Est. 1998
āJāarrive du futur.ā After premiering at the Berlinale, StĆ©phane Lafleurās sophomore effort had the honor of opening the Rendez-vous du cinĆ©ma quĆ©bĆ©cois, the big annual fest of made-in-Quebec film. I wasnāt a big fan of Lafleurās debut, the Jutra-winning borefest āContinental, un film sans fusilā, though I did find it nicely shot, well acted and not uninteresting conceptually. Incidentally, I also happen to love Lafleurās…
Beforehand, I thought we were in for a dull, academic documentary about a river rising over its banks long ago, but right from the start our expectations are confounded. Black & white shots of Johnstown and its surroundings are scored with ominous Hermannesque music as bold white titles splash across the screen. Our attention is captured and weāre in for what feels less like a…
Iām caught in a dilemma here. On the one hand, hereās a fascinating film that I want to dissect for pages and pages. On the other, this is one of these movies that you should know the least about before watching it. All I knew, I got from the teaser trailer: Bruce Willis is this dude who was in a train that derailed, all 131…
Movie Infos Title: Strictly Sinatra Rating: Year: 2001 Director: Peter Capaldi Writer: Peter Capaldi Time: 97 min. Genre: Romantic comedy/Gangster Drama Ā Hereās a pretty good little Scottish film which could be a spin-off of The Godfather, if youād take the subplot about how lounge singer Johnny Fontaneās career gets a boost when Don Corleone makes a producer āan offer he couldnāt refuseā and make a…
āI Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larryā is a perfect example of a comedy that, despite its good intentions, fails to explore a controversial issue because it completely surrenders to idiotic jokes and stereotypes instead of approaching its subject matter with subtle wittiness. But what is there to expect from a flick that stars high-profile comedian Adam Sandler as a hardcore playboy pretending…
Early on, āThe Fighterā star/producer Mark Wahlberg approached Martin Scorsese to direct the film. Then Darren Aronofsky was attached for a while, but ended up stepping down, though heās still credited as an executive producer. Iām going through this little bit of development history because the final film, which ended up being directed by David O. Russell, has much less in common with the latterās…
In āScream 2ā, when these film students are arguing about sequels, theyāre way off the track. They seem to settle on āThe Godfather part 2ā as the best sequel ever, but they donāt even mention āLethal Weapon 2ā. For once, a sequel that aināt just a lame rehashing of the original. In fact, āLW 2ā is a much better film than its predecessor. Itās smarter,…
Switzerland, a swanky hotel. A suspicious billionaire is throwing a big party. Everything goes well until an uninvited guest shows up. The nameās Tasker. Harry Tasker. Heās played with mucho machismo by the unique Arnold Schwarzenegger. Tasker is kinda like a more badass James Bond. He has a cool Austrian accent, but he can speak 5 different languages. Heās also quite humorous and no oneās…
Zemeckis, you magnificent bastard! Yup, the man behind “Back to the Future” and “Forrest Gump” has done it again, directing a third full-on masterpiece in as many decades. Many will be tempted to praise “Beowulf” mostly as an astonishing technical achievement, which it is – “The Polar Express” was already impressive, but this is a whole other ballpark, quite possibly the dawn of a new…
Spike Leeās back, with a vengeance. After a string of forgettable joints, Lee finally gets his groove back with this no holds barred satire, his best film since āMalcolm Xā. Hereās a movie that might make you angry or sad, a movie that will make you think, and a movie that will entertain you too, but in a perverse way. I laughed quite a bit…