Stefan Ruzowitsky’s Holocaust survival tale, loosely based on fact, tells how “the world’s best counterfeiter” (the long, long face of Karl Markovics) eases his existence in a Nazi concentration camp by suppressing his scruples and aiding the German war effort, speedily mastering the British pound, but then dilly-dallying over the …
Somewhat rushed retelling of the Dumas revenge story. Granted, there's a good deal of story to be gotten through, and the speed might be hoped to counteract the snags: the details of the tunneling in the Chateau d'If are not altogether credible (the dirt is disposed of in the chamber …
The problem is a real one: the plight of the modern-day Midwest farmer in the face of government foreclosures. But the portrait here is hinged entirely on a romantic notion of 19th-century frontier individualism that we cannot believe has come into the present day, or much past Willa Cather's day …
Literary cinema, civilized, conservative, a trifle fusty, from writer-director (and actor) Michael Blakemore. The project was, as stated in the printed preamble, "suggested by Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya." In fact quite strongly suggested by it. In fact quite tightly tethered to it, notwithstanding the transplant to post-WWI Australia. Louis Malle's …
Sententious moral tale about the breakdown of civilized behavior in French colonial Africa, just before World War II. Comic-strip caricatures, in place of rounded characters, are not much use in a moral tale, however. They and their escapades are so determinedly loony that no tension can be built around them: …
New Age relationship counseling in a tropical paradise, a stale, routinized, loveless marital comedy. With Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman, Malin Akerman, Kristin Davis, Kristen Bell, Faizon Love, Kali Hawk, and Jean Reno; directed by Peter Billingsley.
Long overdue Hollywood solemnization of the Gulf War. The investigation of the first woman nominated (posthumously) for a combat Medal of Honor is expected to be a rubber-stamp procedure, leading posthaste to a photo-op at the White House, with the President draping the ribbon round the neck of the dead …
This tortuous revenge tale, the filmmaking debut of stage director Des McAnuff, is an adaptation of one of Balzac's better-known novels, but it would seem that the umbrella title of his oeuvre -- la Comédie Humaine -- has been interpreted a little lopsidedly, with the stress on literal comedy at …
Jean-Charles Tacchella's overpraised love story is a profusion of casual, cursory observations of family life; and in the abundance there are plenty of amusing moments, and many more that are smug, lazy-minded, and banal. It seems a nice idea to do a movie whose entire, large population is tied together …
American remake of a very lucrative French export by Jean-Charles Tacchella (to whom, whatever happened?). It could hardly have gotten any shallower than it already was, without complete evaporation. And indeed the roles for the secondary mates (William Petersen, Sean Young) have been considerably beefed up. At the same time, …
Call-to-action documentary by Louie Psihoyos, rather like a magnified detail from The End of the Line, a tight focus on a “little town with a really big secret,” the Japanese fishing port of Taiji, where an estimated twenty-three thousand dolphins and porpoises are covertly slaughtered every year. Upon his return …
A plotline copied from straight-faced action films like Coogan's Bluff and Trackdown (a bit more Trackdown, but in the setting of Coogan's Bluff); a trendy soirée appropriated from Midnight Cowboy; a standard collection of hicks-in-the-city jokes: ordering a meal at the Waldorf ("You got any Popsicles?") and causing the cellist …
A mike-frightened would-be songwriter from South Amboy, N.J., moves to Manhattan to pursue her dream among the bumping-and-grinding female bartenders (like exotic dancers without the clothing removal) of the titular nightspot. Flashy, empty puffery. With Piper Perabo, Adam Garcia, Maria Bello, Melanie Lynskey, John Goodman, LeAnn Rimes; directed by David …
Drugs, gang war, diminished academic performance -- the whole sordid scene, with a cinematic style to match it. Top-billed Jim Brown waits in the wings for half the movie before making his grand entrance: "This is my bitch. I don't want you fuckin' around with her." Cheryl Kay, Gregg Gomez …