Under the stone-slab “classical” direction of Clint Eastwood, Leonardo DiCaprio dutifully plays J. Edgar Hoover as an anal-retentive power freak and mama’s boy (Judi Dench is mom). Building the FBI, he strikes fierce poses but remains a weak, petty neurotic. Writer Dustin Lance Black (Milk) never digs very far, and …
Not since Ingmar Bergman's "Death of God Trilogy" has one anticipated a work of such magnitude and proportion. I'm seated in a lawn chair outside the Reading Grossmont waiting patiently for Ye to reveal himself. Directed by Coodie and Chike Ozah.
Sophomoric horror show about a couple of college kids -- a bickersome brother and sister -- terrorized by the bogeyman, no less, on a lonely country road that connects to an incongruously populous diner and police station. Limited means and imagination, though a surplus of let's-put-on-a-show enthusiasm. With Justin Long …
Victor Salva, following his original Jeepers sleeper, has more time and money at his disposal, but no better an idea: a high-school basketball team, plus three cheerleaders, on an orange school bus in the middle of nowhere, under attack by the Winged Thing -- officially The Creeper but better called …
Jonathan Breck returns as the Creeper in this rare sequel/prequel (sprequel?) set between the first and second film. Directed by Victor Salva.
The Horror Hound Festival holds its first ever event in Louisiana, where it attracts hundreds of geeks, freaks and die-hard horror fans from far and wide. Among them is fanboy Chase and his girlfriend Laine, who is forced to come along for the ride. But as the event approaches, Laine …
A movie for those who just want to be transported to another time and place, never mind what there is to do upon arrival. Lacking a renowned novel as a guidebook, the team of James Ivory (director), Ismail Merchant (producer), and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (writer) jump off from a base …
Anything-for-a-laugh homosexual romantic comedy, under the cloud of AIDS. Among the many-things-for-laughs: asides and soliloquies to the camera ("Why is the idea of a simple dinner now like an evening of Russian roulette?"); recurrent appearances by a Mother Teresa look-alike (on the spot after a gay-bashing incident, etc.); a fantasy …
Of Mice and Men for the mumblecore set. Were it not for happenstance and a zoom lens that appears slightly dislodged from its turret so as to artlessly dart at and away from its subjects, filmmakers Jay and Mark Duplass would have no idea how to tell a story. Unskilled …
If Chevy Chase, if John Belushi, if Dan Aykroyd, if Gilda Radner, if Bill Murray, if Jane Curtin, if Laraine Newman, then why not Mark Blankfield? But then again, why? Why bring him, and the Fridays brand of drug humor, from the little screen to the big? Jerry Belson's Jekyll-and-Hyde …
Gynocentric parallel lives in Tel Aviv: a broken-hearted catering waitress, a broken-ankled bride, a language-impaired Filipino caregiver, a mute five-year-old. Stretching barely beyond an hour and a quarter, the film doesn’t lead anywhere except a strained poetic end, but it’s engaging enough en route, sprinkled with visual flair. Sarah Adler, …
YouTube giveth stardom. But what doth YouTube taketh away? Directed by Jon M. Chu (G.I. Joe: Retaliation).
This blind-lady-in-distress thriller marks a departure for writer-director Bruce Robinson, a departure from the United Kingdom for one thing (Withnail and I, How to Get Ahead in Advertising), and a departure from the side road and the banana peel for a couple of others. The detective work on the trail …
Cue the TV announcer: “A small town family, deep in denial, is rocked to find a lesbian among them in Gidget Goes Sappho, or ‘Who ordered the Katherine Heigl Gay Marriage project?’” It starts with a strong supporting cast reciting reasonably authentic dialog, but this isn’t the first time Mary …
Hanna and Andreas became a target of the secret police and had to give up their plans for their future studies and desired professions.