Wilde (review)

As a certified Heartless Bitch, I gotta love a man who said ‘There is no sin except stupidity.’ Whether he uttered that before or after his 1895 trial for ‘gross indecency’ (i.e. homosexuality), Oscar Wilde had to be all too aware of the irony…

Michael Collins (review)

Michael Collins was a revolutionary, a patriot. At the risk of oversimplifying, Collins was kinda an Irish George Washington — he wanted to kick some British butt in aid of independence for his country. His story is full of drama and great personalities and stuff blowing up…

The Butcher Boy (review)

But like many Irish dramatic endeavors, The Butcher Boy is both comedy and tragedy, so Francie’s is a little more tortured than the typical childhood. And Francie himself is more unstable than most kids…

Extreme Measures (review)

When you consider it, it’s really quite an accomplishment for a movie to offend on more than one level. Extreme Measures, for example, laughs in the face of lesser films that merely bore the viewer with a predictably plot or forgettable characters…

Nightwatch (review)

It must be at least a year since I saw the first previews for Nightwatch, starring the lovely and talented Ewan McGregor. Looked like one of those scary-funny black comedies in the vein of Shallow Grave (also with McGregor), which I loved. So I waited eagerly. And waited. And waited…

Lost in Space (review)

Ultra cool! The best I’ve ever seen! Out of this world! I’m speaking, of course, of the end credits of Lost in Space, which are a psychedelic, funked-up kind of Japanese anime (the kind that gives you epilepsy — woo woo!) accompanied by way-danceable techno-pop…

Contact (review)

Contact opens with one of the most beautiful sequences ever created on film. We get a perspective of Earth from orbit, slowly rotating in the sunshine, and at full blare we hear what the universe hears of Earth: radio and television, a multitude of channels, all jumbled together and beamed into space…

Mad City (review)

I’m not sure what to make of Mad City. This media-gone-mad Costa-Gravas flick doesn’t go the satire route a la the later Wag the Dog — instead it tries more for parable but ends up so gosh-darn earnest that it falls flat…

Grease (review)

I swear, half the people in the audience weren’t even alive Grease was first released in 1978. I was part of the other half. Grease was my first grown-up movie — I was nine, and I went with my mom. I remember being embarrassed by all that sex stuff in the movie. (And it’s so tame nowadays!)…

Murder at 1600 and Absolute Power (review)

I’ve been wondering where all the powerful female characters in movies are, and whaddaya know, Murder at 1600 and Absolute Power showed me. Tips for girls — the keys to holding power are these: you must be young, gorgeous, and dead.