AltWeeklies Wire
Spacey Serves up Ham and Cheese in Darin Biopicnew
This insufferable vanity project is most excruciating for revealing that beneath the super cool, ironic distance of Kevin Spacey's actorly street cred beats the heart of a hambone.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Felicia Feaster |
12-30-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Kevin Spacey, beyond the sea
Water for the Wavesnew
Wes Anderson sets Bill Murray adrift.
Missoula Independent |
Andy Smetanka |
12-30-2004 |
Reviews
From the Bamboo Grove to W(h)ine Countrynew
The best of 2004 came from all over the cinematic map: foreign films, American independents, and, yes, some big-budget mainstream efforts.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
12-29-2004 |
Reviews
Phantom Menacenew
Joel Schumacher's version of a theater classic gets a tragic ending of its own.
Cleveland Scene |
Bill Gallo |
12-29-2004 |
Reviews
Sea of Loathenew
Wes Anderson takes Bill Murray out to sea and strands him there.
Cleveland Scene |
Robert Wilonsky |
12-29-2004 |
Reviews
Bobby Darin's Show-Biz Race Against Timenew
More "Splish" than "Splash," this biopic about the life of pop crooner Bobby Darin is practically a one-man Kevin Spacey show.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
12-29-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Kevin Spacey, beyond the sea
Haunted-House Movie Is Completely Vacantnew
Darkness is a godawful mess, a Eurotrash horror film for the new millennium.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
12-29-2004 |
Reviews
Tags: Darkness, Jaume Balagueró
Focking Wonderfulnew
When your movie gets riotous laughter out of endless utterances of the word "Focker," it doesn't have to try very hard. But Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman light this film on fire.
Cleveland Scene |
Robert Wilonsky |
12-29-2004 |
Reviews
Eternal Sunshine Brightens a Dark Year for Moviesnew
Nine of Michael Atkinson's Top 10 hobbled at the box office in a year he calls the worst for movies since 1981.
The Village Voice |
Michael Atkinson |
12-29-2004 |
Reviews
Huckabees Is Film Critic's Top Choicenew
I (Heart) Huckabees, David O. Russell's blithely profound mishmash of screwball Sartre and zany Zen, tops Dennis Lim's list. He calls it "a furiously depressed howl of liberal-left impotence that somehow lands on a grace note of provisional optimism."
The Village Voice |
Dennis Lim |
12-29-2004 |
Reviews
Underground Movie Is No. 1 on Critic's Top 10 Listnew
Ken Jacobs' Star Spangled to Death, a vast, ironic pageant of 20th-century American history, is the ultimate underground movie, says J. Hoberman, who chooses it as the best film of 2004.
The Village Voice |
J. Hoberman |
12-29-2004 |
Reviews
Dorkulanew
The story of a half-human, half-vampire is made by dorks for dorks. As such, it is lowbrow, freakish fun.
Miami New Times |
Gregory Weinkauf |
12-28-2004 |
Reviews
Two Top-10 Lists of Picture Perfect Filmsnew
Two L.A. Alternative Press critics agree that The Aviator, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Vera Drake are among the year's best films.
L.A. Alternative |
Jay Antani and Luisa F. Ribeiro |
12-28-2004 |
Reviews
The Top 10 in a Year of Solid Filmmakingnew
While there were no real masterpieces in 2004, there were enough solid films to make two serviceable top-10 lists of equal value.
Ocean Wonderlandnew
Can a filmmaker show artistic growth from one film to the next without necessarily having made a "better" film? When it comes to Wes Anderson's fourth film, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, that's a tough question to answer -- but one that deserves asking.
