AltWeeklies Wire
The Final Days of the Third Reich Unfold in Downfallnew
Best known for playing an angel in Wings of Desire, Swiss-born actor Bruno Ganz portrays one of the 20th century's greatest demons, Adolf Hitler, in Downfall.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
03-24-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Oliver Hirschbiegel, Downfall
Moral Ambiguity and an Abandoned Baby Fuel Up and Downnew
This film from the Czech Republic makes you wonder if the people of this often luckless, tread-upon region will ever be happy.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
03-24-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Jan Hrebejk, Up and Down
Guess Who Is No Improvement on the Originalnew
The distance between Guess Who and the 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner proves that social progress doesn't guarantee artistic advancement.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
03-24-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Guess Who, Kevin Rodney Sullivan
Through the Eyes of Haitiansnew
It would have been nice to see director Jonathan Demme rise above a relatively traditional, at times stodgy documentary format reliant on talking head interviews to link the revolutionary practices of Dominique with the revolutionary possibility of film style.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
03-17-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Jonathan Demme, The Agronomist
Get a Little Sweet and Sour with Animationnew
The Animation Show 2005, an evening of cartoon shorts presented by Oscar nominee Don Hertzfeldt and "King of the Hill's" Mike Judge, offers flashes of delight while confirming the adage that life is nasty, brutish and short.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
03-17-2005 |
Reviews
Media Influences Color Experience and Perception of Warnew
Gunner Palace is shaped by not only contemporary documentary conventions, but by fictional war films like Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket, which seem to play continuously in the back of director Michael Tucker's and the soldiers' minds.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
03-17-2005 |
Reviews
Joan Allen Chews Everybody Out in The Upside of Angernew
Director Mike Binder shows little insight into the mind of Terry, whose husband abandons her. Terry's daughters never develop past the simplest possible characterizations, and the film can't decide whether to make Terry a villain, a victim or a feminist heroine.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
03-17-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Mike Binder, The Upside of Anger
Tough Guy Is No Match for Unruly Kidsnew
As we learned in Kindergarten Cop, a tough guy is no match for unruly kids, and unruly kids are no match for a tough guy's discipline. C'mon, everybody, let's hug.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Heather Kuldell |
03-10-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Adam Shankman, The Pacifier
Nuts and Bolts Revoltnew
Robots' animators obviously paid meticulous attention to detail, from the dents and rust stains on the robots to the rivets in the buildings, but they deflated the film by using a stock "small-town dreamer goes to the big city" plot.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Heather Kuldell |
03-10-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Chris Wedge, robots
Star Power Shorts Out in Be Coolnew
Gray should be cutting Tarantino royalty checks considering how much he lifts from that director's act. Travolta and Thurman re-do their Pulp Fiction sexy dance, and black characters launch irate Tarantino-esque monologues over the use of the "N" word.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
03-10-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Be Cool, F. Gary Gray
Film Finds Hope in the Art of Photographynew
The children offer shockingly perceptive, eloquent insight into their situations, and some exquisite photographs to boot. There are photographs of the intractable chaos of their lives, but also images that show how children can transcend even the most degraded circumstances.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
03-10-2005 |
Reviews
Inside Deep Throat Doesn't Go Deep Enoughnew
Compared to Kinsey's examination of the conflicts sex sets off in the human animal, Inside Deep Throat is kid's stuff, arguing for moral extremes rather than nuance. Especially grating is how the filmmakers create a conventional divide between the libertines and the blue nose porn-censors.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
03-10-2005 |
Reviews
Flick Weaves a Wandering Webnew
Government official Dondup's escape from his Himalayan home proves increasingly futile in Travellers and Magicians. As it progresses, Bhutanese monk/filmmaker Khyentse Norbu lets some of the realism dissipate as his film begins to take on the ambiance of a fairy tale.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
03-03-2005 |
Reviews
MTV Visuals and a Ludicrous Plot Unravel The Jacketnew
On a Gulf War battlefield, Jack Starks (Adrien Brody) experiences the first of many head injuries when he's shot point-blank by an Iraqi child. Viewers may also feel as if they've experienced blunt trauma to the head after watching The Jacket.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
03-03-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: John Maybury, The Jacket
Sea Inside Champions Right to Dienew
Although the director succumbs at times to TV-movie clichés, the film never loses sight of the emotional repercussions of the euthanasia issue as it builds to a conclusion in which tragedy cannot be separated from triumph.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
02-25-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Alejandro Amenábar, The Sea Inside
