1,012 posts
I'm not going to go overboard and declare James Gray a great filmmaker based on his Director's Cut of The Yards as a few relatively sane folks have done; I think it's a textured, fascinating character study, but it just misses on some level. It could be that… Continue reading
Three Christopher McQuarrie-related stories in one twelve-hour period? Better this than a day's worth of Ron Bass updates. I take it you're acquainted with Kenneth Branagh. He's the British thespian who was threatening to become the next Laurence Olivier with… Continue reading
While we're talking about squandered goodwill, now's as good a time as any to bring up the Hughes Brothers. The directors of Menace II Society, the best hood film of the early 1990s (yes, even better than South Central), have had a rough go of it since… Continue reading
I received one email excoriating me for being too harsh on Chris McQuarrie's Valkyrie. Unfortunately for the McQuarrie Defense League, it was from someone who hadn't read the script. Look, no one's more disappointed than me that McQuarrie's output since The… Continue reading
The Crop: Valkyrie The Studio: United Artists The Director: Bryan Singer The Writers: Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander The Producer: Singer, Mcquarrie and Tom Cruise (As Exec Prod.) The Actor: Cruise The Premise: Claus von Stauffenberg, a… Continue reading
Michael Haneke, that cheery chronicler of abject inhumanity, is frustrating our expectations in new and, hopefully, exciting ways. After the art house success of Caché in 2005, the director blew minds all over the cineaste-sphere when he decided to do an… Continue reading
You might not have noticed (I know I hadn't), but it's been a full five years since we last saw Goldie Hawn on the big screen. As a fan of the 1970s ditz icon turned movie star (and longtime shacker-upper with Kurt Russell), I'd be sad about this if I felt… Continue reading
"Bring any weapons?" "Of course not." "You ain't changin' nothin'." For about two minutes, the Cannes John Rambo showreel, currently being hosted by our pals over at Ain't It Cool News, is muted, melancholy and contemplative – a nice companion piece to last… Continue reading
For those of us who've been advocating for Gerard Butler's stardom since Timeline (don't look at me like that unless you're going to buy me a drink), it's gratifying to see the Scottish thesp toplining a box office smash, 300, while booking starring roles in… Continue reading
If you were Daniel Craig, would you pass up the opportunity to work with Fernando Meirelles in order to make an Edward Zwick liberal guilt epic? I'm hesitant to editorialize on this one because I don't have all of the details, but the talk all over Hollywood… Continue reading
Everyone makes a big deal over what a racist caricature Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu was, but, if these overly sensitive critics would deign to read just one of Rohmer's wonderful books, they'd learn differently. To wit (from The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu): "Imagine… Continue reading
Say what you want about Smokin' Aces (and a lot of you did), it was a pleasure to have Joe Carnahan once again orchestrating cinematic mayhem after an interminable five year layoff (just another reason to hate Mission: Impossible III). Though the script was… Continue reading
