handcrafted film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
Today’s question comes from reader Patrick, who writes: In the 80’s it was “A Christmas Story”; in the 90’s it was “The Shawshank Redemption”–both films developed into monstrous hits after their initial box office failure in the next decade. So, I must ask: what do you predict will be the film of the 00’s that … more…
Take a break from work: watch a trailer… I heard “Hilary Duff” and “Steve Coogan” and I’m not sure what I thought — maybe something along the lines of Hamlet 2 — but I’m pretty certain I did not think, “Serious drama about adolescence and tragedy and grief and sadness and other not-comedy stuff.” Or … more…
Here are the most quotable movie lines of the year 2008. I didn’t mean to hold these till the movie year was over — it just sort of happened that way. I’ll return to posting quotes as I hear them for 2009. No ranking — quotes are posted in reverse order of movie release dates, … more…
You could almost call it, *Where Do Dreams Go to Die?,* this satire that’s so insightful about art and hope and ambition and enthusiasm — and their flip sides of anger and frustration and embarrassment and derailment — that it’s actually painful at times.
Take a break from work: watch a movie trailer… [watch it here; I deleted the embedded Quicktime player because it was causing problems for some readers] It’s redband for a bit of language. I’ve seen this flick already, and it’s a tough one to trailerize, because it’s not about punchlines and slapstick but a whole … more…
…over the rest of the summer. And by that I mean till the end of August. I peeked ahead to September, since that is still technically part of summer, but the movies then are starting to feel like fall movies. So we’ll deal with those later. It’s a grim six weekends of new movies ahead … more…
Shhhh! It’s totally secret, the screening of — shhhhh! — The X-Files: I Want to Believe [opens wide July 25] I’ll attend this week. Fox is terrified of spoilers getting out, but I’ve heard this tidbit, and I’m not afraid to spoil it: Cancer Man is Luke’s father. And Rosebud is a jet-powered sled reverse-enigineered … more…
