Friday, April 17 2009
The Golden Boys
This tale of three codgery sea captains looking for a wife is not all that romantic, or especially comic.
Friday, February 23 2007
The Astronaut Farmer (2007)
Audie has always believed Charlie will launch his rocket. And with one neat, maybe comical metaphor, it's very clear what's at stake.
Monday, June 7 2004
Monster (2003)
Aileen's changed self takes shape most immediately and vehemently in response to a psychotic-seeming john who declares his loathing of all 'hookers nowadays'.
Thursday, January 8 2004
Monster (2003)
Aileen is a terrifying specter, precisely because she's neither only a victim nor only monstrous. As Theron plays her, she swaggers and rationalizes, trusts and fumes.
Monday, December 15 2003
The Great Gatsby (1974)
Raises a perennial question: if they can make a decent movie out of The Bridges of Madison County, why not a great one out of one of the best novels of the 20th century?"
Tuesday, October 14 2003
Black Sunday (1977)
John Frankenheimer's 'Black Sunday' serves as something of a transition between 'New Hollywood' and the more spectacular films that came later.
Monday, May 12 2003
Psych-Out / The Trip (1967/1968)
In Haight-Ashbury, Jenny's only clue to her lost brother's whereabouts is a postcard that reads, 'God is alive and well in a sugar cube.'"
Sunday, January 1 1995
The Glass House (2001)
'The Glass House' can't manage its own metaphors, and ends up tripping all over itself in order to give them a coherent context.
All the Pretty Horses (2000)
'All the Pretty Horses'... offers Penelope Cruz as the repeatedly slow-motioned, flowing-haired object of desire for would-be riders. As Alejandra, Cruz is less a character than an irresistible image, the Marlboro Man's wet dream -- she rides horses, swims naked, and pouts adorably when she's mad at her daddy.
