AltWeeklies Wire
Gold Ticket Confectionnew
Burton and Depp's screen version of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book is truer to the source material and generally splendid, artful, and often sinister, yet it doesn't completely displace the earlier screen version.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
07-14-2005 |
Reviews
Sex is Hell for Texas Teensnew
There is such a dire need to expose the utter failure of abstinence-only education that my hopes were high for a P.O.V. series documentary The Education of Shelby Knox.
Orlando Weekly |
Lindy T. Shepherd |
07-14-2005 |
TV
Tags: TV
Dream on Silly Dreamernew
This Florida Film Festival short-form documentary decries the gutting of the Walt Disney Company's hand-drawn animation division.
Orlando Weekly |
Steve Schneider |
07-14-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Dan Lund, Dream on Silly Dreamer
The Animation Shownew
The movie's eager young contributors don't have nearly enough ideas of a narrative nature to justify their tedious displays of technical virtuosity.
Orlando Weekly |
Steve Schneider |
07-14-2005 |
Reviews
Palindromesnew
Pointing filmmaker Todd Solondz back toward the salad days of his Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness, Palindromes paints a fearlessly perverse portrait of a 12-year-old girl who desperately wants to get pregnant.
Orlando Weekly |
Steve Schneider |
07-14-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Palindromes, Todd Solondz
Bird Brainednew
San Francisco's alternate-universe vibe pervades this documentary about Mark Bittner, a resident of the city's North Beach neighborhood who cares for some 45 conures that congregate in and around his cottage.
Orlando Weekly |
Steve Schneider |
07-14-2005 |
Reviews
The Children's Hournew
In Kore-eda's Nobody Knows (inspired by true events, it's said), the twilight zone of choice is modern-day Tokyo, where a quartet of siblings, none older than 12, putters around a small apartment, waiting for a mother who may never return.
Orlando Weekly |
Steve Schneider |
07-14-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Hirokazu Kore-eda, Nobody Knows
Wings Over Americanew
In nearly its every frame, Batman Begins is modern-day mythmaking of the grandest scale. And its only substantial failing is that it doesn't mind telling you so itself.
Orlando Weekly |
Steve Schneider |
07-14-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Christopher Nolan, Batman Begins
Desert of Despairnew
Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi's film captures the life of a cursed band of war orphans in a culture fraught with political, religious and ethnic clashes.
Orlando Weekly |
Lindy T. Shepherd |
07-14-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Bahman Ghobadi, Turtles Can Fly
Clowns Go All Outnew
In this urban documentary, South Central L.A. rival groups of "clowns," dressed in whiteface, take to the streets to perform furious dances that are the utmost in personal and cultural expression.
Orlando Weekly |
Steve Schneider |
07-14-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: David LaChapelle, Rize
Bewitchednew
This letdown film chronicles the featherweight sparring/foreplay of two characters any sensible adult would be hard-pressed to care about.
Orlando Weekly |
Steve Schneider |
07-14-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Nora Ephron, Bewitched
Oompa-Loompas With Extra Oomph
Inevitably, Burton’s work will be put up against the film that came before it, and this one can stand the comparison well. While not a great film, it’s smart, enjoyable and, most important, respectful of both its audience and its author’s legacy.
Columbus Alive |
Melissa Starker |
07-14-2005 |
Reviews
Apocalyptic Terrainnew
Zombie godfather Romero peels off yet another worthy amalgam of the two essential elements in his oeuvre: an obvious yet spot-on central metaphor and a creative approach to bodies going splat.
Orlando Weekly |
Steve Schneider |
07-14-2005 |
Reviews
War of the Worldsnew
Hollywood can officially flush its hopes for a summer recovery down the toilet with the release of this shockingly unimaginative remake.
Orlando Weekly |
Steve Schneider |
07-14-2005 |
Reviews
Saving Facenew
The 2005 Florida Film Festival introduced audiences to this cross-cultural dramedy, in which a Chinese-American surgeon has to open her home to her middle-aged, newly pregnant mother.
Orlando Weekly |
Steve Schneider |
07-14-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Alice Wu, Saving Face
