AltWeeklies Wire
The Guy's Chick Flicknew
This Alfie feels like Bridget Jones with a sex change or "Sex and the City" from the guy's perspective. According to chick flick formula, Alfie's Englishman chauffeur in New York learns various life lessons as he progresses from a playa seducing every woman in sight to a vulnerable charmer who's been schooled and chastened by all the girls he's loved before.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
11-04-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Alfie, Charles Shyer
Film Demonstrates How to Drown in a Wineglassnew
Perhaps the filmmaker identifies more with Jack and Miles as struggling artists -- he torments them only because they should know better. But when the director ultimately treats them with generosity, Sideways suggests that, like a fine wine, Payne's sensibility is turning less sour with age.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
11-04-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Alexander Payne, Sideways
Incredibles Proves Super; Express Fails to Impressnew
No doubt future films will improve on The Polar Express' technology, but The Incredibles finds true innovation simply by wrapping wild effects around a thoughtful metaphor. Superman's not the only one who's more powerful than a locomotive.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
11-04-2004 |
Reviews
Reconstruction Guided by Faith in and a Skepticism of Fatenew
Christoffer Boe's impressive first feature gives an analytical cast to ideas of our destiny and in the process forces us to question why we want so desperately to believe in stories like Aimee and Alex's
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
10-28-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Christoffer Boe, Reconstruction
Implausible Story Reaps Ill-Conceived Birthnew
Co-written by one-time Luis Buñuel collaborator Jean-Claude Carriére, Birth aims for the somnambulist surreality and social critique of Belle de Jour or Diary of a Chambermaid, but achieves only spookiness for spookiness' sake.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
10-28-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: birth, Jonathan Glazer
Ominous Primer Goes Back to the Futurenew
Primer explores how two would-be businessmen stumble across an invention with unthinkable consequences for their futures -- and possibly the very concept of "the future" itself. Director Shane Carruth stays just far enough ahead of the audience to keep us intrigued.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
10-28-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Primer, Shane Carruth
Ray shines light on R&B legendnew
Ray proves bracingly earthy and candid, with none of the soft edges of an "authorized" biography. The film presents the groundbreaking R&B singer in flesh and blood, not gold and platinum, and argues that Charles' steely determination fed both his musical achievements and personality flaws.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
10-28-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Ray, Taylor Hackford
The Man Behind Bushnew
Contrary to White House spin, the man behind Dubya is not God, but Bush's key political adviser, Rove, lurking like Forrest Gump over Bush's shoulder.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
10-21-2004 |
Reviews
Director Demonstrates How to Make an 'Issues Movie'new
Vera Drake makes a powerful pro-choice argument without resorting to polemical speeches or manipulative villainy. Instead, Leigh's exquisite treatment of character and setting speaks with impeccable moral authority.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
10-21-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Mike Leigh, Vera Drake
Team America Cuts Loose on Warmongers and Peaceniksnew
Team America's testosterone-fueled puppet show swings into cinemas in the nick of time. In a bitter election year marked by blood-sport campaigning and politically scalding motion pictures,Team America arrives as the ideal joke to defuse the tension.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
10-21-2004 |
Reviews
Filmmaker's Latest Doc Examines Bitter Hometown Harvestnew
The navel-gazing detective story finds McElwee traveling home again to sort fact from fiction in the family drama of a great-grandfather who created Bull Durham tobacco but lost his entire fortune to business rival James Duke, thus reducing the McElwee family name to a butt in history's ashtray.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
10-21-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Bright Leaves, Ross McElwee
Hollywood Product: Buddy Comedy Deserves Traffic Ticketnew
As both a big-screen funnyman and a police officer, Jimmy Fallon comes across like a Gen Z Jerry Lewis. Queen Latifah emerges with her sexy confidence intact, but Taxi runs down so many buddy-flick cliches that it deserves a traffic ticket for a movie violation.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
10-14-2004 |
Reviews
The Yes Men Explore the Art of the Pranknew
The whole Yes Men concept is like some brilliant slacker notion hatched between tokes on a mega-bong. But in this case, the idea moves beyond the couch, into the very bosom of the media -- Harpers, Fortune, The New York Times -- that documents their WTO prankery.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
10-14-2004 |
Reviews
Rock 'n' Roll Dreams Die Hard in Ramones Documentarynew
End of the Century is a rightfully grim, fan's-eye view of the Ramones. The film's first half suffers, kinetically speaking, from a lack of footage of early gigs. By the second half, the band has gained enough notoriety to merit film footage.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
10-14-2004 |
Reviews
For All the Ideas Crowding its Head, Huckabees Still Has Heartnew
Huckabees doesn't just keep its head in the clouds; the "real-world" plot finds modern relevance. Unlike most current attempts at classic screwball comedy, Huckabees talks fast because it has a lot to say.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
10-14-2004 |
Reviews
