AltWeeklies Wire
'The Prisoner' Should Make Us Feel Right at Homenew
Let's welcome back one of the granddaddies of the paranoid genre, The Prisoner, which has been revamped for AMC in an effort to keep us tuned in now that another season of Mad Men has passed. Verdict: Yes, we'll stay tuned.
Scott Glenn on Small Towns, Big Cities and Silver Screensnew
Glenn, whose acting resume includes Apocalypse Now, The Hunt for Red October and The Bourne Ultimatum, is keeping his commute in-state for a change. In this Q&A, the Ketchum resident talks about working in Idaho with a director whose an Idaho native.
Boise Weekly |
Jeremiah Wierenga |
11-11-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Disregard the Crappy Marketing Campaign; 'A Christmas Carol' is an Enchanting Movienew
This is a surprisingly faithful adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, with a little 3-D whiz-bang thrown in for good measure. When the frantic sequences are squished together in a short preview trailer, they are just annoying. Within the film, effectively spread apart, the sequences become exhilarating.
Tucson Weekly |
Bob Grimm |
11-11-2009 |
Reviews
Reality Fiction: How 'The Road' and '2012' Might Predict the Future ... For Realnew
From health care to finance, the prefix "broken" has been applied to every industrialized system humankind has had the gumption to design. The world that lapped up Roland Emmerich's last two end-time fables might not be so eager for part three.
North Bay Bohemian |
Hannah Strom-Martin |
11-11-2009 |
Movies
'Pirate Radio' Rocks the Boatnew
This is one of those ensemble comedies in which each member of the ensemble tends toward one-dimensionality, but that's OK because there are so many members, and they're all so talented.
C-Ville Weekly |
Jonathan Kiefer |
11-11-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Pirate Radio, Richard Curtis
'Taxidermia' is Either Magical Realism or the Most Disturbing Movie You'll Ever Seenew
Some films are tough to watch and others may make you queasy, and then there's Taxidermia, a bizarre, squirmy parade of grotesqueries that requires a titanium-lined stomach to simply endure. In fact, you don't so much watch Gyorgy Palfi's film as sit back and let it happen to you.
Metro Times |
Corey Hall |
11-10-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Gyorgy Palfi, Taxidermia
The 2009 Holiday Film Guidenew
The leaves are turning, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year’s are looming. The holiday season is upon us! Hollywood hopes you will take a break during your endless holiday shopping in the coming weeks to stop by the mall theater and buy a ticket for one of the following films.
Weekly Alibi |
Devin D. O'Leary |
11-10-2009 |
Movies
Tags: holiday film guide, movies
With 'Fantastic Mr. Fox,' Wes Anderson Finds His Genre: Animation
In Wes Anderson's hands, Roald Dahl's imaginative child's story takes on a meta significance as a human-development-coming-of-age story that applies across age groups, generations, social strata, and even species.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
11-09-2009 |
Reviews
'Precious': The Sad Education of Precious Jonesnew
Hothouse melodrama one moment, kitchen-sink (and frying-pan-to-the-head) realism the next, with eruptions of incongruous slapstick throughout, this may be Lee Daniels' stab at finding a cinematic analog for the novel's inventive, naïf-art language -- a film style, like Precious' writing, seemingly being made up as it goes along.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
11-09-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Precious, Lee Daniels
'The Men Who Stare at Goats' Falls Short of Strangelovian Laughsnew
Grant Heslov's film is so intent on being funny and ironic that it erodes any audience investment in the characters and their plights. We spend so much time laughing at their travails that when it's time to root for their victory, it's just too damn late.
Charleston City Paper |
Felicia Feaster |
11-04-2009 |
Reviews
Graham Reznick Ventures into the Genre Woods and Twists Out the Unique 'I Can See You'new
I Can See You takes its characters out to the woods for the scare of their lives, but it isn't overly concerned with subtext. Reznick draws on the non-narrative avant-garde for inspiration; ultimately, his movie has as much in common with David Lynch's weirdest moments or Stan Brakhage as The Blair Witch Project.
Baltimore City Paper |
Steve Erickson |
11-03-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Graham Reznick, I Can See You
'Precious' is an Urban Drama Pressure-Cooker Steeped in Verite Realism
The intrinsic truth in this unforgettable drama outweighs any exploitation or politics that might attend such material. If you're looking for a gritty socially-conscious movie, this is it.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
11-02-2009 |
Reviews
Matt Austin Sadowski Says John Hughes' Death Gives His Doc a Different Lifenew
Hughes' death at age 59 earlier this summer casts a pall over Don't You Forget About Me: A Tribute to John Hughes, which combines clips from Hughes' high school movies with contemporary interviews with the filmmaker's colleagues and boosters like Roger Ebert.
NOW Magazine |
Norman Wilner |
11-02-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Vignettes in 'Act of God' are a Random as Lightning Bolts Themselvesnew
Jennifer Baichwal skips from Canada to France to Mexico, never explaining who her subjects are or arguing why their near-death experiences should be linked. It's just a haphazard travelogue of terror, like 33 Short Films About Glenn Gould Being Struck by Lightning.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
11-02-2009 |
Reviews
Another Year, Another Terrible 'Saw' Sequelnew
It seems like the Saw movies will never end, that they will return every year like an evil plague -- a scaly, slimy demon determined to steal your money. I know this very notion gives me serious nightmares.
Tucson Weekly |
Bob Grimm |
10-29-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Kevin Greutert, Saw VI
