reviews

Its title sounds suspiciously like that of a porno film, but Shower is actually a Chinese drama that swept through recent film festivals worldwide to great acclaim. Thematically similar in some ways to last winter’s Danish film Mifune, this is a bittersweet exploration of the inexorable slide from past to future traditional cultures face as … more…

When Joel and Ethan Coen were approached about doing a DVD release of their debut feature flick, they figured, why not spiff it up a bit? The mono sound had to be redone anyway, and, well, you can’t just make one clean spot without the rest looking even worse by comparison, so Blood Simple ended … more…

Be not fooled. Disney’s The Kid is not a children’s movie — it’s yet another example of the genus Whiny boomerus. Like The Wonder Years meets a particularly mewling episode of thirtysomething, The Kid is a charmless, saccharine sitcom, apparently leftover from the very early 90s, about how one man is not to blame for the fact that he’s a soulless jerk — it’s because he was picked on as a kid… oh, and daddy yelled at him once. It’s not his fault at all.

Okay, The Patriot is corny and manipulative, but so are John Philip Sousa marches and fireworks, and if you find yourself getting a little choked up watching Macy’s pyrotechnics over the East River, then you’ll enjoy getting swept away by The Patriot, too. This is the best kind of old-fashioned filmmaking: grand and epic yet intimate and personal, full of angst-ridden good guys and hiss-worthy bad guys. It’s got, to paraphrase the grandfather in The Princess Bride, murder, revenge, fighting, swordplay, spectacular battles, loyal dogs, and true love. What’s not to like?

You have to go back 15 years to find the last major film about the American fight for independence, and, well, it’s not one really worth remembering. Revolution is a pointless, frequently cruel train wreck of a movie, atrociously miscast and laughably overmelodramatic, and apparently filmed without benefit of a script.

Why do people automatically think ‘kids’ movie’ if cartoons are involved? Who Framed Roger Rabbit has way more appeal for grownups than it does for tykes, and I’m not entirely sure this hard-boiled tale of sex, murder, and — ahem — graphic animation is suitable for young eyes. Though those qualities are exactly what has made it a cult classic among movie fans.

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle instantly dates itself, too, with its satirical swipes at the Internet, celebrity mania, cable television, the presidency, Hollywood, and the general dumbing down of America, and it likely will cease to be amusing, except in retrospect, in only a few years. But right at this moment, it’s pretty darn funny.