AltWeeklies Wire
Cobwebs: Redundant Spider-Man Franchise Dangles By a Thread
Even the nerdiest members of that long-dead-gone cultural movement known as fanboys will admit that rebooting Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” is/was a mistake.
Ozon’s Gaze: A French Girl’s Sexual Odyssey Goes From A to Z
For his latest filmic exploration François Ozon addresses a complex mix of sexual, personal, social, familial, gender-based, and technological issues, inexorably honing in on a striking synthesis of generational catharsis.
Artificial Intelligence By Degree: The Future Is Now
In spite of its many and assorted plot-holes, “Transcendence” is a captivating sci-fi movie thanks to strong performances from a stable of reliable actors and to a romantic hook at the heart of its high-concept trappings.
Rumsfeld Crushes Morris: Well-Prepared Documentarian Is No Equal for the Master of BS
Errol Morris meets his match in Donald Rumsfeld. The notoriously contentious documentarian, whose probing interviews with 1960s secretary of defense Robert McNamara form the finest political documentary ever made (“The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara” - 2003), runs aground against McNamara's eventual successor.
Ozon’s Gaze: A French Girl’s Sexual Odyssey Goes From A to Z
For his latest filmic exploration François Ozon addresses a complex mix of sexual, personal, social, familial, gender-based, and technological issues, inexorably honing in on a striking synthesis of generational catharsis.
Tags: François Ozon, Young & Beautiful
Lost in its Own Jungle: “Rio 2’s” Socially Awkward Agenda Has a Racist Streak
Brazilian co-writer/director Carlos Saldanha returns to the music-driven children’s animation franchise he began in 2011. Written with three other screenwriters, “Rio 2’s” skewed racial hierarchy of animal characters is spelled out beneath their colorful camouflage.
Tags: Rio 2
The Vampire-Alien Who Fell to Earth: Scarlett Johansson Goes Undercover
More visually accomplished than its malnourished narrative supports, “Under the Skin” works well as a foxy sci-fi movie for stoners.
Farm Workers Unite! The Spirit of Cesar Chavez Lives
Diego Luna’s second directorial outing is a prudently succinct brief-biopic about the Mexican farm-worker-turned-union-activist responsible for improving working conditions for migrant laborers in America.
Von Trier’s Character-Study of Ravenous Feminine Power Gets Split Up
Just as with Harvey Weinstein’s famous mistake of splitting Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” into two parts, the producers of Lars von Trier’s 240 minute film have seen fit to split it in two, rather than deliver the movie as the filmmaker intended. Big mistake.
Genius Denied: The Greatest Sci-Fi Movie Never Made
Alejandro Jodorowsky is much more than a mad genius of cinema. The Chilean-born artist/filmmaker who created “El Topo,” the experimental surrealist film that started the Midnight Movie craze in 1970, has lived a life full of such enthusiastic artistic creation that his very existence defies all expectation.
Bloody Sandals: “300” Sequel Only Works When Eva Green is Onscreen
“300: Rise of an Empire,” of the sword-and-sandal hybrid war franchise based on Frank Miller’s (“Sin City”) graphic novel, fumbles through this superfluous sequel to “300” (2006).
Action-Man: Liam Neeson — Irish Charmer Does it Every Time
Yet another standard-issue thriller — this one starring the ever-watchable Liam Neeson on leading man duties — “Non-Stop” is a perfect guilty pleasure. So what if the plot makes little sense?
America Al Qaeda Jeremy Scahill Exposes America’s Never-Ending War Against the World
“American Al Qaeda” — you might think the inflammatory label refers to turncoat U.S. citizens that have travelled abroad in order to fight against America’s trademarked “war on terror.” You’d be wrong.
No Verhoeven: Here’s Another Remake That Shouldn’t Have Bothered
This adaptation of the Robocop franchise had the potential to really say something about where America's corrupt militarized-global-corporate-political machine is headed. It didn’t do that.
Cosmic Crush: Collin Farrell’s Starry-Eyed Burden Goes Cold
It’s a testament to Colin Farrell’s ineffable appeal as an actor that his warm-hearted performance keeps the audience awake during producer/screenwriter-turned-director Akiva Goldsman’s otherwise somnolent adaptation of Mark Helprin’s romantic fantasy set in New York.
