Ethan Hawke

Daybreakers (review)

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It’s the perfect, ultimate, brilliant extrapolation of the vampire conceit: What happens once almost everyone’s a vampire, unturned humans are nearly extinct, and the tastiest, most satisfying blood — the human kind — is running out?

trailer break: ‘Daybreakers’

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Take a break from work: watch a trailer… The January release date is not encouraging, but I like this trailer. I like the new take on the very old vampire tropes. I like that this is from brothers Michael and Peter Spierig, who made the surprisingly poignant Undead on the cheap a few years ago … more…

my week at the movies: ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still,’ ‘Doubt,’ ‘Nothing Like the Holidays,’ ‘Yes Man,’ ‘What Doesn’t Kill You,’ ‘Delgo,’ ‘The Tale of Despereaux,’ ‘Valkyrie’ (and on stage, ‘Equus’)

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I mentioned in comments here how December for film critics is so insanely busy it feels like there’s no time to sleep. A week like this is what makes me feel this way. Today’s not so bad, as far as being jam-packed with screenings goes, except that today my first screening was at 10am, and … more…

Lord of War movie review: sympathy for the devil?

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Funny? Sure, *Lord of War* is funny. Funny like how you’re not sure whether that headline is from Reuters or The Onion. Funny like how Jon Stewart has to insist that what he’s about to tell you really happened and is not the invention of his team of political wagsters. Satirical? Sure, *Lord of War* is satirical. Satirical like the front page of *The New York Times* is satirical. Satirical like how, at the end of Andrew Niccol’s black comedy about a relatively small-time freelance arms dealer, he tells us that the biggest arms dealers in the world are the nations that are the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

best writing and direction of 2004: cut and print…

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BEST DIRECTOR Lars von Trier, Dogville Ever a risktaker, Lars von Trier took one of the biggest risks onscreen in 2004 with a determinedly uncinematic film that was also unabashedly political — a breathtaking and refreshingly daring combination in an era of play-it-safe “entertainment.” Setting his cast and his scene on a bare, black-box stage, … more…

Training Day (review)

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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?