Articles tagged "john turturro"

Film Review

The Taking of Pelham 123

by Cynthia Fuchs

[12.Jun.09] :. Nothing if not self-aware, this update of Joseph Sargent's 1974 thriller begins by rearranging the class dynamics.

Recent Film reviews

The PopMatters Summer 2009 Movie Preview Feature

Summer of Same: June 2009

by Bill Gibron

[28.Apr.09] :. This month's "original" fare offers a take on a Sid and Marty Krofft classic, more battling seizure robots, and the retaking of '70s subway thriller. Everything old is new again.

The PopMatters Summer 2009 Movie Preview

News

‘Miracle at St. Anna,’ ‘Frozen River’ two of 2008’s best

by Bruce Dancis [McClatchy-Tribune News Service (MCT)]

[10.Feb.09] :. Two of the most powerful films of 2008, movies that stay with you long after their final credits roll by, are out this week on DVD. Yet “Miracle at St. Anna” and “Frozen...

PopWire

Short Ends and Leader

‘What Just Happened?’ Nothing Worth Watching!

by Bill Gibron

[7.Nov.08] :. Hollywood hates poking fun at itself. While it’s handled its fair share of good natured cinematic ribbing, once we get to the seething scalding takes like The Stunt Man or The...

Short Ends and Leader

News

Director brings some of his own industry experiences to ‘What Just Happened?’

by Colin Covert [Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (MCT)]

[6.Nov.08] :. Veteran filmmaker Barry Levinson (who gave us “Good Morning Vietnam” and “Rain Man” as well as the sci-fi botch “Sphere” and the Ben Stiller-Jack Black comedy you...

PopWire

Film Review

What Just Happened

by Cynthia Fuchs

[20.Oct.08] :. Less an expose than a recap of what even casual observers of the industry know or intuit, What Just Happened relies on clichés even as it deplores them.

Recent Film reviews

Why, Spike, Why?

by Chris Barsanti

[17.Oct.08] :. For all of Spike Lee's status as the eternal Young Turk, he's also a moviemaker who came of age just a few years after the brat pack of Spielberg, Scorsese, de Palma, et al.

You Don’t Mess with the Zohan

by Jesse Hassenger

[14.Oct.08] :. Plenty of New York racial tension, old-lady sex, animal abuse, and hackey-sack.

Miracle at St. Anna

by Cynthia Fuchs

[26.Sep.08] :. Spike Lee's answer to the many WWII movies that have left out the experiences of black soldiers, Miracle at St. Anna is ambitious and ardent.

‘Miracle’ Is Engrossing if Uneven

by Bill Gibron

[25.Sep.08] :. Spike Lee has a big mouth. It’s a good thing he’s so talented, since he often loves to write confrontational checks that his filmmaking sometimes can’t cash. When Clint Eastwood...

Talk, Talk, Talk: October 2008

by Bill Gibron

[10.Sep.08] :. What studio suit thought this was a good idea? With four months to schedule your high priced efforts, you instead unload almost 30 overpriced pictures on an unsuspecting movie audience.

Talk, Talk, Talk: September 2008

by Bill Gibron

[9.Sep.08] :. From wars both past and present to a number of nail-biting thrillers, September is sizing up as a potentially profitable one.

You Don’t Mess with the Zohan

by Cynthia Fuchs

[6.Jun.08] :. You Don't Mess with the Zohan is cacophonous and competitive comedy, more exhausting than fun.

‘Zohan’s Zaniness is a Tough Sell

by Bill Gibron

[5.Jun.08] :. Jewish humor has driven American mirth for as long as their have been baggy pants burlesque comics and joke-stealing vaudevillians. Update it to the pre-modern mirth of Mel Brooks and the post-modern...

The Return of the Popcorn Circus: June 2008

by Bill Gibron

[29.Apr.08] :. If May almost tent-poled itself out of existence, June will be even worse. After all, are audiences really ready for 13 major release in less than two months -- with more to come?

Margot at the Wedding

by Jesse Hassenger

[6.Mar.08] :. Vivid impressions that make us look closely into Baumbach's fascinating, semi-miserable world.

Romance & Cigarettes

by Dan MacIntosh

[18.Feb.08] :. Turturro has filled the screen with plenty of song, dance, and sex talk, but this is not your typical love story.

A Gallery of Good Works: The Best Films of 2007

by PopMatters Staff

[11.Jan.08] :. From Julian Schnabel's artsy The Diving Bell and the Butterfly to the legendary Coen Brothers splendid adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men, PopMatters counts down the 30 best films of 2007.

Performance Art: The Best Acting of 2007 - Female

by PopMatters Staff

[9.Jan.08] :. From the most sweetly nuanced performance of Jennifer Jason Leigh's career to Cate Blanchett's revelatory portrayal of Bob Dylan in I'm Not There, the women of 2007 were stellar.

Brothers and sisters bare their fangs on the big screen

by Chris Vognar [The Dallas Morning News (MCT)]

[5.Dec.07] :. It’s that time of year when intimate strangers come over to eat large birds and drain your liquor cabinet. You know these people from childhood, but your lives have diverged since then. They...

A couple who collaborated on a ‘Wedding’

by Steven Rea [The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)]

[29.Nov.07] :. Noah Baumbach and Jennifer Jason Leigh have been married for a little over two years. And they were an item for a while before that. When Baumbach had “The Squid and the Whale”...

Nicole Kidman probed deep for ‘Margot at the Wedding’

by Steven Rea [The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)]

[21.Nov.07] :. “I responded to the wicked comedy of it. And the way in which it sort of disturbs you, gets under your skin,” says Nicole Kidman, speaking about “Margot at the Wedding.”...

Margot at the Wedding

by Cynthia Fuchs

[20.Nov.07] :. Margot at the Wedding doesn’t resolve as much as it devolves into a series of arguments and dire revelations.

Transformers

by Erik Hinton

[26.Oct.07] :. Consider the patience and time it takes to build a ship in a bottle. Now imagine a fully functional Spanish Armada in a snow globe.

Will the new ‘Transformers’ film have ‘The Touch’?

by Jeff Vrabel [McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)]

[3.Jul.07] :. As someone who spent much of his childhood collecting and breaking Transformers, I’m approaching next week’s movie version with a feeling that veers back and forth between terror and...

Transformers (2007)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[3.Jul.07] :. The point here is excess. For 144 minutes, the film pummels and pounds, delivering explosions, combat troops, speeding vehicles, computer codes, giant robots -- and more explosions.

Transformers (2007)

by Bill Gibron

[3.Jul.07] :. Without the weight of an already formed franchise to pull it down, this filmic funhouse is allowed to spin wildly out of control. We simply sit back and enjoy the operatic ride.

Monkey Business (Part 3: July)

by Bill Gibron

[3.May.07] :. Finally, a month with only one remaining series contender. All wizard based Potter-y aside, this will be the most tenuous time for the business called show. After a strong start, the eccentric collection of entertainments here could make or break this potentially record shattering motion picture season.

The Good Shepherd (2006)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[22.Dec.06] :. For Edward, the CIA forms a circular logic: members define the mission and vice versa.

She Hate Me (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[24.Feb.05] :. As the last bill appears -- a three dollar 'bogus' bill featuring George W. Bush's face -- Spike Lee laughs. 'Hopefully, by the time you're seeing this DVD, he'll be out!'"

Secret Window (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[3.Aug.04] :. 'Johnny's look,' says director David Koepp, 'mostly came from Johnny'.

She Hate Me (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[30.Jul.04] :. Spike Lee's She Hate Me begins with money.

Secret Window (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[11.Mar.04] :. The foremost asset of this Stephen King adaptation is the wondrous Johnny Depp.

Anger Management (2003)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[11.Apr.03] :. Dave (Adam Sandler) grumbles okay, to everything, his face reorganized into a permanent twist.

Mr. Deeds (2002)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[27.Jun.02] :. It's all a saggy, inept mess. And it really makes you long for Michael Keaton and 'The Banana Boat Song'.

Collateral Damage (2002)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[7.Feb.02] :. As Schwarzenegger described the whole shebang to the guys on 'Fox NFL Sunday', 'There's some serious butt-kicking going on.'"

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

by Lucas Hilderbrand

It's a Depression-era musical laid on top of a chain gang escape film, inspired at once by Homer's 'The Odyssey' and Preston Sturges' screwball comedies. But outrageous as it might seem, this ultra-high-concept project suffers from a lack of inspiration.

Monkeybone (2001)

by Todd R. Ramlow

In 'Monkeybone', we are given visual representation of (presumably) every man's internal struggle, between his social conscience and his unbridled testosterone frenzy.

The Man Who Cried (2001)

by Todd R. Ramlow

...a sprawling affair, filled with bad accents (Cate Blanchett's tortured 'Russian'), tired cliches about studly horsemen and young girls' sexual awakenings, and really bad lip-syncing to Italian opera.

The Luzhin Defence (2000)

by Howard Hann

It's disturbing that a movie adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's woeful tale of a Russian Chess grandmaster can be so trivialising.

The Luzhin Defence (2000)

by Howard Hann

It's disturbing that a movie adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's woeful tale of a Russian Chess grandmaster can be so trivialising.

Do the Right Thing (1989/2001)

by Jonathan Beebe

For someone like me, who grew up with a VCR perpetually blinking 12:00 under my TV set, it’s difficult to imagine what it must have been like not to have easy access to films that were no...

Company Man (2001)

by Tobias Peterson

Coming on the heels of Thirteen Days, Company Man is the latest look at the troubled relationship between the United States and Cuba. Whereas trailers for Thirteen Days showcase...