What luck! It’s not every day that a previously undiscovered Hitchcock film surfaces. The 40-Year-Old Virgin finds the Master of Suspense in familiar nail-biting territory when a mysterious stranger rolls into a quiet town and… I’m just kidding. Actually, the directorial debut of Judd Apatow (creator of TV’s sorely missed Undeclared) is a bit of […]
Movies
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French drive and American sloth
The sexy, dark, and hopeful French flick The Beat That My Heart Skipped follows in that noble cinematic tradition of movies about people living day to day while their grand passion remains unfulfilled. Or perhaps it doesn’t count since Beat is actually just a remake. Of an American film. This is possible evidence of Gallic […]
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Are you my Internet date?
In the high season of the blockbuster, when the walls of the megaplexes reverberate with explosions, speeding vehicles careen down the cinematic turnpikes, the pyrotechnicians supplant the writers, and the special effects wizards overwhelm the directors, a small, relatively adult romantic comedy seems a special delight. Just about the only movie of its kind around, […]
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This is Hollywood’s idea of a war movie
In its long and crowded history, Hollywood traditionally produced war movies of real quality, some of them even thoughtful and insightful in their examination of a rich and important subject. Although the invasion and occupation of Iraq continues, with increasing loss of life, money, and credibility, Hollywood appears reluctant to tackle the action in any […]
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BYO popcorn and makeout date
Karrie Laughton, headmistress of Lux Lounge, is a rabid movie buff who counts among her favorite filmmakers men like Wes Anderson and Jim Jarmusch. Yet despite quality taste in film, she readily cops to a soft spot for B movies, or flicks “so over-the-top ridiculous that you can’t help but chuckle.” Laughton doesn’t think that […]
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A science fiction fable for our time
Unlike Steven Spielberg’s essentially unimaginative version of War of the Worlds, Michael Bay’s new and less heavily hyped picture, The Island, engages some of the important matters that traditionally supply the themes of science fiction literature and cinema. Again unlike Spielberg’s most recent work, this movie in fact contains enough action and character for two […]
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Better late than never
Some of my friends revel in pointing out what they consider to be my horrifying lack of qualifications for this job (apparently never having seen The Goonies is a transgression on par with puppy kicking and grandmacide). Admittedly, there are a couple of gaps in my cinematic education, and the more I write about film, […]
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Let’s go back to the chocolate paradise
The 1971 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, retitled Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, attained the status of a children’s classic, approaching works like Pinocchio, Snow White, and The Wizard of Oz. Because of its success with a generation of filmgoers and in keeping with contemporary cinematic practice, a remake must […]
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Tuxedoed mating rituals as old as time
Movies released during the warm-weather months are traditionally designed for escapism. It’s almost impossible to become emotionally invested in the little dead girl ruining the hardwoods upstairs or the superhero who looks like an angry pile of rocks, and some people prefer it that way. But others like a little truth in their entertainment, and […]
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What we can learn about acceptance
Now in its fifth year, the Rochester Jewish Film Festival continues its young tradition of combing the globe to present the finest films on the subject of Judaism and the Jewish experience. RJFF screens 17 films — documentaries, features, and shorts — at the Little Theatre and the Dryden Theatre. Highlights of the 2005 installment […]
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It’s tough finding an apartment in New York City
Although few horror flicks employ the city for their setting — Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby may be the most famous and most important — New York, especially Manhattan, provides a propitious location for the exploration of various themes and subtexts within the genre. Sooner or later just about every conversation there turns to the subject […]
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City’s choice: film
Mocking the culture of beauty pageants is almost too easy — frighteningly healthy egos, nauseating answers to asinine questions, and a cheese factor that would make a brick of Velveeta turn green with envy. A woman’s fitness is assessed using a highly scientific method that involves strutting in swimsuits and stilettos? That certainly seems foolproof. […]
