Est. 1998
Hyped beyond all measure during the Cannes Film Festival (where it was shown at the Quinzaine des réalisateurs), this first picture by Xavier Dolan, who wrote it when he was 17 and directed it when he was 19, using mostly his own money, is just that: a first film by a precocious teenager left to his own devices, for better or worse. Sure, it’s a…
After they discover a mysterious pyramid buried under the ice in Antarctica, Weyland Industries goons go around the world to recruit adventurers and experts, “Giant-Size X-Men #1”-style. Amongst the lot is Italian archeologist Sebastian de Rosa (Raoul Bova), Scottish scientist Graeme Miller (Ewen Bremner) and African-American environmentalist and ice-climber Alexa Woods (Sanaa Lathan). When they get to the South Pole, they realize that someone’s already…
Lila Lipscomb is a proud American. She might live in Flint, Michigan, one of the poorest towns in the United States, she might not have enough money to send her kids to college, but she still has her flag in front of the house. One thing she knows of to provide her family purpose and a future is the military. Here’s a way to get…
Following the release of Sonny Chiba: Street Fighter, the hacks at Vintage Home Entertainment offer us this new three-flicks-squeezed-unto-a-single-DVD. I don’t mind the cheap cover and utter absence of special features, and even the full screen format and bad dubbing are to be expected with old kung fu movies, I guess. But this is some real hackwork, obviously transferred from old VHS, with ensuing buzzing sound,…
That’s Harry Potter? My, he’s so tall, low-voiced, strong… Dangerous. His getting back at his old bitchy aunt early in the film is played for laughs, but I found it creepy. The little wizard is becoming more and more powerful, and those that cross him have to watch out that he doesn’t explode on them – this kid’s a timebomb. Ron’s still Ron, walking a…
The name Achilles still echoes of heroism thousands of years after Homer celebrated him in “The Illiad”, so it’s no surprise to find Brad Pitt looking spectacular and pulling all kinds of astonishing feats. What’s more unexpected (and interesting) is to have the legendary warlord reveal his flaws. The Achilles we see here is rather selfish and vain, a “man born to end lives”, more…
I love girls. Really, I love them, which is a good thing because this movie is all about them, what makes them so lovable but also all those little things they do that threaten to turn that love into pure hatred. I don’t want to sound sexist, guys are assholes too, but at least with a dude you know where you stand. If a guy’s…
This is the 15th anniversary re-release of the 1989 action classic that starred respected Swedish thespian Dolph Lundgren, beloved by North American audiences for his soulful portrayal of He-Man in “Masters of the Universe” and Ivan Drago in Rocky IV… Oh wait, this is actually a new adaptation of the Marvel comic book. How unnecessary! Sure, the original “Punisher” flick was a cheapie B-movie, but it…
When you go back to the original film, you realize that “Rocky” was actually intelligent and involving before he became a caricature. The 1976 Best Picture Oscar Winner written by then unknown Sylvester Stallone can be seen as a companion piece to an earlier classic, Elia Kazan’s “On the Waterfront”, with which it shares a few themes. Both movies are about a working class slob who had…
Bud-dy! Aren’t bad movies cool sometimes? This film is so much of a dud, yet it’s enjoyable in a sneaky way. You know it’s gonna be stupid, and it is, but you still grin through it. Sean Astin stars as a boring, annoying, self-conscious loser. He’s finishing high school in Encino, California, and he’s saddened by the fact that he never achieved to become popular….