reviews

Where did this come from all of a sudden, organized humiliation, both physical and psychological, as American bloodsport? Cruelty is undoubtedly an inherent human quality, but how did we get to a point at which we, as a culture, celebrate it, revel in it? Far be it from me to suggest that crude and brutish ‘entertainment’ is a root cause of grinning grunts leading prisoners around on dog leashes — I’m of the school that movies and TV reflect the culture more than inspire it — but it hardly seems like satire to suggest that we’re on the verge of *Survivor: Guantanamo* or *Who Wants to Run Abu Ghraib?*

There’s a blustery charm to the gothy outcasts of writer/director Todd Stephens’s beautifully realized Gypsy 83, two unlikely best pals who cling to each other in the cultural wasteland of cool-deprived Sandusky, Ohio. Gypsy (Sara Rue: A Slipping-Down Life) is a 25-year-old wannabe singer with some genuine talent, if not quite the drive to pursue … more…

Tricky things, high school reunions, dredging up all sorts of uncomfortable memories about navigating that cusp between childhood and adulthood, and all sorts of newfound fears about the disconnect between the expectations we had at the time for our future lives and where we actually ended up. The whole awkward, conflicted emotional muddle takes center … more…

A lot of care and concern — evil care and concern, but still — went into *Pitch Black,* into making a big movie on a little budget (reportedly $23 million). With *Riddick,* a lot of money — $100 million more than last time; not $100 million, a $100 million *more* — went into making a colossal movie. And by that I mean colossally awful.

There’s something kinda, well, insidiously Stepford-esque about this new *Stepford Wives.* Like how could anyone not like it, this silly fluffy comedy thing, and even if you don’t like it, it’s just a silly fluffy movie, what’s to complain about? Anti-women? How’s that? Well, my goodness, isn’t this a satire sending up the very same misogynistic attitudes that were so creepy and disgusting in the original film?

Here’s Harry, thirteen years old and bursting with adolescent spunk, doing forbidden things with his wand under the blankets in his Privet Drive bedroom in the middle of the night. He’s practicing ‘extreme incantations’ — when Hogwarts students aren’t supposed to be doing magic outside of school at all — and delighting in pissing off unctuous Uncle Vernon in the process. All completely innocent…

In the cold, windswept deserts of Mongolia, a mother camel rejects her newborn calf, and the nomadic herders to whom the animals belong must perform an ancient ritual to reunite them. Byambasuren Davaa, who grew up in this world, and Italian Luigi Falorni developed this “narrative documentary” — a nominally fictional story with a real-life … more…

If the Amelie–ization of French film is going to continue much longer, count me out. Self-conscious in its cynical Gallic whimsy and exuding none of the innocent charm of its delightful progenitor, this “comedy” — which veers wildly from icky instances of near-incest to repulsive demonstrations of emotional brutality — features just about the most … more…