Articles tagged "nicole kidman"

Decade-Dense: The 60 Most Memorable Films of 1999 Feature

Part 2: The Virgin Suicides to The Blair Witch Project (May - August 1999)

by PopMatters Staff

[24.Mar.09] :. In Part Two of our look at the most memorable films of 1999, we experience music, foul-mouthed mayhem, and a late, great auteur's final cinematic statement.

Decade-Dense: The 60 Most Memorable Films of 1999

Film DVD Review

Australia

by Jesse Hassenger

[12.Mar.09] :. As far as films go, this one's rather like a fleeting romance that wants to be a torrid affair.

Recent DVD reviews

Column: The Box Office Belletrist

Woolf at the Door

by Jennifer Makowsky

[1.Mar.09] :. Both Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and Michael Cunningham's The Hours offer an illuminating look at the choices we make, the roles we play, and the hours that hinge our lives together.

Recent columns

PopMatters Picks: The Best TV, Film, and DVD of 2008 Feature

OMG - The 20 Worst Films of 2008

by PopMatters Staff

[15.Jan.09] :. There's bad, and then there's 2008 level bad. You know this list is looking down into a deep dark bottomless pit of cinematic despair when Mike Myers' shameful Love Guru didn't even make the Top 20!

PopMatters Picks: The Best TV, Film, and DVD of 2008

News

Hugh Jackman brings epic sexiness to film epic ‘Australia’

by David Hiltbrand [The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT)]

[26.Nov.08] :. “Australia,” the audacious epic from visionary director Baz Luhrmann, is being hailed as the Pacific “Gone With the Wind.” The movie’s scintillating star, Hugh Jackman,...

PopWire

Film Review

Australia

by Cynthia Fuchs

[26.Nov.08] :. Australia is both an epic and a post-epic epic: it understands what's at stake in such spectacle-making and wants to show you that it knows.

Recent Film reviews

Australia

by Bill Gibron

[26.Nov.08] :. He’s been making movies since 1992. Yet in 16 years, he’s completed only four projects - 1992’s Strictly Ballroom, 1996’s William Shakespeare’s Romeo +...

Lagerfeld Confidential

by Barbara Herman

[28.Oct.08] :. A brilliant if prickly documentary subject who balances the yin of marketing pragmatism with the yang of fashion fantasy.

Cinema Qua Non - Indispensable DVDs: Part 3

by PopMatters Staff

[16.Oct.08] :. Day Three - The final ten, a cross-culture collection teeming with big ideas, larger than life visions, and perhaps the greatest documentary on rugby you've probably never heard of.

Talk, Talk, Talk: November 2008

by Bill Gibron

[11.Sep.08] :. Like the sainted sigh of relief that comes after another shriek-filled All Hallow's Eve, November usually means the start of the 'nominate me' process for the proposed prestige pictures of 2008.

The Golden Compass

by Lara Killian

[13.May.08] :. Scruffy and unpolished in the open casting call, Dakota Blue Richards shines in her role as the gutsy heroine.

Margot at the Wedding

by Jesse Hassenger

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

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.

The author of ‘The Golden Compass’ doesn’t mince words

by Robert K. Elder [Chicago Tribune (MCT)]

[13.Dec.07] :. He certainly doesn’t look like a god-killer. But that’s how critics cast him: a deity-smashing heretic, bent on spreading godlessness with children’s tales. No, in person, author...

Critics say ‘Golden Compass’ is atheist agenda disguised in fantasy

by Robert W. Butler [McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)]

[9.Dec.07] :. Since its beginning, critics have denounced the film industry as a godless enterprise leading innocent minds astray. Now, say the critics, the industry is pushing a children’s movie with an...

Critics say ‘Golden Compass’ is atheist agenda disguised in fantasy

by Robert W. Butler [McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)]

[7.Dec.07] :. Since its beginning, critics have denounced the film industry as a godless enterprise leading innocent minds astray. Now, say the critics, the industry is pushing a children’s movie with an...

The Golden Compass

by Cynthia Fuchs

[7.Dec.07] :. Too bland and disjointed to match up with either set up expectations, The Golden Compass is too familiar to be beguiling, too interested in appeasing masses and selling the Corgi toy line.

Director says initial reaction to ‘Compass’ hasn’t been golden

by Roger Moore [The Orlando Sentinel (MCT)]

[6.Dec.07] :. Chris Weitz is a moviemaker on the spot. He’s just directed a multi-million dollar movie fantasy, “The Golden Compass,” which opens around the world Friday. And nobody seems willing...

‘Compass’ author’s atheism stirs debate on film’s message

by Duane Dudek [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (MCT)]

[6.Dec.07] :. Nina Hemmer is a reader. The 11-year-old Shorewood, Wis., girl is plowing through the Bible and hopes “to get to the part about Jesus’ birth by Christmas,” said her mother, Cathy...

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.

The Invasion

by Bill Gibron

[19.Aug.07] :. With 2007’s oft-delayed The Invasion, there is simply no more symbolic juice left.

The Invasion (2007)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[17.Aug.07] :. Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (who made the impressive Downfall), the film goes from sharp paranoid thriller to noisy action flick.

Kids’ DVDs: June 2007

by Roger Holland

[6.Jun.07] :. Given that babies and young children love nothing more than repetition, repetition, and... um.... repetition, I can't understand why even the pointiest of heads would think children between the ages of six months and three years could possible need 23 different Baby Einstein DVDs.

Monkey Business (Part 4: August)

by Bill Gibron

[4.May.07] :. In past years, Hollywood purposely counter programmed these renowned Cineplex dog days, trying to offset the perception that cinematic scraps were all the studios had to offer. From the look of this lame list, it's apparently back to the filmic fridge for some patently warmed over offerings.

God Grew Tired of Us (2007)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[30.Jan.07] :. Not quite intimate, the film can only hint at its subjects' depths of pain and strength, observing as they grapple with the perversities of life in the States.

Happy Feet (2006)

by Mike Ward

[21.Nov.06] :. The penguins learn to refine their engrained vocal skills not in the interest of spiritual uplift or any such, but, basically, to get laid.

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus (2006)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[15.Nov.06] :. In making Arbus' biography understandable, if "imaginary," the film also makes her work -- so thrillingly strange -- a bit too familiar.

Nicole Kidman zooms in on her dark movie material

by Joe Neumaier [New York Daily News]

[8.Nov.06] :. It isn’t hard to go into murky emotional woods with Nicole Kidman. In movies like “The Others” (2001), “Dogville” (2003) and “Birth” (2004), the...

Bewitched (2005)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[27.Oct.05] :. As Jack goes overboard in usual Ferrellian fashion, Isabel's insistence that he is the perfect mate for her go-normal plan never makes sense.

Bewitched (2005)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[24.Jun.05] :. Like most movies starring Will Ferrell and all movies based on TV series, this one tries too hard.

The Interpreter (2005)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[22.Apr.05] :. Sydney Pollack's latest thriller touches on a range of topical matters, from diplomatic skirting of African genocides to U.S. intelligence agency confusions.

Chanel No. 5 The Film: Le Film du Film

by Daniel Mudie Cunningham

[22.Nov.04] :. Luhrmann has his finger on the postmodern impulse to recombine ideas specific to advertising, film, and art.

The Stepford Wives (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[8.Nov.04] :. Director Frank Oz asserts, 'There is no such a thing as Stepford. Stepford is in the mind.'"

Birth (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[5.Nov.04] :. Catching her breath as if she's been hit, Mrs. Conte's (Cara Seymour) visceral reaction, amid the film's overwhelmingly somber, ethereal weirdness, is finally believable.

Cold Mountain: Collector’s Edition (2003)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[12.Jul.04] :. Anthony Minghella's image of the birds in snow articulates Cold Mountain's aesthetic and themes, its interest in collision and reverie, in nostalgia and resistance.

The Stepford Wives (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[17.Jun.04] :. Joanna's paucity of spirit is odiously illustrated during the first five minutes of The Stepford Wives.

Dogville (2003)

by Todd R. Ramlow

[15.Apr.04] :. The accusation that the film is 'anti-American' says less about Von Trier than it does about the American psyche.

Cold Mountain (2003)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[23.Dec.03] :. The first scene in Cold Mountain is sensational and sickening, an apt introduction to what will be a Civil War saga.

The Human Stain (2003)

by Philip Booth

[10.Nov.03] :. All of these circumstances amplify the irony of Silk's tragic downfall, stemming from his own Achilles' heel.

The Hours (2002)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[14.Jul.03] :. 'What I learned seeing the movie is that yes, you do lose that ability to go into people's minds, but you gain Meryl Streep's ability to separate an egg, in a way that tells you everything you need to know about who that person is at that point.'"

The Hours (2002)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[16.Jan.03] :. The women are also functions of a coherent narrative, made comprehensible as embodiments of historical patterns.

Birthday Girl (2002)

by Kirsten Markson

[31.Jan.02] :. . . . a mildly enjoyable film, offering some giggles and even a few shocking revelations.

The Others (2001)

by Cynthia Fuchs

Written, directed, and scored by the young Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenabar, 'The Others' explores the evolving relationship between Grace and the servants, especially Mrs. Mills, as this mirrors Grace's changing perception of herself, in the world.

Moulin Rouge (2001)

by Todd R. Ramlow

I imagine that at the 'real' Moulin Rouge, the thrill wasn't just a bit of nipple and a flash of panties, but the whole entertainment package, which no doubt included exuberant 'daring' new music intended to shock and titillate the sensitivity of the bourgeoisie -- kind of like rock-and-roll or punk in our times.

Moulin Rouge (2001)

by Cynthia Fuchs

She's the perfect drag queen, embodying the ruthless paradox of entertainment. She is the show that must go on and cannot.