Est. 1998
Movie Infos Title: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Year: 2001 Director: Chris Columbus I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed such frenzy for a series of books. Kids who hate reading are devouring them novels, as are their parents who enjoy them as much. And then there’s even tons of people my age who’ve shed their young adult cynicism and cool and allowed themselves to…
(1 Feb) Into the Sun (2005, mink)66 [ Um, ok. This is one of those DTV flicks Steven Seagal keeps making (and Vern keeps reviewing) but, surprisingly, it’s not all that cheap and generic. For one, it was shot in Tokyo and is sort of an American take on Asian action cinema, with Yakuza shoot-outs and swordfights. It’s no “Kill Bill”, mind, but still… And…
What a brilliant concept: to educate kids with the use of the two things they can’t get enough, cartoons and music. Now, 30 years after these dynamic shorts were introduced into ABC’s Saturday morning children’s programming, “Schoolhouse Rock!” is back in the form of a two-disc DVD compilation of every song created by the original team. I myself remember “Schoolhouse Rock!” even though it was…
One of the things I hate most about critics as a group is their bullying tendencies. You know, how they’ll regularly gang up on an actor (Tom Cruise, anyone?) or a filmmaker (like M. Night Shyamalan, in the case here) and all go out of their way to slam not only their work, but them as individuals? For chrissakes, one of the first review blurbs…
Woody Allen and Diane Keaton have been married for many years, and their lives aren’t as exciting as they once were. They live in New York, they’re intellectuals, they make good money and they’ve spent a lot of time with shrinks. They still love each other, but they might be tempted to have affairs. Allen’s editing the book of a sensual, brilliant woman played by…
Movie Infos Title: The Phantom Rating: Year: 1996 Director: Simon Wincer Starring: Billy Zane Treat Williams Kristy Swanson Catherine Zeta-Jones James Remar … Super-heroes films usually suck because studio execs almost always try to cheapen the characters, like pitching Spawn to the video game generation with tons of computer FX or turning the Dark Knight into a cereal tie-in. The people behind “The Phantom” fortunately…
For some reason, Troma Studios president Lloyd Kaufman really really hates Nancy Meyers. When I attended his Make Your Own Damn Movie! master class last summer, he mentioned her previous film What Women Want at least ten times as an example of everything that is wrong with Hollywood and moviegoing audiences. I guess Meyers’ films do qualify as “baby food shite”, mainstream pap, shameless star…
Movie Infos Title: Honeymoon in Vegas Year: 1992 Director: Andrew Bergman Las Vegas at night. A plane flies over the city. Then drops a team of skydivers, all dressed as Elvis! Cool, right? Now, imagine a film in which that scene wouldn’t even seem weird! Nicolas Cage plays Jack Singer, a private dick who loves to gamble but is afraid to get married to his…
Here’s what I wrote after seeing “Pink Flamingos”, John Waters’ 1972 “classic”: How do you rate a movie that looks and sounds dirt-cheap, with the clumsiest direction and ghastliest acting? This barely qualifies as a movie at all, it’s pretty much just a bunch of grotesque characters with the foulest mouths who do a lot of disgusting and retarded shit in front of a camera,…
Movie Infos Title: Mystery Men Year: 1999 Director: Kinka Usher Writer: Neil Cuthbert, Bob Burden, Brent Forrester Starring: Ben Stiller Janeane Garofalo William H. Macy Hank Azaria Paul Reubens … Oh, this is such a disap- pointment. As hip as this dud thinks it is, it’s not fooling me. It’s supposed to be a spoof, but it ends up being just a big fat mainstream…