Jason Bourne is one of the more intriguing film characters of the past decade. He methodically and purposefully found out who he was, who was responsible for his condition, and attempted to bring everything back together again. Even better, he was not a superhero; Jason was just a guy who went through a lot of…
A Republican getting positive treatment in a modern Hollywood film? This IS a trip to Fantasy Land, or “Rainbow Land” to quote from The Campaign, the newest comedy starring Will Ferrell, who, along with Zach Galifianakis (“The Hangover,” “The Hangover Part II“), attempt to parody the current political season with somewhat successful results. Actually though,…
What is real? Some believe it’s everything we can obverse through our natural senses. Others think we’re living a computer simulation. All I know is that, whether real or not, Total Recall, Len Wiseman’s (who’s known for “Underworld” and “Live Free or Die Hard“) remake of director Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s…
Schadenfreude — pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. The entire audience at the screening of The Queen of Versailles experienced this feeling about the Siegel family; they are truly atrocious people. Two years ago, David and Jackie Siegel were billionaires. They had planes, Rolls Royces, multiple nannies for their seven kids, hosted parties for…
Subtlety has always been a foreign concept to Oliver Stone, even back when he was in great form, so it’s not exactly surprising when various characters make a pitiful attempt at thematic commentary by blatantly spitting out the title in Stone’s latest movie, a wobbly, wandering drug dealers vs. cartels thriller. But while a few…
A few years ago, while reviewing Turkish film director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s 2006 great film, “Climates,” I wrote: [quote]“Climates” is a masterpiece, but it is more than that. It is also possibly an augur to even better things cinematically. It is not an overstatement to declare that Ceylan may be the best living filmmaker today….
I have never claimed to be a screenwriter (nor would I even try to), but it seems to me that if The Watch had just been about a group of goofy, inept, over-the-top neighborhood watchmen, then it could have been a much tighter, coherent and interesting endeavor. Under the eye of director Akiva Schaffer (“Hot…
