Lipstick & Dynamite: The First Ladies of Wrestling (review)

Lively and charged with a furious nostalgia, this in-your-face documentary about some of the roughest women you’ll ever meet is a vivid exploration of a mostly forgotten sport-cum-entertainment: lady wrestling of the 1940s and 50s. Some of the top stars of the era — Killem Gillem, Penny Banner, The Fabulous Moolah, and others — look … more…

Father of the Pride: The Complete Series (review)

“Oh my god, they’re gonna die. Siegfried and Roy are gonna die,” John Goodman (Beyond the Sea) the white lion intones boredly and sarcastically in the first episode of this frequently bizarre and always tiresome animated series. He’s watching the Vegas showmen’s schtick from offstage, waiting for his cue to enter, and this is his … more…

The Fantastic Four: The Complete 1994-5 Animated Television Series (review)

There are moments of ironic wit and cleverness among the 26 episodes of the TV adaptation of the longest-running comic-book series. There just aren’t enough of them. One “action-packed” story is fairly indistinguishable from another as Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and The Thing battle supervillain Doctor Doom — there are only so … more…

The Divine Bette Midler (review)

Fans of the Divine Miss M will certainly enjoy this opportunity to listen to her famous friends — Barry Manilow, Danny DeVito, Barbara Hershey, Bruce Vilanch, and many others — rave about how wonderful she is, interspersed with clips from her performances on stage and screen. But it’s hard to imagine anyone else getting caught … more…

Clarissa (review)

This handsome BBC/Masterpiece Theater production toodles along elegantly, all period costumes and posh accents and people being beastly to one another in the most refined way… until it turns so shockingly vicious that you’re riveted, unable to believe what you’re seeing. The hints were there all along, of course, in this original dangerous liaison, based … more…

Beyond the Da Vinci Code (review)

Beyond The Da Vinci Code? Not so much beyond: more like a cashing-in, a ride on the coattails of the immensely popular book. This hastily thrown together History Channel documentary purports to examine the “truths” and “controversies” of Dan Brown’s bestselling novel, but actually it just tosses out some elementary comparative mythology, a few talking-head … more…

Red Eye (review)

You see it all the time in the movies: someone meets an attractive stranger at the airport check-in, at the bar near the gate, or in the seat next to you on the plane. It never happens in real life, of course — the people you see when you travel are inevitably middle-aged couples in matching track suits, surly teenagers who never take their headphones off, or weird serial-killer types who bring their own smelly snacks.

The 40 Year-Old Virgin (review)

The problem with all the “humorous” stereotyping — guys who own action figures are dorks! — and all the erection jokes and all the “naughty,” “sexy” language and all the sweaty desperation on the part of, no, not the titular character (heh: I said “tit”) but the filmmakers (one of whom plays the titular character; … more…

The Great Raid (review)

‘I just wanted to do my part and go home to my wife,’ James Franco’s army captain announces in his voiceover right as *The Great Raid* kicks off, and there’s the photo of the wifey and everything right there next to the letter home he’s writing. And you’re like, Ohhh-kayyy, this is gonna be one of *those* WWII flicks, where you’re gonna be able to peg who lives and who dies by who shows off a picture of his sweetheart before the big mission.

Valiant (review)

No kidding, the Brits awarded 53 Dickin Medals to animals for their bravery and meritorious service during World War II… and 31 of those medals went to pigeons, who delivered messages that saved human lives, and often died in the process. This is not the story of one of those pigeons. But it was inspired by those stalwart wartime flyers.