I watched the making of the new Guy Ritchie film Sherlock Holmes on cable TV last night. As a long time fan of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, I came to the conclusion that this is not my Sherlock Holmes.
The film appears to be an action-packed, kind of cartoonish movie. Starring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Doctor Watson, Ritchie presents the two as a Victorian-era Batman and Robin.
“How the hell do I top this?” Orson Welles (Christian McKay) asks after his triumphant performance of Julius Caesar. Of course he would, but this account of the Mercury Theater’s innovative version of Julius Caesar is fascinating on its own. The film captures the behind-the-scenes dramas of the production and the proclivities of the brilliant and egomaniacal Welles, as well as the colorful actors that Welles directed. The cast is strong, the directing crisp and the story is a good one. [Read more →]
Having spent just about a full semester now studying in the United Kingdom, I’ve reflected a lot on my home country, the United States of America. I’ve learned new Scottish, Irish and English English expressions, and seen my own American English expressions greeted with stares of confusion. I’ve been nearly run over hundreds of times, misjudging traffic on account of the Brits driving on the wrong side of the road. I’ve noticed CCTV cameras just about everywhere, seen a National Health Service physician for a checkup, and been questioned sternly by immigration officials when exiting and re-entering the country (despite my possessing a perfectly valid student visa) — all of this reminding me that as big as government has gotten under Bush and Obama, it ain’t as big as the UK’s. [Read more →]
Some films you can just watch over and over again. You’re not sure why, because they are not necessarily the best films ever made. But clearly there is something that resonates. One of these films for me is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Perhaps because it always seems to be on cable, or because Gene Wilder is a genius, I have viewed this movie several times recently and have come across some disturbing things that spill over into real world problems, namely poor corporate governance.
To Netflix, Reed Hastings, CEO;
Dear Reed,
First of all let me say how much I enjoy your service. Watching movies that I don’t own without having to drive to the video store or subscribe to cable TV is well worth whatever it is I pay you on a monthly basis. Also, thanks for leading the way on delivering video content via the internet. Now I can catch up on all of those episodes of Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe that I miss out on by not having cable. What? No? Okay, well, get on it then. But you still managed to put the other guys out of business by doing what they do better. That’s the creative destruction of the market at work, and truly the essence of the American Dream.
But unless you’re looking to hire someone to watch movies all day and write summaries of them, I’m not here just to heap praises upon you. I’m here to discuss your site’s use of genre. [Read more →]
The LA Times reports that UCLA plans to screen the old Sherlock Holmes classic films.
I like Basil Rathbone in his early films as Holmes, but I was not crazy about Rathbone/Holmes fighting Nazis in the later films. Holmes was out of his time and element in those films.
I was also a big fan of Jeremy Brett as Holmes on PBS’ Mystery! The series was very faithful to Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories.
Our nation’s women are being swept off their feet by a (not exactly) new phenomenon — vampires!
Sexy, young, brooding, vampires — not the swishy Bela Lugosi kind. The vampire I am talking about kinda looks like a cracked out John Mayer. [Read more →]
When a film has Jim Sheridan as its director, a screenplay by screenwriter/author David Benioff and is based on a film (Brødre) written and directed by acclaimed Danish director/writer Susanne Bier, it would be surprising if the film were anything short of first rate. Although the copious advertisements for Brothers suggest a smarmy familial love triangle, Brothers is a thoughtful and dark exploration of war’s effect on soldiers and their families. The big stars in the film do a fine job with the serious material. [Read more →]
When Clareece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) realizes that her life may finally improve, she gives most of the credit to her teacher, Ms. Rain (Paula Patton). Precious recognizes that the teacher helping her once had problems of her own. In one of the film’s many voiceovers, Precious reflects on this and says, “I think that maybe some of them was in tunnels. And in that tunnel, the only light they had, was inside of them. And then long after they escape that tunnel, they still be shining for everybody else.” Beautifully directed by Lee Daniels and wonderfully acted by newcomers, pop stars and a comedienne, Precious is a film about how small kindnesses can create a force powerful enough to combat unspeakable cruelty and suffering. Although the film is gritty and uncompromising, there are moments of surprising beauty and humor, and Precious looks very different from most of the standard Hollywood offerings. [Read more →]
I have long been interested in Che Guevara, although I am hardly an admirer, and I’ve read scores of books about him, including his Bolivia war diary and his other works.
So as a student of history, as well as film, I forced myself to sit through the two long films about Che Guevara last week on the IFC cable channel.
Has anybody else gotten the memo going around? The one reminding us to dump buckets of ridicule and disdain on pre-teen girls?
Because, they’re getting kind of big for their britches, you know. Every few years they join forces to bring about these huge cultural phenomena, like Twilight, and before that Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers and Hello Kitty and friendship bracelets and the Disney Channel and Titanic and those one-hit wonders, the Beatles. So, accordingly, they should be universally crushed and stomped, because — as everyone knows — if tweeners like it (read girl tweeners), it must be lame and contemptible. [Read more →]
Which modern day martyr do you think Huffington Post contributor and ‘philosopher’ Bernard Henri-Levy is talking about here?
“Nothing will repair the days he has spent in prison. Nothing will erase the immense, unbelievable injustice he has been subjected to. Nothing will take away the hysteria of those ones who have never stopped pouring contempt upon him, hounding him through hatred and asking for his punishment as if we were living the darkest and most ferocious hours of the McCarthy era all over again. At least the nightmare is about to end. At least the end of the hell is looming. And this, for the time being, is what does matter.” [Read more →]
The memoir craze has been going on as long as I can remember, which is about 10 years. Anyone who wants to criticize my knowledge of the publishing world should remember that 10 years ago I was in high school and spent most of my time trying to discreetly look down girls’ shirts. I wasn’t that discreet. But, let the record show I was never perverted enough to look up anything, nor was I scholarly enough to look up anything. To be honest autobiographies aren’t my cup of tea. Sure, I got curious, especially in college, and I’ve read a few, but generally the genre falls flat unless the person is famous or serious addictions are revealed. Beg, Borrow, Steal: A Writer’s Life by Michael Greenburg is an exception. This memoir is a solid and engaging read as you see Greenburg’s life through New York City snapshots.
“Have you ever had a secret you couldn’t tell anyone?” Jacob Black (Taylor Lautner) asks Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart). Yes, Jacob, and here it is. I was bitten by an inexplicable desire to see The Twilight Saga: New Moon on its opening Friday night, despite the crowds and sold out shows. Judging by the shrieks and squeals from the teenage girls that filled the theater, this film will score big with its target audience. As for the adults, The Twilight Saga: New Moon is not as, uh, “good” as its predecessor, but is still a bit of harmless fun. [Read more →]
I would just like to take a moment, one single little moment, to express how happy DVD packages make me. I bought Star Trek (2009) recently, which is to say it came out on Tuesday and I owned it before this is posted. And it came as a part of what A Christmas Story devotees would call a statue: a model of the Enterprise. It has its own stand. I can barely look at it without needing to wipe tears from my eye.
“More of this is true than you would believe,” flashes on the screen at the start of The Men Who Stare at Goats. That sounds promising, because the film is based on the well-received nonfiction book by Welsh journalist Jon Ronson. But a disclaimer at the end of the film that goes by too fast to read says that many of the characters and much of the plot has no connection to the book. That is too bad, because the real story sounds funny and fascinating, and the film has a first rate cast. But as an absurd comedy, The Men Who Stare at Goats is plodding, and not nearly as funny as it should be. [Read more →]
It was inevitable that this day would come. With the growing knowledge about the Mayan calendar end date of December 21, 2012, it was just a matter of time before Hollywood seized the opportunity to show its version of what the end date could mean. Since worldwide spiritual enlightenment, a slow transition from a patriarchal to matriarchal society, or nearly imperceptible earth-changes are admittedly not the stuff of blockbusters, Hollywood logically opted for a disaster flick. And not just any disaster flick, but a disaster flicks’ greatest hits. [Read more →]
Director/screenwriter John Krasinski assembled an impressive amount of male talent to fill out Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. Unfortunately, their impressive performances are largely wasted in this film. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men is not really funny enough to be a good comedy, and its attempts at serious reflection are pretentious and pat rather than insightful. This is a shame, because this film has some interesting ideas and real potential. [Read more →]
The zombies in Zombieland are seriously frightening, and the film provides a few laughs. While not as clever or as scary as the underrated Jennifer’s Body, the strong lead performances make this diverting film enjoyable. Zombieland is lightweight and fun, but instantly forgettable. [Read more →]
Horror is a genre of the unnatural: things that shouldn’t exist but somehow do; things that do things they shouldn’t; anything and everything that defies the law of physics, biology, and offends the human sensibility. Zombies are an easy example: they aren’t dead when they should be and they do a lot thing dead bodies don’t normally do like walking around and attacking the living. While zombies don’t unnerve me (not even the new fast running crazy zombies) there are some shows and films that do. [Read more →]
