Elephant examines a day in the life of a high school just before a Columbine-like shooting spree turns the idyll upside down. But even without the topicality and drama of that, it would be well worth a look, and a welcome return to form by director Gus Van Sant. Van Sant started out as […]
Andy Davis
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When Susan Sontag set out define camp in 1964, she differentiated between pure camp, which is innocently bad, and the deliberate variety, which is ultimately a simulation of naiveté. The latter, she rightly noted, is less likely to be as satisfying. Squarely in the former category is a piece of ’60s Hollywood pulp […]
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Meet me at the fun maze tonight
Finally. But first: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind begins disappointingly enough. Jim Carrey plays Joel, an uptight square who decides to ditch his job and head for the beach on a cold winter day. Intrusive, mostly unnecessary voiceover covers all of this. There he meets, against his will, bohemian-looking Clementine (Kate Winslet), […]
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You might be forgiven for thinking, from the posters, that the titular hero of Hidalgo is played by Viggo Mortensen (Lord of the Rings). But Hidalgo is a mustang. The marketing folks at Disney can’t seem to decide between pushing Viggo, a sudden commodity, or the horse, not coincidentally possessor of the second-worst horse name […]
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A child is left alone for the weekend in a grand apartment with only the servants to pester in The Fallen Idol (1948). The film could probably coast along entirely on the banter between the young boy, Phillipe, and Baines the butler, or by following Phillipe about on the miscellaneous adventures he busies himself with, […]
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Overkilling Jesus Christ
Director and co-writer Mel Gibson has brought us The Passion of The Christ with the stated intention of sharing his faith with the world. This he means to do by simply telling the story of the last days of Christ (told in the Gospels), albeit graphically. This might lead one to expect a sober, […]
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Oscars on the fly
Editor’s note: Every year, in the weeks leading up to Oscar Night, film critics and Academy members are flooded by screeners of the films up for big awards. The thinking here is that these films need to be seen again while the viewer stays mindful of the various awards they’re nominated for. This way, everyone […]
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“Catch That Kid.” I remember my mother taking my brother and me to see Escape From Witch Mountain nearly 30 years ago. That film had extra-talented young teens who outsmarted the adults, and it didn’t make a lick of sense. But I loved it so much that I rushed the screen. A recent showing […]
