It seems a shame that Ian Fleming, whose James Bond novels — which nobody (including the screenwriters and directors) seems to read these days — couldn’t live long enough to witness the full impact of his creation on world culture and the visual arts. The Bond movies have transcended their literary originals to become a […]
Movies
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Swedish surrealism via Peru and Python
Before going largely unnoticed during its extremely limited theatrical release last August, Songs From the Second Floor was a Jury Prize-winner at Cannes in 2000 and an invitee to Roger Ebert’s 2001 Overlooked Film Festival. Floor took Swedish writer/director Roy Andersson four years to complete. (And you thought you waited a long time for Stanley […]
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‘K-19’: a fascinating, refreshing blockbuster
Judging by the fact that it’s lasted so long and surfaces so frequently, the submarine movie should be plumbing the dark depths of the megaplexes for many years to come. Even in these times, its necessarily narrow set and limited cast make it a relatively economical project, and its concentration on complicated machinery, underwater photography, […]
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Bisset shines in sleepy ‘Gal’
“There just aren’t any good roles for women.” Now there’s a complaint you don’t hear too much anymore. It may no longer be an issue when actresses like Sissy Spacek, Nicole Kidman and Renée Zellweger — all of whom did amazing work last year — still go home empty-handed at the Oscars, while Denzel Washington […]
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The Believer highlights second Jewish film fest
The bulk of Rochester’s film festival season doesn’t begin until October with the ImageOut and High Falls fests, but if you just can’t wait until the leaves change color, you’re in luck. The second annual Rochester Jewish Film Festival kicks off this Sunday, offering a diverse batch of features and shorts that will appeal to […]
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1930s-style gangsters, without the pace or pulse
Paul Newman and Tom Hanks star in Sam Mendes’s “Road to Perdition.” Perhaps because it constitutes just about the only adult movie (in the old sense of the term) of the summer so far, Sam Mendes’s Road to Perdition has provoked almost as many raves as his previous hit, the wildly overpraised American Beauty. Mendes […]
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They’re back and in black again
In its own accidental, absurd, and strictly for-profit way, Men in Black II provides something of a service for the movie audiences of today, suggesting some perhaps unsuspected truths and a continuing metaphor for its time and place. Following the amazing success of the first film (it was the biggest hit of 1997), the second […]
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Mr. Pink comes to Rochester
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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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‘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 […]
