Maybe the film is more meta than we give it credit. Maybe it’s trying to mimic the convoluted natures of our history. Maybe.
A boy, his dog, and Burton at his best.
Lists about the best Christmas movies are everywhere this time of year, and, most likely you’ll get a variation of It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. These are great movies, and I try to watch each of them, including a few others, every year around Christmas, reminding myself to ring bells, […]
Burton and Depp are coming closer to eradicating the tent-pole film machine known as Disney, but they’re not there yet.
In for some Liam Neeson kicking Turkish ass? Check out Taken 2 — guaranteed to be more like Taken than the first Taken. In the mood for something morbid but funny? Frankenweenie opens this weekend — hopefully to defy the Burton / Disney dynamic that has disappointed as of late. Interested in Zac Efron and pee? You will need to deal with […]
The Rum Diary is a movie full of missed moments, seemingly at times of ranting to its audience. At the same time, this film falls prey to the same devices that sunk Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In both films, Depp channels the journalist alter egos of Thompson, but in The Rum Diary, the poignancy […]
In one sense, 21 Jump Street is retelling of The Prince and the Pauper wherein economic disparities are replaced by the gulf between the socially admired and the socially anemic. Truthfully, I was expecting little from the large-screen adaptation of the 1980’s television series about undercover police officers who infiltrate reprobate-filled highschools. However, this film is less longer […]
Last weekend was ruled by The Avengers, and it’s probably a good bet that most production companies assumed this would be the case. I’m sure that Dark Shadows will draw a decent crowd, but it would be safe to bet on Marvel’s superhero cavalcade to continue conquering the box office. Dark Shadows: The love affair between Johnny […]
It’s not often that animated films make it to Gladiators, but Rango gave me reason to pause. It’s not genius, and it’s not really unique: the overall theme centers on the quest for an identity, something that is often a dime-a-dozen in animated and live-action features alike. The computer animation is flawless, and the voice talents are […]
As the trailer for the film adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary makes its way around the internet and into the laps of Gonzo-followers, the premier looms and conjures previous imaginings of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson on the silver screen. Thompson – or more appropriately, his alter-ego Raoul Duke – has been portrayed in two films […]