Est. 1998
“That can really only happen when a tyrannical system is so well established that it can dominate the entire fabric of society. And the Germans are good at organising. People’s consciences, too.” When does something qualify as cinema? What differentiates visual recording from actual filmmaking? If your uncle shoots you and your little buddies playing Ultimate in the park, is that a movie? What about…
As I write these words, “Watchmen” has just landed into movie theaters, but there’s already a sense that it’s yet another misunderstood film, with some finding it too long and not action-packed enough while others think it’s just another fanboy flick. Both sides are wrong, and I don’t think that can be argued. On the one hand, measuring “Watchmen” up against the expectations one would…
Movie Infos Title: Windtalkers Year: 2002 Director: John Woo In an episode of the 13th season of “The Simpsons”, a rich playboy offers a million dollars to spend a week-end with Marge. Homer accepts but sets his conditions: “No funny stuff! And by funny stuff I mean holding hands, googoo eyes, misdirected woo- which is pretty much any John Woo film.” Witty line, but uncalled…
Movie Infos Title: Valley Girl Year: 1983 Director: Martha Coolidge Starring: Nicolas Cage Deborah Foreman Frederic Forrest Lee Purcell Colleen Camp … Long after Romeo & Juliet, another pair of star-crossed lovers doomed from the start love as their peers try to call the whole thing off. And, hey, it’s 1983! Hence, everyone’s wearing odd hairdos and ridiculous clothes and high school life ain’t quite…
“Mmm-hmm… That is a tasty burger!” This one is good, real good. Quentin Tarantino is one of the most gifted filmmakers working today, and his “Pulp Fiction” is a film you could discuss for hours. It’s often referred to as the most influential film of the 1990s, and I have no problem believing that. I wrote a 50-page essay about it in film school but…
I’m not a huge fan of film festivals. At least, I’m not partial to that habit some of my fellow movie buffs have of going on ten-day cinematic binges, spending day and night in darkened theaters. I’ve done this once or twice when I was easing into becoming a professional critic, but I always wound up exhausted and the films started merging with…
Oh, what that film could have been? I mean, it’s still not too bad a picture as is, but on paper, it had the potential to become one of the coolest 90s crime pictures, along with “GoodFellas”, “Reservoir Dogs”, “Carlito’s Way” and “Donnie Brasco”. It’s a contemporary remake of the 1947 film of the same name, which I haven’t seen. I’m pretty sure the two…
Movie Infos Title: Collateral Damage Year: 2002 Director: Andrew Davis Writer: Peter Griffiths, David Griffiths, Ronald Roose, Nicholas Meyer Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger Francesca Neri John Leguizamo John Turturro Elias Koteas … Time: 115 min. Genre: Action / Thriller Here’s how star Arnold Schwarzenegger describes the film : “It’s an action movie. Colombian guerillas attack a motorcade in Los Angeles that has the Colombian ambassador inside….
You often hear that there’s a whole world (literally) between the Occident and the Orient. Hanging at Montreal’s Fantasia festival and watching a bunch of Asian movies proves it largely. What was last year’s biggest hit in North America? Why, it was “Star Wars – Episode One”, a quite visionary and entertaining but nonetheless old fashioned, bloated, made to please grandparents and their grand kids…
Movie Infos Title: Training Day Year: 2001 Director: Antoine Fuqua Writer: David Ayer Genre: Drama / Crime / Action Here’s a movie about cops, about the streets, about justice… Actually, to me it felt like it was really about one thing: scary Black guys. Make that two things, there’s scary Latinos too. Oh, and rich old white drug dealers, crooked cops and Russian gangsters. Mix…