Question 1: One trope that recurs rather often in movies — and sometimes justifies the perpetuation of a franchise — is the car chase. Overall, what is the mass appeal of the car chase? Tim Adkins: I’ll borrow a line from the late great Fresh Prince of Bel Air: “Drive fast. Speed turns me on.” It’s just […]
On April 15, 1912, The Titanic sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. In those fateful hours, and amidst the fifteen-hundred casualties, the ship sparked a century’s worth of intrigue and became one of the most versatile metaphors in history. In and of itself, the ship was a small island, containing twenty-two hundred people, all separated […]
If Titanic is re-released in 3D under the guise of marking its 100-year anniversary, why should movies like Refer Madness, Dazed and Confused, or Cheech and Chong be re-released each April 20th? Perhaps a movie could be alternated every year. Just something to think about Hollywood. Either way, this week, you can watch Steve Harvey self-promote, a tale of a […]
The Cabin in the Woods opens in a sterile environment, white walls ascend to high ceilings, and two scientist-looking types discuss child-proofing homes as they climb into a golf cart. Some of the tertiary conversation is vague: a young woman dressed in a white coat mentions that other countries have failed and only the Japan and the […]
Based on the series of comic albums by Belgian artist Georges Remi (Herge), the 2011 movie The Adventures of Tintin has clever moments and stunning visual effects, but, at times, it falls victim to its release as a 3D film. The gyroscopic cinematography is stellar, particularly when Tintin, our intrepid adventurer / reporter, chases after a pickpocket […]
Welcome to Friday the 13th, and if you’re not up for a marathon of slasher flicks, there’s a new horror film looking to parody its genre. For the kids, there’s also a new Farrelly Brothers film that reimagines the Three Stooges. Could be fun if you’re under ten, but don’t expect a threesome version of Harry and […]
Despite its title and premise, Drive is not a film about speed and Bullit-like car chases. Rather, Nicolas Winding Refn’s film is about fragmented identity. The primary example of this is the unnamed Driver (Ryan Gosling), whose occupation overtakes any given name. Throughout the film, we learn little about him, other than he “can do anything in […]
Like his misogynist personality that overshadowed the critically ignored but socially relevant Antichrist, Lars von Trier – with the help of truncated sound bites taken out of context – submarined the recognition of his follow up, Melancholia. If there’s nothing else we can learn from both von Triar and Oliver Stone, it’s wise to remember that any […]
Just in case you missed it in 1997, Titanic is being released, this time replete with 3D gimmickry. Now you can see Kate Winslet’s breast lunging out of the screen, and the giant iceberg might just appear to be “dead ahead!” If those don’t tickle your fancy, DiCaprio’s icicle body will surely look magnificent in its 3D glory […]
Rainn Wilson walks a well-tread path as Frank D’Arbo, a man so uncomfortable in his skin that he creates an alter ego, The Crimson Bolt, to justify his existence and add to the “two perfect moments” in his pitiful life. One is his marriage to Sarah (Liv Tyler), a former alcoholic drug addict who has recently fallen […]