Rounders

You know what? Matt Damon’s starting to grow on me. When Francis Ford Coppola’s “The RainMaker” came out, Damon was so over-hyped and drooled over that I hated him right away and avoided the film altogether. I also stood clear of “Good Will Hunting” when it came out, even though all of Hollywood was praising it. In fact, the first time I really saw Damon…

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Superhero Movie

There are two kinds of movie spoofs. The ones like Edgar Wright’s “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz” or the “Austin Powers” series, which would be more accurately described as comedic genre homages, because they actually develop a story and characters of their own. And then you’ve got outright parodies like “Airplane!”, “Spaceballs” or “Hot Shots!”, which target specific characters and scenes and put…

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Aliens

  Whenever you hear about James Cameron, it’s generally about what an arrogant prick he is. I admit that his acceptance speeches don’t advantage him, but since I don’t know him personally, I can’t say if he’s a good guy or not. What I do know is that he’s one of the most brilliant craftsmen in Hollywood. You could say that his talent is mostly…

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Jean-Marc Vallée

1995 Liste noire45 [ Reviewed on Extra Beurre ] 1997 Los Locos85 [ Reviewed on Extra Beurre ] 1999 Loser Love12 [ Reviewed on Extra Beurre ] 2005 C.R.A.Z.Y.89 [ review ] 2009 The Young Victoria62 [ Reviewed on Extra Beurre ] 2011 Café de Flore59 [ I find that movies like this are the hardest to review. Not because they ultimately fail in my…

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2017 log (8)

(2 Aug) Suspiria (1977, Dario Argento)96 [ Reviewed on Extra Beurre ] (5 Aug) Dirty Dancing (1987, Emile Ardolino)77 [ This here is a bona fide dancing movie musical, where the story is almost an afterthought, an excuse for all the dance scenes. Those are the moments through which the characters are defined, as they move their bodies, on their own or with each other……

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Wrongfully Accused

Back in 1980, writers-directors David Zucker and Jim Abrahams created a new genre of comedy with the classic spoof “Airplane”. They were enthusiastically trying to make you laugh the loudest and more often possible with non-stop gags, slapstick, puns, goofs and movie parodies, with the help of the deadpan white-haired actors that would become their allies of choice, Lloyd Bridges and Leslie Nielsen. They went…

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Gladiator

“The general who became a slave. The slave who became a gladiator. The gladiator who defied an emperor. Striking story.” Indeed, striking is the epic tale of Maximus (Russell Crowe). A Spanish-born army general of the Roman Empire at its strongest, Maximus leads the troops that defeat the last rebellious barbarians of Germania in the film’s visceral, “Saving Private Ryan”-style opening. He then longs to…

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ALIAS

Season One Season Two Season Three Here we go again! 4.1 – Authorized Personnel Only, Part 1 [ Talk about opening with a cheesecake bang! A blonde Jennifer Garner in a white baby-doll seducing some bad guy, then kicking a little ass before falling to a certain death… Ok, it’s just like the classic Superbowl episode on a train instead of a plane, and they…

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X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

The opening scene, which is straight out of the “Origin” miniseries, does a neat bit of sleight-of-hand and effectively depicts the traumatic childhood event which first triggered Wolverine’s mutant abilities. We then segue into an opening credits sequence which is almost as stunning as the one in “Watchmen”, showing how Wolverine (now played by the ever badass Hugh Jackman) and Sabretooth (Live Schreiber) fought in the…

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Idlewild

  The experience of watching “Idlewild” is unlike any I’ve ever had. Maybe this is what it felt like to Prince fans when they went to see “Purple Rain” and they already knew all the songs; this must also happen to those familiar with a Broadway musical who go see the big screen adaptation. Anyway, this was new for me, already having a “relationship” with…

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