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Ever since the success of Spellbound, which I found dull, it seems that indie documentary filmmakers can’t scramble fast enough to record other seemingly boring contests and attempt to imbue them with a weightier resonance than they actually possess. The DVD-era, in tandem with more democratic access to camera and editing equipment, is bringing [...]

Disappointed by the ubiquitous appearances of United 93 on many respectable critics’ best of 2006 lists, I reprint here my essay on the film:
When United 93 was released it was, along with the subsequent World Trade Center, seen, as Frank Rich noted, as a referendum on whether or not America was prepared for “9-11 The [...]

This week has lots of releases to like, and more than a couple to be curious about. As we gear up for the Academy Awards, we have two films that are nominated, and a new special edition for an 8 time Oscar winner. In addition to those, we have a couple of direct to DVD [...]

Breach is a tightly scripted, well acted espionage thriller. It is such a joy to sit in a theater and watch a film that gets right down to business. Breach doesn’t get bogged down in side stories, on any superfluous subplots. It is a film that delivers plenty of details regarding the true life story, [...]

A confectionery treat for the non-discerning fan of the romantic comedy. A film featuring leads that are so likable that you are likely to gloss over the lack of actual character, content to let the sappiness and generally agreeable tale wash over you like so much warm sunshine. A movie content to drift along on [...]

When I first saw the trailer for Bridge to Terabithia, you could almost hear me grown. It isn’t that the movie appeared to be bad, it looked like a decent fantasy film, it is more that it looked like I had already seen it. The trailer made the movie look like The Chronicles of Narnia: [...]

Comic book adaptations can be split into two categories. There are the ones that the studio pushes as big A list releases, like Spider-Man, X-Men, Hulk, Batman, and Superman, then there are the B-listers, which so far includes Daredevil, Elektra, and now Ghost Rider. This is not a reflection on perceived quality, or lack thereof, [...]

Ghost Rider took the cineplex by force over the weekend, opening to the estimated tune of $44.5 million for the three day weekend. All this despite the lack of decent reviews. Following at a distant second, with approximately half the take of the top film, was the fantasy film Bridge to Terabithia. All this one [...]

Following last weeks selection of two new releases, this week brings with it a smattering of no less than five new wide releases. Of course, two of those opened on Wednesday, so they have a bit of a headstart. Among the other new films are a flaming biker, a traitorous FBI operative, and kids escaping [...]

Here is a challenge for you, take a popular yet somewhat obscure comic book franchise and make a movie about it. Now, by obscure I do not mean Superman, Batman or Spiderman, those have already been done and are far from obscure. Now once you have this story in your midst, your goal will be [...]

Idi Amin, the corrupt and brutal dictator, I say that like there is any other kind, of Uganda once called himself the king of Scotland. Thence came the title of the 1998 debut novel by Giles Foden, and also the title of the 2006 film from director Kevin MacDonald, his first non-documentary feature film. [...]

There is never any shortage of big names who are willing to get up on stage and wax political before announcing the winner of a coveted award. This is what makes it easy for Academy Awards show producer Laura Ziskin to find presenters to open the envelopes and hand out little gold men. The difficult [...]

Disclaimer: The following article could possibly be construed as containing “spoilers”, although it seems difficult to spoil a largely plotless film, except perhaps by implanting interpretive ideas into your head that may affect the way you watch the film. Arguably, therefore, it may be best read after seeing the film.
Inland Empire may be [...]

Last night in Berlin at the opening of the Berlin International Film Festival, Zach Snyder’s epic 300 was put on display in its world premiere. The film, which is based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller, was greeted by cheers from the crowd of over 1700. The night was capped off with the film [...]

Welcome to this week’s Top 5 movies about dreams, brought to you by RankAMovie.com.
We may talk to animals, but they often don’t talk back to us….except in the movies! I’m a bit surprised that niether "Babe" nor "The Muppets" appeared in the top 5, but there’s always hope for these films if more users vote [...]

If you aren’t excited about the upcoming film 300, then you may want to check you pulse, because you may no longer be among the living. If you haven’t heard of 300, then get out from underneath your rock, check out the trailer, see the stills and bask in the glory of El Bicho’s raving [...]

This week brings with it the good, the bad, and the ugly, everything the movie world has to offer. Filmmakers from Martin Scorsese to Neil Jordan, Sofia Coppola to Andrew Lau are represented among the releases of the week. There are a number of releases of interest this week, but like all of the weeks [...]

Times aren’t exactly tough for comic book movie adaptations. Recent years have offered the returns of Batman and Superman to the big screen, the critically lauded and innovative renditions of Sin City and V for Vendetta, and box office smashes like the X-Men trilogy. Even marginally popular franchises are being awarded super-sized budgets, like the [...]

Eddie Murphy follows up his award winning success of Dreamgirls by getting back in a fat suit and playing multiple roles of The Nutty Professor and starring in the mean spirited unfunny comedy, Norbit. It is a film that has no story, no moral, and not much at all to like. It was almost a [...]

Hannibal Lecter is one of the screen’s most evil and enduring villains. From his first appearance in Michael Mann’s Manhunter, to Jonathan Demme’s classic Silence of the Lambs, and even Ridley Scott’s Hannibal, the character has such a charismatic appeal that we want to know more. Well, here is the story of where the cannibalistic [...]

Just when my faith in film was being re-energized by Children of Men, I made the mistake of renting Saw III. I’m not going to mince words here, and it’s not worth the effort to try to think of some clever way to say this: Saw III is awful. Really, unwatchably bad. [...]

Aren’t you glad that George W. Bush is the President of the United States? No, of course not! But you might just be, at least momentarily, tempted to think so after seeing Children of Men; after all, without the vicious blunders of Falluja and Guantanamo to inform its sense of doom, Alfonso Cuar³n may never [...]

Hour of the Wolf, like most of Bergman’s work, is supremely difficult to parse, but that’s a great part of its allure. That’s not to say, of course, that the film is difficult for difficulty’s sake—that would be rubbish. Bergman’s most homologous equivalent in the current cinema, I would say, is David Lynch, [...]

The Brothers Pang make their English language debut with this supernatural thriller in sunflowers. It is an inauspicious start to the dawning Hollywood portion of their career, which has them remaking their creepy film The Eye next. The Messengers is successful in delivering their effective visual style, yet they are let down by a weak [...]

The Arrangement is a movie that walks the thin line between brilliance and incoherence. It is a movie that was ahead of its time, yet not easily viewed. It was intriguingly pieced together, yet the narrative never came together for me. This is not a linear film, and the meandering and cutting is what sinks [...]

Eddie Murphy not only played three roles and donned a fat suit, but he helped push Norbit to the top of the box office pile. The comedy raked in over $34 million at the box office this weekend, dwarfing the take of the second place film, Hannibal Rising. The finish of these two films defied [...]

Brothers and sisters, lend me your eyes so I many share with you all the tale of brave Leonidas I, King of Sparta, son of King Anaxandridas II, descendant of Heracles, who led 300 Spartan warriors against the seemingly unending forces of Emperor Xerxes of Persia at The Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC.
Xerxes sent [...]

Like last week, this week brings a lowly two wide releases to the nation. Your choices this week are targeting two different audiences. One promises a few splashes of the red stuff, and maybe a few fleshy treats, on the other hand, we also get a comedy that promises a dosing of gross out humor [...]

After sitting with my lists for a little while and seeing a few more 2006 films, I have gone back and made a few revisions to the list. Among the affected lists are Best Score, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress, and Best Picture. What you are about to read are my previously issued lists, revised [...]

I remember being a young adolescent and having a somewhat unhealthy obsession with Batman. Specifically, I had an obsession with Frank Miller’s Dark Knight series. If anyone was capable of making Batman seem any cooler, it was Frank Miller. His art and gritty style has yet again taken the public by force and become mainstream [...]