Est. 1998
The End. Sooner or later we had to come to this. The final film, the final battle, the final goodbyes. It almost instantly became a year-end tradition: a week before Christmas, you got an early gift from Peter Jackson and friends. You went to the multiplex, often for a special midnight screening, and you lost yourself into huge, old-fashioned, brilliant moviemaking. Then for a whole…
I’ve never been a fan of the trend of going back to the popular tales of generations past set in Quebec’s country- side, but this is a new low. At least, Un Homme et son péché vaguely worked as corny romance and Le Survenant had the pretence to be about tradition clashing with a changing world. I guess you could say Aurore is about how…
Hunter S. Thompson aka Raoul Duke is driving his convertible across America, from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Thompson’s a writer who lived through the Great Acid Years of San Francisco and is still buzzing through life, 5 years later. On board with him is Dr Gonzo, his lawyer, a man who’s as much addicted as him. They’re heading to the City of Sin to…
This remake of the 1945 Jean Dréville film “La Cage aux Rossignols” was seen by more than 7 million moviegoers in France, making it the biggest French hit of the year. It’s no surprise: rarely have I seen a film as drenched in good sentiment. At any moment I expected puppies and rainbows to burst out of the screen. “Les Choristes” takes place in the…
Andy Kaufman is a very particular showbiz phenomenon. He was a legend who inspired a whole generation of comics, yet he never really got the mainstream recognition he deserved. That is until today, with the release of a major picture based on his life. Jim Carrey, who might be the late 90s’ Kaufman, stars as the late “song-and-dance-man”, and you can believe the hype: this…
I love The Doors. I think they’re one of the greatest bands ever. Their music is haunting and their sound is unique. Jim Morrison is undoubtedly a genius, a poet with a really powerful voice. Oliver Stone co-wrote and directed this biography of the band, which takes us through their short career, from their amazing rise to success to their end, but it’s mostly about Morrison,…
When he’s got a halfway decent screenplay to work with, Tony Scott can direct a pretty entertaining flick (Enemy of the State for instance) and if said script is downright brilliant, he’s able to deliver a near- masterpiece like True Romance. Put Scott at the helm of a movie with a problematic script, though, and he’ll make it seem even more superficial and dumb. This is what…
“What is love anyway? And is it really that fleeting? It would be real easy for me to say that “Cashback” is so offensive, it will make you want to demand your precious cash back. Only that isn’t fair. Writer/Director Sean Ellis’s expansion of his 2004 Oscar nominated short film of the same name can be juvenile, unconvincing and entirely misogynistic, but it somehow manages…
Drug flicks have almost evolved into a genre of their own. Filthy apartments and strung out punks are practically familiar things now, and I bet even the squarest, most white-bread moviegoers have gained a pretty precise idea of how to cook and inject heroine just from watching films like “Pulp Fiction” and “Trainspotting”! Now comes “The Salton Sea”, most concerned with “tweekers”, i.e. speed users….
Death penalty is one of the most controversial issues there are. To make a movie fair to both ways of thought, without taking any side and letting the audience make its own mind is an achievement by itself. Writer-director Tim Robbins’ powerful film makes you care about its death row protagonist and the nun who wants to help him die with dignity, yet it never…