AltWeeklies Wire
Criminal Teaches Con Film New Tricksnew
Grifter films have become so common that audiences quickly spot their tricks. We know they'll try to con us. Argentina's con-man drama Nine Queens, and the new American remake Criminal, both realize that we're no longer easy marks.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
09-09-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Criminal, Gregory Jacobs
Lawn Chair Larry a Flimsy Excuse for a Feature Film.new
In 1982, Los Angeleno Larry Walters earned notoriety by attaching 42 weather balloons to a lawn chair and taking off on a near-fatal flight at 16,000 feet. Jeff Balsmeyer's new Australian comedy takes the episode, transplants it Down Under and recasts "Lawn Chair Larry" as Danny Deckchair in a flimsy excuse for a feature film.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
09-02-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Danny Deckchair, Jeff Balsmeyer
Bang Rajan Rumbles in the Junglenew
In 1765, when Burma's massive army invaded Siam (now called Thailand), a remote village named Bang Rajan held the attackers at bay for five months. The name "Bang Rajan" strikes patriotic chords in Thailand today, explaining why, despite characters as flat as shadow puppets, Tanit Jitnukul's film become the most successful Thai film in the country's history.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
09-02-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Bang Rajan, Tanit Jitnukul
First-Time Director Gets Stuck in a Genre Whirlpoolnew
Mean Creek feels like a supremely milquetoast film made not out of passion, but out of some assurance that a tight screenplay with all the characters' motives and artsy cinematography stacked domino-neatly in a row guarantees success. But as any game player knows, orderly dominoes are made to tumble.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
09-02-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Mean Creek, Jacob Aaron Estes
Vibrant Hero Reconsiders Revenge Filmsnew
An Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film in 2003, Hero plays less like a conventional action film than a grand master's chess game, and it unfolds with a cold yet dreamlike beauty.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
08-26-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Zhang Yimou, Hero
Recalling Music, Protest of Woodstock Eranew
Bob Smeaton's documentary of Canada's 1970 Festival Express concert tour captures the era's peace-and-love ideals unified by rock 'n' roll, as well as the more militant, violent impulses of the protest movement. Watching Festival Express is like seeing the performances of Woodstock 1969 alongside the riots of Woodstock 1999.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
08-26-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Bob Smeaton, Festival Express
Director's Cut Resurrects Cult Filmnew
Hoping to capitalize on the film's growing cult following, Kelly's story of teenager Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has apocalyptic visions of the future, is being re-released theatrically. Kelly's Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut features additional '80s pop tunes and 20 more minutes of footage meant to clarify some of the story's loose ends.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
08-26-2004 |
Reviews
Spike Lee Blows His Credibilitynew
When Spike Lee was filming She Hate Me, a friend should have taken the filmmaker aside and told him he would better serve everyone's time -- that of his cast and crew, his audience, himself -- by turning the feature into a soft-core adult film.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
08-19-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Spike Lee, She Hate Me
Postmodern Infidelity Brewsnew
We Don't Live Here Anymore often feels like Reality Bites-brand slackers playacting at tweedy adulthood, trying to convey how, in the post-college, post-kids landscape, real ennui -- and real disappointment -- set in.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
08-19-2004 |
Reviews
Chinese Melodrama Derailsnew
As Anna Karenina taught us, doomed love affairs and trains definitely don't mix. The Chinese film Zhou Yu's Train certainly subscribes to that deadly equation in this Instant Romance (just add tears) about a woman, a man ... and a locomotive.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
08-13-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Zhou Yu's Train, Zhou Sun
A Siren Confesses Her Secrets in Talky Thrillernew
In an effort to maximize the intrigue, director Patrice Leconte uses some Bernard Herman-style music to suggest a build to thriller payoff, though that build is largely a ruse. The film's first half, with its promise of deep mysteries to be cracked wide open, never materializes in its less satisfying second half.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
08-13-2004 |
Reviews
Three Willful Women Cope in a Post-Stalin Worldnew
Since Otar Left, a French production set in the former Russian republic of Georgia, treats the other side of emigrant life: those people -- often old, often female -- left behind, who wait for letters, money and a keyhole glimpse into life on the other side.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
08-13-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Julie Bertucelli, Since Otar Left
Garden State Finds Humor in Homecomingnew
Why Andrew Largeman has shut down his emotions, and how he switches them back on again, provides Garden State with its loose plot. Director Zach Braff's film shows that we can't escape our formative influences.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
08-13-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Garden State, Zach Braff
Home Makes It Hard Not to Be Movednew
First-time director Michael Mayer's flawed, at times superficial, but nevertheless affecting adaptation of Michael Cunningham's novel explores anew the profound effect relationships -- either nurturing or truncated -- can have on his characters.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
08-05-2004 |
Reviews
A Fable about Public Fear and Homeland Securitynew
The director knows exactly how to prey on our innate fears of spooky forests and unseen bogeymen, but shows too much confidence in his directing and screenwriting abilities.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
08-05-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: M. Night Shyamalan, The Village
