Thursday, April 30 2009

Summer of Same: August 2009

By Bill Gibron

With names like Tarantino, Lee, and Zombie, the final month of the season pulls out all the film geek stops. Still, the only guarantee is familiarity, not freshness.

Friday, September 21 2007

Resident Evil: Extinction

By Cynthia Fuchs

Carlos (Oded Fehr) matches Alice's not-so-interesting self-importance with a wry, almost-alternate perspective, self-aware and even sometimes unexpected.

Wednesday, January 26 2005

Resident Evil: Apocalypse - Special Edition (2004)

By Cynthia Fuchs

Paul W.S. Anderson says, 'For me, there is in modern times, a definite fear of loss of identity. And that's what the undead represent. They are the mass, there's no differentiation between them.'"

Friday, September 17 2004

Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)

By Cynthia Fuchs

Back for another go-round with the Umbrella Corporation, Alice (Milla Jovovich) is leaner and lots meaner.

Wednesday, September 8 2004

Resident Evil: Deluxe Edition (2002)

By Cynthia Fuchs

Resident Evil opens at a moment that might be best described as mid-psychosis, that is, the titular evil is overtaking the 'residence'.

Thursday, August 1 2002

Resident Evil (2002)

By Cynthia Fuchs

Look again, and it opens up into a morass of narrative fractures.

Sunday, January 1 1995

Zoolander (2001)

By Robert Ara Svihla

Zoolander's parody of the fashion industry is a pretty pointless endeavor, for the simple fact that ultimately, it parodies itself.

The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)

By Beth Armitage

Early on in the very long Luc Besson film, The Messenger, John Malkovich (playing Charles, Dauphin of France) wishes he could be someone else. It was the one and only time that I identified with anything in the film - I wished I could watch him be someone else! Like himself in Being John Malkovich. The Messenger is an unbelievably dull movie, which is a startling achievement given that the legend of Joan of Arc lends itself pretty well to storytelling of any type.

The Claim (2000)

By Cynthia Fuchs

Here the primary players are caught between forging their futures (individual and communal) and regretting their pasts, conjuring up a civilization in an unforgivably brutal environment.