film criticism by maryann johanson | handcrafted since 1997
Who could possibly make such a decision about when to retire accept an artist herself? Is there any way to mandate a retirement age for artists except by audiences refusing to participate as audiences anymore (which still wouldn’t prevent an artist from making art, only from having it seen)?
A hundred years of handsome Hollywood hotties, from Douglas Fairbanks Sr. to George Clooney, in three and a half minutes…
There’s a sneaky cheekiness to You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger that is inherent in the slyness of the title, which wraps up in one neat little package ideas about romantic fate, our yearning for something better than the pretty good thing we might already have, and an up-to-the-minute restlessness about our lives that hounds even the most comfortable of us.
They’ve promised us that this will be the last Shrek film, and please let it be true.
We know how it is: You’d like to go to the movies this weekend, but you dropped a pocketwatch in the shower and now you’re stuck in 1857. But you can have a multiplex-like experience in the 19th century (assuming you remembered to bring along your portable DVD player) with a collection of the right … more…
We know how it is: You’d like to go to the movies this weekend, except you’re busy investigating the latest government/corporate coverup and that leaves little time for amusing yourself. 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 … more…
2nd UPDATE: This week is turning insane. I’ve just added screenings of Jennifer’s Body (opens in the U.S. on September 18, and in the U.K. on November 6) — the Megan Fox-as-not-just-high-school-evil flick — and another upcoming movie that I’ve been asked not to say anything about yet (but I’ll let know more as soon … more…
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN (encompassing production design, costumes, and makeup) The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou I usually favor invented worlds when picking the year’s best production work… and maybe I’ve done that here, too. Steve Zissou’s universe feels like it’s a baby step off skew with our own — the colors just a tad flat, … more…
BEST ACTOR Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda It’s a role that, in the hands of even another very competent actor, could have descended into pathos and sentimentality, but Cheadle’s performance goes way beyond mere competence: As an Oskar Schindler-type figure in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, he approaches incomprehensible horrors in a way that makes us intimate partners … more…
Here, in one place, the most quotable movie lines of the year 2004. They’re not ranked — they’re all great. [Warning: May contain spoilers.] [click here for the funniest bad snippets of dialogue from 2004] “Only people from the Bronx care about the Oscars.” –Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth), Beyond the Sea “I’ve never seen a … more…
