film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
Knee-jerk clichés abound in a shameless retread of The Matrix in which many levels of storytelling ineptitude are the only depth on offer. Can Hollywood please stop reincarnating the same old movies?
Humorless, rote, clichéd, and entirely unsurprising. Antoine Fuqua attempts to recapture old Hollywood magic — and fails — rather than create his own.
Clichéd, obvious, and tired. We’ve seen this story so many times before, but rarely with such a lack of appreciation for just how unheroic its “hero” is.
Yet another artifact of the long stagnation of Hollywood, which has been remaking the same movies over and over and over again for the past 30 years.
A vile propagandistic action flick that shamelessly indulges fears of terrorism while also failing on a basic narrative level.
U.S. AND CANADA/OPENING WIDE The A-Team: A stirring drama of wrongly convicted patriots who get mad and kick some ass. If you can’t make it to the multiplex, try: • The A-Team (1983-1987): The entire series is newly available in a cool new box set. • The Great Escape (1963): This Steve McQueen military classic … more…
We know how it is: You’d like to go to the movies this weekend, but you’re late, you’re late, for a very important date. But you can have a multiplex-like experience at home with a collection of the right DVDs. And when someone asks you on Monday, “Hey, did you see Alice in Wonderland this … more…
Wails with a quiet, desperate urgency amidst the loud brashness that it wears like, well, a badge…
Take a break from work: watch a trailer… I just love saying “Antoine Fuqua.” That is the best name ever. “Antoine Fuqua.” And it sounds even better when trailer announcers say it. Why didn’t the trailer guy here say it? “From Antoine Fuqua, the director of Training Day.” How could they pass that up? Anyway, … more…
It takes a wolf to catch a wolf, says Los Angeles narcotics detective Alonzo Harris. All us little sheep need a wolf on our side to protect us from the other wolves. But shouldn’t we be afraid that “our” wolf might turn on us one day, and even if he doesn’t and keeps the dangerous wolves at bay, isn’t it only wolves who win in the end?
