Est. 1998
When I was going to film school, I sometimes found it hard to sit through some of the movies the teachers made us watch, especially when I felt that even them must find their own selections rather boring, but were too conformist to do otherwise. ‘A film is old, and everyone says it’s a classic? Well, it must be, let’s make the students watch it!’…
Movie Infos Title: The Ring Rating: Year: 2002 Director: Gore Verbinski Starring: Naomi Watts … Genre: Horror The opening is straight out of a teen horror movie à la Scream or Urban Legend. Two high school girls are alone in a big empty house, discussing this story they’ve heard about a videotape that’s “like somebody’s nightmare” (more accurately, like a bad student film ripping off…
1935. All over the Land of the Free, it’s the Great Depression. If you got a job, you better hold on to it. Even if it’s as a prison guard assigned to death row who has to not only witness but take part in horrible executions on a regular basis? That is only one of the moral dilemmas brought up by this powerful, beautifully crafted…
I love black films, old and modern. Blaxploitation kicks ass. Basically, it’s about a black motherfucker with cool clothes, a cool car, a badass attitude and cool music to walk on. Richard Roundtree expressed this genre perfectly as John Shaft. Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, Pam Grier and Ron O’ Neal were other superstars of this era. In the 90s, blacks are mostly portrayed as young…
(2 Nov) Muhammad Ali The Greatest (1974, William Klein) [ review ] 70 (4 Nov) Pump Up the Volume (1990, Allan Moyle) [ review ] 94 (7 Nov) The Real Eve (2002, Andrew Peddington) 60 [ Reviewed for the Apollo Movie Guide ] (8 Nov) 8 Mile (2003, Curtis Hanson) [ review ] 86 (8 Nov) Québec-Montréal (2002, Ricardo Trogi) 32 [ reviewed in my Cinemania coverage ] (9 Nov) Petites misères (2002, Philippe Boon and Laurent…
“I was orphaned at an early age. I had no name, so people called me Nameless. Being a nobody I studied swordsmanship. After 10 years of practice I acquired a unique skill. The King of Qin has summoned me. My deeds have astonished the Kingdom…” Circa 220 B.C., before the reign of the first emperor, China is split between six kingdoms. Qin is spreading through…
This is one fantastic space opera from French filmmaker Luc Besson, who doesn’t have much to envy to George Lucas… besides the fact that the “Star Wars” creator thought of all this 20 years ago. That doesn’t mean that “The Fifth Element” isn’t an interesting film. It stars the charismatic and manly Bruce Willis as Korben Dallas, a former Space Marine or something who retired…
I just love gangster movies. For some reason, I’m fascinated with the lives of these guys on the wrong side. Some say that every gangster film is similar, but it’s far from being right. Like Roger Ebert often says, it’s not what it’s about that counts but how it’s about it. Hence, crime can be seen in very different lights, from the hard-boiled hipness of…
Movie Infos Title: Bringing Out the Dead Rating: Year: 1999 Director: Martin Scorsese Give it to Martin Scorsese to keep coming back and hitting one out of the park. His latest is one of his best movies; it’s in the lines of his ’70s work, but it’s also dynamically modern. The legendary filmmaker takes us back to the mean streets of New York, in the…
I’m not one to needlessly stomp (heh) on bad movies, especially when they’re just harmless, by the numbers entertainment. In fact, when they’re made with a minimum of enthusiasm, wit and sincerity, I can go along with many of these unoriginal Hollywood flicks. Basically, what I’m trying to say is that if “Stomp the Yard” was just another dumb little dance picture, with its endless…