolic southern rock that fills its soundtrack. Like Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird (now used twice to great effect this year), the film is too long, peaks too early and is really sort of all over the place. Which is why I loved it. Orlando Bloom is Drew, … Continue reading
Sometimes a movie speaks to me so truthfully and so personally that I can’t figure out if it’s a great film or just one that greatly resonates with me. After thinking about it a lot (and I mean a lot), I’ve come to the conclusion that The Squid and the Whale is a great film, … Continue reading
There are a lot of people today who don’t get what the big deal is about Al Pacino. I see it on the CHUD message boards all the time, kids who are familiar with the concept that Pacino is one of our great actors but not believing it because they just haven’t seen him being … Continue reading
David Cronenberg is a monster, and I mean that with respect. He’s created as impressive a body of work as any director in cinema. Over the course of a thirty-year transformation from artistically minded horror filmmaker to true artist, he’s taken genre filmmaking into deeply emotional territory, finally reaching a place where ‘genre’ doesn’t apply. … Continue reading