AltWeeklies Wire
Comedian Pushes Limits of Race-Related Humornew
Sarah Silverman emerges as a member of our cultural bomb squad. She eagerly sets out to defuse social tensions, even at the risk of having them blow up in her face.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
12-01-2005 |
Reviews
Lack of Big Laughs and True Grit Put Film on Thin Icenew
The slick adaptation of Scott Phillips' well-received noir novel feels more like a vehicle for 61-year-old director and his screenwriters to work out their macho midlife crises.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
11-23-2005 |
Reviews
Jonathan Larson's Legacy Lives Onnew
Rent builds to a touching funeral and a superb reprise of two of the best songs, but rather than go out on a strong note, the film retains the musical's melodramatic final portion, including a ridiculous death scene that, on a movie screen, feels like having a billboard yell at you for five minutes.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
11-23-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Chris Columbus, Rent
Genre-Bending Film Surprises at Every Turnnew
Nifty, surprising and outrageously overplotted, The Dying Gaul changes its genre stripes so frequently, viewers may feel they've left a film fundamentally different than the one they entered.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
11-17-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Craig Lucas, The Dying Gaul
Harry Potter Turns the Corner With Thrilling Filmnew
As a turning point in the series, the Goblet of Fire film needs to -- and does -- feel "bigger" than the previous installments. Author J.K. Rowling gives her now-14-year-old protagonists more grown-up concerns.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
11-17-2005 |
Reviews
Film Offers Little Insight Into Johnny Cashnew
As much as the film traces Johnny Cash's personal decline, the script uncovers few complexities in his character and loses sight of him as a potent artist.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
11-17-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: James Mangold, Walk the Line
Palestinian Slackers Pursue Martyrdomnew
The aimless, wheel-turning feel eventually detracts from Hany Abu-Assad's real message: that rather than faceless terrorists, there are people with reasons - even misguided, cruel or vindictive ones - for their violence.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
11-10-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Hany Abu-Assad, Paradise Now
Wes Anderson Looms Largenew
Intellect and citified sophistication prove insufficient weapons for staving off despair in this black domestic comedy about the sudden eruption of the D-word in a bookish family living in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
11-10-2005 |
Reviews
Film Would be Better Named Sucky Cluckynew
Chicken Little hypocritically mocks movie cliches at the beginning, then wallows in sentiment like a pig in slop.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
11-04-2005 |
Reviews
Film Riffs on Comedy Duo's Splitnew
In Atom Egoyan's mystery, dripping with Hollywood noir, rival manuscripts reveal blackmail and murder behind the collapse of comedy headliners clearly based on Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
11-04-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Atom Egoyan, Where the Truth Lies
Love Hurts in Heartbreaking Filmnew
The film suggests a marriage of Robert Altman's early work, with gallivanting but rich character studies, and the penetrating view of marriage and loneliness in Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
11-04-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Ira Sachs, Forty Shades of Blue
Film's Look at War Forgoes Politics for Psychologynew
Despite the film's enormous empathy for the Marines and its engrossing technical proficiency, Jarhead's ambivalence keeps it from carrying out a clearly defined mission.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
11-04-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Jarhead, Sam Mendes
Sequel Taints Your Memory of First Filmnew
Despite reuniting Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones and director Martin Campbell, The Legend of Zorro proves so sloppy, silly and over-acted that the signature "Z" should stand for "Zero."
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
10-27-2005 |
Reviews
Actors Hawk Shallow Goods in Filmnew
The mopey, exceptionally shallow Shopgirl most often suggests is the sleazy politics of a Pretty Woman directed at the New Yorker crowd.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
10-27-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Shopgirl, Anand Tucker
Midlife Crisis Turns Film Partly Cloudynew
Frequently running to the crowd-pleasing Hollywood formula, the director and the screenwriter have ambitions to make the character's midlife crisis into a pointed statement about the hollowness of American values. The film seldom proves as profound as it thinks it is, but you appreciate its attempt to be serious.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
10-27-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Gore Verbinski, The Weather Man
