Year: 2002

Documentarian Arthur Dong avoids demonizing the conservative Christians at the center of Family Fundamentals, his heartbreaking look at the religious right and their gay children. But those who disagree with their views on human sexuality won’t be able to help but scoff when one of them asserts that there are no gays, just “heterosexuals with … more…

That’s cool. Cuz like these Russo guys, Anthony and Joe — who I bet get called Antny and Joey — lookin’ for their Mamet instead found their Sturges or their Capra (before he went all gooey), like a real doozy of an old-fashioned crime caper thingie. So knowin’ a ton of stuff about life only from old movies maybe ain’t such a bad thing.

There have been several previous screen adaptations of *The Lost World,* one as early as 1925, but now the cycle of inspiration has come full circle, as A&E and the BBC bring us a new TV miniseries (soon to be released on DVD and VHS) with special effects from the BBC computer nerds who gave us the amazingly realistic documentary *Walking with Dinosaurs,* who were of course inspired by *Jurassic Park,* which was perhaps inspired by Conan Doyle’s novel itself.

Not only are haunted houses bad for neighborhood property values, but they’re really pointless, aren’t they? The first time some unholy voice from beyond the grave intoned “Get out,” you would, wouldn’t you? So what’s the upside for a spook looking to instill fear on an ongoing basis? Much better to haunt someplace the mortals … more…

*The Tuxedo,* an action comedy worthy of neither label, is a veritable hotbed of questions like these. Most are along the lines of Why this? and Why that?, with the implication being that no one involved cared much to make a movie that didn’t completely misuse its cast, didn’t utterly abuse all sense of logical storytelling, and didn’t hold in complete contempt the idea that humor might rise above a level appreciated only by 10-year-old kung-fu fanatics suffering from attention deficit disorder.

If you’re lucky enough not to have experienced debilitating grief, *Moonlight Mile* might seem oddly disrespectful in its black humor, but I gotta tell ya, that’s what’s so special about this extraordinary film. It doesn’t tiptoe around like the distant relatives at the funeral who smile those wan, faux sympathetic smiles at you, the one that pretends to understand how you’re feeling and secretly hates that you’ve put them in this awkward spot. *Moonlight Mile* is the smack in the face you wish you could dispense in reply.

During the Great Depression, Iowa farmer Milford Beeghly was a passionate devotee of the hybridization of corn, which made him something of a Dr. Frankenstein of the times. No, seriously. Now, his grandson, Monteith McCollum, in his feature film debut, has created the first agricultural-gothic documentary, a demented little love letter to his grandfather. The … more…

Supposedly, 23-year-old writer/director Julian Simpson’s crime noir was inspired by James Cameron’s The Terminator — I don’t see it myself, except perhaps in theme of the randomness with which violent crime often strikes. But Cameron’s randomness is only illusory — his hidden connections play out satisfyingly in the end. Simpson’s randomness is just haphazard. Mild-mannered … more…