Reviews
Pages: [1] « 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29
A- |
***½ |
+0|
Teens & Up
In a way, the obnoxious tell-all trailer for
Cast Away gives away more than the film itself. That
trailer, with moronic thoroughness, reveals the film’s set-up,
the crisis, the hero’s ups and downs, his triumph, the climax,
and the denouement. What it doesn’t let on is that the movie
itself won’t tell you what to think or how to feel about what
happens, even at the end. The trailer is typical Hollywood
feel-good, inspirational fare; the story in the film is rather
more ambiguous and challenging.
Read More >
B |
*** |
+0|
Kids & Up
Read More >
A- |
***½ |
+0|
Adults*
The shadow of September 11 will not always
hang over the movies, but as I watched Ridley Scott’s
Black
Hawk Down it seemed to be everywhere: an ominous column of
smoke rising from a city skyline; people watching helplessly via
video screens as a catastrophe unfolds before their eyes in real
time; enemies striking an unexpected and terrible blow that seems
to be as bad as anything can possibly be — followed by a second,
equally terrible blow.
Read More >
C- |
**½ |
-2|
Teens & Up*
In the end, when the parents realize all their son went
through to win their trust, they can’t help but be proud of him.
Another touching Hallmark moment brought to you by a Hollywood
committee, none of whom has any children or parents of their own,
or knows anyone who does.
Read More >
F |
***½ |
-4|
The malleable,
plastic vision of human nature in general and of sexuality in
particular, in which gender and relationships shift and merge and
re-form like blobs of goo in a lava lamp, represents a profoundly
anti-human fantasy and an affront to personal dignity.
Read More >
A |
**** |
+3|
Teens & Up*
Peter O’Toole roars magnificently both in laughter and in rage; his Henry is a simple, direct, utterly unprincipled man who sees the world in two great categories: (a) things he wants, and (b) obstacles to getting them.
Read More >
F |
0 |
+0|
Teens & Up*
Here is the closest thing to a positive statement I can make about
Battlefield Earth: Although it is an adaptation of a novel by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the sect of Scientology - and although it stars John Travolta, one of Hollywood’s most high-profile Scientologists and a long-time champion of this project - Battlefield Earth is not a cryptic tract or allegory of Scientology.
Read More >
A+ |
**** |
+4|
Kids & Up
In the end,
Babette’s Feast is a quiet celebration of
the divine grace that meets us at every turn, and even redeems
our ways not taken, our sacrifices and losses. Whatever we think
has been given up or lost, God gives back in greater abundance,
one way or another. It may not be till heaven that we truly
become all that he intends; but his grace is here and now,
whatever our circumstances, and with him all things are possible.
Read More >
F |
½ |
-2|
Kids & Up*
As an enthusiastic fan of the first
Babe, I wanted to
believe in the sequel, even if it did turn out to be too dark for
young kids. After all, Miller was also the screenwriter and
producer for the original film, directed by Chris Noonan. So I
came to
Babe: Pig in the City with high hopes.
Read More >
A+ |
**** |
+2|
Kids & Up
The judges rating the pig’s performance might as well be grading the entire movie.
Babe is a perfect 10.
Read More >
D+ |
*** |
-2|
Teens & Up*
Directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise
(
Beauty and the Beast) keep things moving fast enough to
keep them from getting boring, and there are a few laughs along
the way. Yet what could have made adequate summer entertainment
for older kids and parents with low expectations is ultimately
undone by pervasive echoes of New-Age pop spirituality and
neopaganism in the film’s imagery and themes.
Read More >
D |
* |
+1-1|
Teens & Up*
“Talk about the wrong stuff” is one officer’s disparaging comment as Willis’ team struts about NASA ostensibly preparing for their mission, hamming it up like class clowns in high school, ridiculing the process, flaunting their lack of couth like a badge of honor — all but letting their butt cracks stick out. Yes, in this film the honors science students are obliged to sit back and watch as the shop class saves the world.
Read More >
B |
***½ |
+2-2|
Teens & Up*
The Dead End Kids have dirty faces, all right — but they’re no angels. Tough-talking young hoods much given to slapping one another’s faces and terrorizing their lower East Side Manhattan neighborhood, they may tolerate sincere, savvy Father Jerry Connolly (Pat O’Brien) and his efforts to divert them from the dangers of life on the street; but it’s in Fr. Jerry’s boyhood chum, infamous gangster Rocky Sullivan (James Cagney), that the Kids find a mentor and kindred spirit.
Read More >
B- |
**** |
-2|
Teens & Up*
A.I. is a science-fiction fairy tale: a terrible, revisionistic revisiting of "Pinocchio," the story of the little manmade boy who wants to be real — as told by a nihilist who condemns Gepetto for creating Pinocchio, the world for laughing at him, and the Blue Fairy for leading him on when he’s better off being made of wood, which will after all be around long after Gepetto is pushing up daisies.
Read More >
B- |
**½ |
+1-1|
Adults
Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s latest vehicle brings us to a rather well-realized, not-too-distant future ("sooner than you think" according to an ominous caption) in which human cloning is possible but forbidden by "sixth-day laws" (so called after the sixth day of creation week in Genesis 1, the day when God created man).
Read More >
D+ |
** |
+1-2|
Adults
See Noah (Ryan Gosling) and Allie (Rachel McAdams) lie in the middle of a darkened intersection watching the traffic light change, then scramble for safety when a car comes! See Allie enjoying post-coital oil painting in the nude, wrapped in a sheet on the porch!
Read More >
B- |
**½ |
+2|
Kids & Up
The Robe is the story of the
other Roman soldier at the foot of the cross — not Longinus, but the one who wins a toss of dice and takes home the robe of Christ.
Read More >
C+ |
** |
+2-2|
Adults*
Highlighting the powerlessness and peril of women under a system that requires them, if accused of infidelity, to prove their innocence or die, but will not punish their husbands unless their guilt is proved, the film’s spotlight exposes a barbaric injustice while for the most part leaving the surrounding social and cultural context in darkness.
Read More >
C- |
** |
+0|
Kids & Up
Parents may be interested to know that the movie tie-in toys are equipped with sound and movement as well as gear. Will the toy Blaster say things like “Pimp my ride!” and “That was off the hizook!” like he does in the movie? Will the toy Juarez riff on the Pussycat Dolls line “Don cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me”? Will the toy Darwin say “Yippie kay yay, coffee-maker!”? There’s a click moment waiting to happen in another ten or fifteen years (hopefully not before that).
Read More >
Pages: [1] « 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29