AltWeeklies Wire
Ed Harris Talks Westerns and 'Appaloosa'new
It's been 50 years since they first pronounced the Western dead, but it just refuses to stop sucking air. The latest star to realize this is Ed Harris.
Artvoice |
M. Faust |
10-06-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
'Blindness' Has Limited Visionnew
Blindness certainly has an uncommonly distinguished origin; it's adapted by Don McKellar from the novel of Portuguese Nobel Prize-winning novelist José Saramago. But what might well have been provocative and insightful on the page has been rendered portentously inflated.
'Eagle Eye' Is a Nifty Thriller with an Odd Detailnew
The thriller is considerably slicker and more exciting than the generic trailers make it look.
'Everybody Wants to be Italian': Unlikely to Be a Fave, but Pleasant Enoughnew
The plot is never terribly plausible, and you can see the road bumps in this relationship coming a mile away. But despite the shaky setup, the characters do grow on you after while.
'Wanted' is the Summer's Most Entertaining Movienew
On the basis of the trailer, I put Wanted at the bottom of my summer must-see list. So imagine my surprise when I went to see to anyway (hey, that's my job) and it turned out to be the most gleefully kick-ass action movie I've seen in years.
Tags: Timur Bekmambetov, Wanted
Steve Carell on Improv and 'Get Smart'new
While improvisation would seem to be more welcome in an indie film or a show like his hit The Office than in a big-budget summer blockbuster like this, Carell says it still has its place. "It was a mix. We stuck to the script, but there were chances to play. We would come up with alternatives because you never know in the final outcome what will or won't work. So we tried to give ourselves some options on various takes."
Artvoice |
M. Faust |
06-23-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Jack Black Stars in the Animated Film 'Kung Fu Panda'new
Kung Fu Panda star Jack Black talks about finding his inner dragon, super breath power, and his favorite Biblical exclamation.
An Open Letter to Gordon Ramsaynew
I tried, Chef, I really did, and on numerous occasions -- but I just cannot sit through an entire episode of Hell's Kitchen. Invariably, after or during one of your obscene and belittling rants, I tell you to shut the fuck up, consciously using one of your favorite expletives.
'Unsettled' Turns to Gazanew
Unsettled has an involving, sometimes engrossing and almost tragic human interest appeal but the movie is, perhaps unavoidably, skewed. No Palestinian appears. And looming just over the historical horizon is the monster problem no Israeli government has had the will or desire to address: the quarter-million Jewish settlers in the contested West Bank.
With New Film Project, Professor Griff Takes on African-American Media Stereotypesnew
Griff's most famous role in that long career is minister of communications for Public Enemy, but Griff (born Richard Griffin) has made his own name in the world as well, separate from but always in pursuit of the same agenda that drove Public Enemy: empowering black people, countering media dissembling, fighting the powers that be.
Artvoice |
Geoff Kelly |
03-14-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Gaming the Viewernew
Why would you want to watch a film about a couple and their young son held prisoner and tortured by a pair of bullying psychopaths?
Tags: Funny Games, Michael Haneke
Brian De Palma's Acts of Regressionnew
Debuting on home video this week, Redacted only played theaters in a handful of cities last fall, though it stirred up more than its share of controversy.
Artvoice |
M. Faust |
02-22-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Brian De Palma, Redacted
Let's Hope Real Comedy Comes into Playnew
You know how most DVDs come with extra features about the making of movie, interviews with the stars and the director, and whatever else was captured on film that fans might find moderately interesting? They seem to have got it backward here.
Did Romance Exist Before Movies?new
Hollywood perfected it with sophisticated women and beautiful men trading witty dialogue while overcoming artificial obstacles to the kind of rapturous love that only had to last until the words "The End" left us to imagine that they could keep it up for the ensuing lifetimes.
The Art of Lyingnew
Much of the critical response to the film adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel, Atonement, has focused on the film's epic scope and the intensely but tragically romantic story it tells. There has even been some comparison with James Cameron's Titanic.
Tags: Atonement, Joe Wright
