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man on the train
director: patrice leconte
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| In this smart, meditative, odd and charming film; an ancient, eccentric and lonesome professor befriends an aging, laconic, and tired bankrobber. They have many adventures together, including eating baguettes and drinking wine, gunfire, and the transmigration of souls. |
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reviewed by: john ball |
May 2003 [link] |
recommend
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bourne supremacy, the
director: paul greengrass
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| Despite the fact that Jason Bourne still has the nagging amnesia and the main protagonist from Supremacy was gunned down in the street, the second film still packs a lot of action and intrigue into two hours (or so). Oh yeah, and there's another car chase. |
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reviewed by: Eddie |
August 2004 [link] |
recommend 2 thumbs up
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the aristocrats
director: paul provenza
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| So this family walks into a movie theater to see 'The Aristocrats'. After watching the first five minutes, they all storm out, ears covered, in sheer moral horror (except the mother, HER mother, a pro-bono proctologist and the family horse). |
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reviewed by: alec |
August 2005 [link] |
recommend 4 thumbs up
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magnolia
director: paul thomas anderson
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| I was immediately pulled in by this epic which covers the lives of several people in the Valley during one odd, tumultuous day. While Magnolia doesn't always work (at 3 hours 15 min, I think I can forgive a few scenes which don't pan out) overall it is a beautifully filmed, written, and acted story of isolation, pain, and ultimately hope….it's one of the best things I've seen in a while. |
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reviewed by: JohnLawton |
July 2000 [link] |
recommend
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last resort
director: pawel pawlikowski
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This beautifully shot sad little film is diverting but ultimately
nothing special. A Russian woman and her son get political
asylum in England when an arranged marriage doesn't pan
out; it has it's moments, none of which are really jumping out
at me right now. |
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reviewed by: JohnLawton |
March 2001 [link] |
recommend
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all about my mother
director: pedro almodovar
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| 1999 brings us a kinder, gentler Almodovar with his stylistic fetishes intact, including vibrant colors and gaudy wallpaper; a woman who recently lost her son goes to Barcelona to tell the father and finds herself in the middle of other people's lives. While technically a melodrama the film never lapses into melancholy and is constantly a pleasant meditation on the notion of acting, as in theater and in the familial roles that we are sometimes forced to play. |
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reviewed by: JohnLawton |
July 2000 [link] |
recommend
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talk to her
director: pedro almodovar
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| Strange dramatic dances by Pina Bausch, a black and white silent film in which a teeny tiny man traverses the huge naked breasts of his normal size lover, and mournful songs that are practically tears set to music punctuate this dark sleeping beauty revisitation. A movie worth seeing - especially for the exquisitively sensitive portrayals of the men who intensely & tragically love two women who are comatose. |
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reviewed by: raquel |
January 2003 [link] |
recommend
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talk to her
director: pedro almodovar
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When I walked out of this film, I thought: "What a perfectly executed, dreamy story about the way the idea of love can often captivate us more than the real thing."
A few conversations later, I am wondering: "Was the devoted love of comatose minds and indifferent, beautiful bodies astute feminist critique or dressed-up misogyny?" |
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reviewed by: adina |
May 2003 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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serendipity
director: peter chelsom
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| Now I'm not going to tell you if these two wacky kids end up together because that would be cheating. I like John Cusack a lot I just wish he would do more stuff that I wanted to see. |
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reviewed by: JohnLawton |
October 2001 [link] |
recommend
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dan in real life
director: peter hedges
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| A romantic comedy that is actually charming, witty, sad and painful- just like real life- ok, maybe not totally like real life, but it is at least worth seeing to watch Steve Carell play guitar and sing "Let My Love Open the Door". Also of note: it is set in the beautiful part of Rhode Island. |
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reviewed by: Eve |
November 2007 [link] |
recommend
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lord of the rings: the two towers
director: peter jackson
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| As a show of sensitivity, I thought this film should have been titled "THE TWO TOWERS (NOT THOSE TWO TOWERS -- TWO OTHER TOWERS)," but what do I know? The second film in this trilogy lives up to the high standard of quality set by the first: the story is enthralling, Gollum is astonishing, and some of the long shots of big battle scenes (probably wholly digitally invented) are so gorgeously composed that they look like masterworks in oil. |
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reviewed by: matthewS |
December 2002 [link] |
recommend 5 thumbs up
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anger management
director: peter segal
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| There are too many cameos, and the ending is too hokily nonsensical, but this is the way of things, and will only disappoint viewers the way they expect to be disappointed. On a scale of THE WEDDING SINGER to HAPPY GILMORE, ANGER MANAGEMENT ranks about a WATERBOY.5 (on the strength of John Turturro's funny, funny performance). |
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reviewed by: matthewS |
April 2003 [link] |
recommend
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raising victor vargas
director: peter sollett
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| This sweet coming-of-age flick set in the Lower East side is a great argument for not reading movie reviews (henceforth referred to as 'the hype'); if I had heard any more the hype about it, I indubitably would have felt the need to become part of the backlash, instead of enjoying if for the funny, real, and fresh good time it is. So go see it, or don't, whatever. |
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reviewed by: evan |
April 2003 [link] |
recommend
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nick & norah's infinite playlist
director: peter sollett
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| Basically, this movie is a documentary of any given Friday night in my life, but with much less angst. That aside, it's sweet and has its charms, you even get a glimpse of a Merge Records sticker in the opening scene, but with names like Nick & Norah, I was hoping for a little more tension, and I'm now going to add Valley Girl to my Netflix list to re-watch my better teenage version of this flick. |
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reviewed by: john ball |
December 2008 [link] |
recommend
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girl with a pearl earring
director: peter webber
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| Vermeer mastered techniques capturing the essence of light and the softness of human skin in an age--as depicted in this film--that was bleak and unappreciative of the human form's beauty. Webber's photography subtly highlighted that beauty, making every single shot worthy of the craft of a master. |
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reviewed by: nate |
February 2004 [link] |
recommend 2 thumbs up
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master and commander: the far side of the world
director: peter weir
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| This is a fun movie- the Brits take on Napoleon's forces at sea, kind of "A Perfect Storm" meets "HMS Pinafore" meets "The Patriot" (just for the grisly close range fighting). The HMS Surprise is a magnificent display of sails, ropes, and pulleys, with spacious rooms for on-board tea time and plaintive violin-playing; Russell Crowe was the able commander of the cast of craggly mates, loutish deck hands, loser aristocrats, and cute young boy aristocrat commanders-in-training; and you'll end up rooting for the Brits to beat those bloody French. |
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reviewed by: robin |
November 2003 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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american tail: fievel goes west, an
director: phil nibbelink, simon wells
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I was recently discussing AN AMERICAN TAIL with a girl I know, and how weird it is, what with its furry animal retelling of the immigration experience of Russian Jewry, and its feline Cossacks, and its cat-on-mouse pogrom, and we got to wondering if the sequel had similar socio-historical pretensions, and maybe featured Chinese lizards building the trans-continental railroad or something.
It doesn't.
BONUS 2-SENTENCE EXCERPT FROM ANOTHER REVIEW POSTED ON ANOTHER (INFERIOR) WEBSITE:
I know Fievel was a cowboy but wore a cowboy hat and they went to Green River. FIEVEL - YOU WENT WEST & I love this video and I loved this movie which was cartoon and I love this video and they played a violin and there was a fiddle tune they played on the violin called Eight of January!
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reviewed by: matthewS |
April 2003 [link] |
recommend
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quiet american, the
director: phillip noyce
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| As a critique of U.S. colonialism, THE QUIET AMERICAN is as timely as ever -- and as a bonus, we get some Franco-American tension that's relevant anew. Noyce's adaptation is beautifully shot, finely acted, and faithful to Graham Greene's heartbreaking 1955 novel. |
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reviewed by: matthewS |
March 2003 [link] |
recommend
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