obsession boyfriend i'm psyched     i'm dreading enemy

(need an explanation?)

advertisements


Heights (review)

Right off the bat, we're assaulted by Glenn Close's Broadway diva, who rages to her master class of wannabe thespians how we're none of us passionate anymore, how we substitute iced mochachinos for emotion, or some such hotheaded nonsense. So of course you know instantly that the film's title is going to refer to emotional heights, or the lack thereof, experienced or surpressed by this ensemble of sleekly attractive and dully restrained Manhattanites... and that Close's outburst that opens the film will be the most dynamic the movie gets. This is a Merchant Ivory production, so perhaps that's to be expected -- but bottled-up angst somehow isn't quite so attractive when it's not pining away by the canals of Venice in the 19th century but rather over the sunset-gilded skyline of 21st-century New York. Oh, the cast is without a doubt superb: Close (The Stepford Wives) is glorious; the Elizabeth Shue-alike Elizabeth Banks (Seabiscuit) as her daughter is a revelation; Jesse Bradford (Eulogy), as one of Close's protégèe;s, is as adorable as she suggests he is; delicious cameos by the likes of Isabella Rossellini, Eric Bogosian, and even singer Rufus Wainwright are the cherries on top. But that hole in Lower Manhattan that director Chris Terrio keeps proffering as perhaps Metaphoric of modern woundedness serves the opposite purpose: you want to tell them to just get over themselves already.


more below the ad... scroll down...


viewed at home on a small screen
rated R for language, brief sexuality and nudity
official site | IMDB

who I am


I'm MaryAnn Johanson: writer and ponderer in New York City who drinks too much wine and thinks way too much about such inconsequences as movies, TV, books, and the meaning of life.
[email me]

• contributor, Film.com
• member, Online Film Critics Society
• member, Alliance of Women Film Journalists
• member, International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences
• visit my scratchpad blog, MaryAnnJohanson.com
• read my Doctor Who fan fiction

photo by David Speranza

(postings feed)

Add to Technorati Favorites

monthly archives

recent screenings and hot movies

just opened
yellow for maybe Diminished Capacity
yellow for maybe The Wackness
green for go Hancock
green for go Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
box office top 5
green for go Wall-E
green for go Wanted
yellow for maybe Get Smart
green for go Kung Fu Panda
green for go The Incredible Hulk
top limited releases
green for go Mongol
green for go The Visitor
When Did You Last See Your Father?
green for go Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
Then She Found Me
coming soon
green for go Man on Wire
yellow for maybe Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
red for no Harold
yellow for maybe Hellboy II: The Golden Army
red for no Fly Me to the Moon
yellow for maybe A Thousand Years of Good Prayers
now playing
red for no The Love Guru
red for no The Happening
yellow for maybe You Don't Mess With the Zohan
green for go Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
green for go The Fall
green for go Young@Heart
yellow for maybe Quid Pro Quo
red for no Sex and the City: The Movie
red for no The Strangers
green for go Dreams With Sharp Teeth
green for go Iron Man
green for go The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

2008 screening log

advertisements

search

Google
flickfilosopher.com
web
Powered by
Movable Type 3.36