Joel Schumacher’s new thriller, Phone Booth, illustrates once again the weird and ambiguous relationship between popular cinema and its temporal context. Originally scheduled for release many months ago, the picture disappeared, at least for a while, until the manhunt for the Washington, D.C.-area sniper ended with the apprehension of the suspects. The distributors apparently believed, […]
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Mysteries in the jungle
Although presumably a mere accident of production and distribution schedules, the appearance of John McTiernan’s new film, Basic, demonstrates the American film industry’s uncanny penchant for seizing the moment. Just in time to jump on the war wagon, Hollywood once again releases a military flick. The movie, however, suggests another, not entirely unknown aspect of […]
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Let’s move to Cleveland
It’s probably just a coincidence that bombs started falling over Baghdad about 10 minutes after I checked into my hotel in Cleveland, where I was to cover their 27th annual International Film Festival. But there seems to be some unfortunate connection between me leaving town to watch movies and the occurrence of a horrible international […]
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A messy stew from Stephen King
The latest in the unending series of films adapted from the Stephen King novel factory employs a grab-bag, or perhaps a garbage-can, approach to the author’s usual subjects, resulting in an extraordinary and virtually uncontrollable farrago of horror. Dreamcatcher combines the nostalgia and sentimentality of Stand By Me with the psychic phenomena of, say, The […]
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Sex, drugs, and… well, more sex
Go on, admit it. When you see the title The Crime of Father Amaro (opens Friday, March 28, at the Little), you automatically assume it’s a film about a priest buggering young boys, don’t you? Well, it’s not. We first see the recently ordained Father Amaro (Gael García Bernal) as he rides a bus […]
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The envelope, please
Despite all the breathless reporting of the nominations, and all the learned speculation about who and what will win one of those gleaming art deco statuettes known as Oscars, students of the cinema should understand that like most such contests — from Miss Artichoke all the way up to the Nobel Prize — the Academy […]
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One man and a knife against the world
As his new movie, The Hunted, suggests, William Friedkin’s career continues to wander into bizarre areas of subject and character and, not surprisingly, to display a flagrant and really quite inexplicable inconsistency. He has directed some excellent and influential motion pictures, most notably The French Connection and The Exorcist; in addition to some almost equally […]
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A fine line between tedium and entertainment
The last time Gus Van Sant directed a Damon-Affleck script, the film (Good Will Hunting) hit Oscar gold. The Gusmeister is back behind the camera for another Damon-Affleck project, but the odds of Gerry (opens Friday, March 21, at the Little) finding the same kind of success seem robustly unlikely. Gerry is a very different […]
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Hollywood enlists again
Although the new movie Tears of the Sun describes a fictional incident, its plot resembles some actual events from recent history closely enough to exhibit a certain degree of contemporary relevance. Like Behind Enemy Lines and Black Hawk Down, it deals with a small, discrete military engagement within the context of a larger series of […]
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Snuffing and huffing
Snuffing and huffing Rocket contemplates his ticket out of the ‘hood in “City of God.” People familiar with the work of Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles, who crafted the offbeat comedy Maids, might be floored by his latest big-screen effort. City of God is every bit as violent as Narc, just as gritty as Amores Perros, […]
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The ultimate cop flick
Somewhere in its mutation from the mystery story to the cop flick, the familiar movie about the detective’s search for a criminal changed not only its protagonist and his methods, but also its moral focus. The transition probably began three decades ago with the almost simultaneous appearance of some powerfully influential motion pictures: William Friedkin’s […]
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A neat look at inheriting a mess
Jesse Peretz’s follow-up to the painfully mediocre but wonderfully soundtracked First Love, Last Rites sounds like something George Costanza and his buddy Jerry might pitch to NBC after frantically coming up with the idea during the ride to 30 Rock. While nobody is court-ordered to become somebody else’s butler, The Château (which screens Saturday, March […]
