Est. 1998
Dr. Gerald Plecki (Jeff Daniels) is a teacher at Chicago’s Steinmetz High School, where motivated students are rare and motivated teachers even rarer. This is a situation not that uncommon, but things are really bad here. The school is under-funded and the students aren’t performing well. Still, Plecki keeps at it, coaching a small group of students for the state’s academic contest even though the…
Regular readers of this site are aware of my love-hate relationship with Scarlett Johansson. Every time I see that she’s gonna be in a new movie, I get this mixed feeling. On the one hand, I’m always looking forward to seeing more of her spectacular breasts, sensational legs and sensual lips. But when my thinking goes back upstairs, I remember how limited her acting abilities are…
Jack Slater is one badass LAPD cop. Built like an oak with an attitude to match, he beats up thugs by the dozen, can hit any little thing with his guns and make it instantly explode, and can get out of any deadly situation without a scratch. Heck, he’s the kind of action hero you see in movies. And what do you know, he’s actually…
Intelligent movies are great, no doubt about that. Some films are masterpieces that won’t be forgotten. But when you go to the movies, sometimes you just wanna have fun. And well, the big guys in Hollywood know that, so they produce and sell entertainment. These flicks can be inane and stupid, but if they’re fun to watch, wh complain? You shouldn’t evaluate an action movie…
The opening of Kevin Smith‘s latest directorial effort perfectly recreates the ultra-indie B&W; look of the original, but it soon fires up into color, “Wizard of Oz”-style. The opening also quickly takes care of moving the action away from the Quick Stop and setting up the central theme of the film. “Shit! Now where am I gonna bring chicks to fuck when my mom’s home?” That’s right,…
If there’s one thing that I hate, even more than a bad film, it’s a movie that doesn’t assume itself. Like, this film is pretty much a big budget excuse to display special FX of a meteor destroying a big part of America. But for some reason, instead of playing it like it is, director Mimi Leder tries to make a “good” film by putting…
I’m a big fan of Richard Linklater’s movies in general and Waking Life in particular, so I had great expectations for his return to the “interpolated rotoscoping” animation process he put to amazing use in his 2001 dreams-within-dreams flick. Alas “A Scanner Darkly”, while visually arresting and not devoid of enticing ideas, is confusing, repetitive and pretty much a bummer. I’m aware that this is probably intentional: it’s fitting…
I know some folks who look upon documentaries with barely hidden contempt, sometimes judging them to not even qualify as cinema. If all-talking-heads pieces are your only frame of reference, I guess I could see why you would dismiss non-fiction. But that would be depriving yourself of not only some of the greatest stories ever put on film, as reality is often more extraordinary than…
Was he ever really gone? Sure, the film franchise has been inactive for almost 20 years, but the Man of Steel has been going strong in comic books uninterruptedly since 1938 and he’s starred in many animated series and live action TV shows, notably the ongoing Smallville. In any case, the big guy is back on the big screen and he’s as great as he’s ever…
We all know the Adam Sandler formula by now. It doesn’t matter if he’s returning to school, becoming a golfer, singing at weddings, playing football, taking care of a brat, trying to save Satan, learning to play the harmonium, fending off opportunists after his fortune, dealing with an insane anger management instructor, dating an amnesiac or whatnot. In every case, it comes down to a…