AltWeeklies Wire
'Fanboys': Honoring Geek Eruditionnew
Dull social commentators compare Star Wars to religion, but Fanboys commemorates how crazily fans anticipated the opening of Star Wars Episode I:The Phantom Menace. Fanboys is actually about the sweetness of innocuous/inane adolescent passion.
New York Press |
Armond White |
02-05-2009 |
Reviews
David Ondaatje Creates a Clumsy and Insincere Past in His Hitchcock Remakenew
Writer-director David Ondaatje repeats the past so inexpertly that The Lodger (an update of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1926 film) is almost comically schlocky.
New York Press |
Armond White |
01-22-2009 |
Reviews
'Donkey Punch': Butt It Hurtsnew
Oliver Blackburn’s British thriller offers a unique thrill: It indulges in juvenile scares by placing them in a larger canvas of sophisticated moods, developing the scenario with remarkably shrewd structural finesse.
New York Press |
Eric Kohn |
01-22-2009 |
Reviews
'Of Time and the City' Bestows Emotional Grandeur to the Everydaynew
In a new documentary, Terence Davies connects intimate yearnings to his political and existential quandary to demonstrate the importance of movies and music as means of spiritual sustenance.
New York Press |
Armond White |
01-22-2009 |
Reviews
'Cherry Blossoms' Translates a Foreigner-in-Japan Experience Better than Sofia Coppola Couldnew
Doris Dorrie's latest movie (her first to be distributed in the U.S. since the 1990s) is good enough to remind contemporary film culture what Coppola lacks. Or put another way: Dorrie offers feminist ideas as the substance of her filmmaking and not the privilege of her femaleness.
New York Press |
Armond White |
01-15-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Cherry Blossoms, Doris Dorrie
'Notorious': Drugs-to-Bitchesnew
The Notorious B.I.G. biopic creates a mythical world of glamour and sex to further pop product.
New York Press |
Armond White |
01-15-2009 |
Reviews
Carlos Reygadas' 'Silent Light' is More Posing for the Poseursnew
In Reygadas' facetious approach to his subject matter, he pushes Art buttons: lots of rewound clocks and that big Dreyeresque moment confronting death. It lacks the wit and feeling of Frank Borzage's Three Comrades where a thrown watch transcends time and death.
New York Press |
Armond White |
01-08-2009 |
Reviews
Jim Carrey Misses in the Buzz-Kill Comedy 'Yes Man'new
Too bad Yes Man is directed by Peyton Reed, a tone-deaf, buzz-kill comedy specialist. You've never seen Carrey flail like he does under Reed's incompetence -- although the Quasimodo face he makes with scotch tape and some of his rubber-legged paroxysms are inspired.
New York Press |
Armond White |
12-18-2008 |
Reviews
Will Smith Needs Cinema Lessons to Cure His Scowls in 'Seven Pounds'new
A glib, charming movie star -- but resourceless actor -- Smith must think scrunching-up his face and looking worried for two hours shows serious concentration and emotional gravity. Apparently, he is unaware of the ways that movies and movie stars communicate depth and sincerity.
New York Press |
Armond White |
12-18-2008 |
Reviews
The Hype for Mickey Rourke in 'The Wrestler' is an Embarrassmentnew
Rourke's too good for this crap and has proved it consistently throughout his up-and-down career. Forget The Wrestler's hype; it's worth remembering Rourke's finest performance and best film, Walter Hill's 1989 Johnny Handsome.
New York Press |
Armond White |
12-18-2008 |
Reviews
Kelly Reichardt on Working with Michelle Williams and the Realities of Being Poornew
A relentlessly independent director working far outside the confines of the studio system, Reichardt has fashioned a film that illuminates the ways in which people treat one another, from compassion to indifference, during tough times. She spoke us about her new film.
New York Press |
Christopher Wallenberg |
12-11-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
If You Want a Nerve-Wracking Trip, Turn to 'Timecrimes'new
Writer/director Nacho Vigalondo's first feature film is that rarest of films: a movie about mystery that remains impenetrable even after its hand is played.
New York Press |
Simon Abrams |
12-11-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Nacho Vigalondo, Timecrimes
Clint Eastwood Casts Himself as a Nice Archie Bunker in 'Gran Torino'new
To insist that Eastwood's trite, B-movie storytelling is classical requires an excessive regard for junk. Gran Torino is a calculated throwback to All in the Family's topicality, plus a comic/tragic star vehicle for Eastwood to show off his late-career legend as a serious actor-auteur.
New York Press |
Armond White |
12-11-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
'The Reader' Glazes Familiar Sexual-Awakening Story with Highbrow Affectationnew
This film should have been a comedy like Paul Verhoeven's Black Book, shaking up the calcified presumptions of quasi-Holocaust dramas. But it's also Oscar season and historically based, award-baiting mawkishness is no laughing matter.
New York Press |
Armond White |
12-11-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Stephen Daldry, The Reader
It's Hard to Take John Patrick Shanley's Devout 'Doubt' Seriouslynew
Problem is, Shanley examines faith (and doubt) while crafting what is essentially Broadway fodder.
New York Press |
Armond White |
12-11-2008 |
Reviews
