Steve Buscemi, one of the greatest character actors of his generation, will come to the Dryden Theatre on Saturday, July 13 to introduce local film fans to the latest phase in his plan for cinematic world domination: direction. You may know him as the squirrelly guy from Fargo, the guy with the crazy eyes from […]
Movie Reviews
Posted inMovies
Kickin’ it all the way back to the early ’80s
I had to drive to Toronto to see one of last summer’s most overlooked films, but this Saturday night, thanks to the Dryden Theatre, you’ll be able to treat yourself — without leaving the country — to Wet Hot American Summer. It’s a brainy spoof of those popular bawdy teen sex romps from the late […]
Posted inMovies
John Sayles tries Robert Altman
In the course of his relatively long but somewhat subdued career in the cinema, John Sayles has pretty much done it all, and now and then even, as they say, had it all. Beginning, like a lot of filmmakers of his generation, with an apprenticeship with the legendary schlockmeister Roger Corman, he may not have […]
Posted inMovies
The last of the old thrillers
Because motion pictures require a good deal of time to plan, finance, produce, edit, publicize, and release, The Bourne Identity, a typical espionage thriller dealing with violent international intrigue, lags far behind current events and contemporary awareness. Although calling the picture “a 21st century spy film,” the folks who put the whole complicated, expensive project […]
Posted inMovies
‘Dangerous’ in more ways than you’d think
The Golden Age of Comic Books began back in the ’30s and ended with the adoption of the Comics Code in 1954, but a comics renaissance is taking place right now. Spider-Man is the fifth-highest-grossing movie of all-time, and The Hulk’s trailer is leaving fans salivating for its release next summer, along with Daredevil and […]
Posted inMovies
Chance, fate, and infidelity
Whether through clever marketing, corrupt arrangements, or sheer dumb luck (all of which operate in the film industry), the producers of Unfaithful probably benefit as much from its positioning as from its considerable publicity. Sandwiched between last week’s smash hit Spider-Man and next week’s guaranteed boffo, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Adrian […]
Posted inMovies
Two very different assaults on the senses
A noticeable improvement over The Phantom Menace, but paling in comparison to the original Star Wars trilogy, Attack of the Clones is a fun film that does little but show off state-of-the-art special effects while filling in the somewhat predictable holes in the story (wait…you mean Anakin is going to be lured to the dark […]
Posted inMovies
The fantasy of the other self
After 40 years of comic books, generations of readers, and as much publicity as the hypemeisters, assisted by their kind friends in the media, can generate, and even after a long, unexplained, but politely ignored delay, Spider-Man simply cannot fail. It doesn’t really matter whether the picture is particularly good in any way, only that […]
