film criticism by maryann johanson | handcrafted since 1997
I once started a review of a movie like this: Hugh Jackman. Hugh Jackman? Hugh Jackman, Hugh Jackman Hugh Jackman Hugh Jackman Hugh Jackman. Hugh Jackman Hugh Jackman Hugh Jackman — Hugh Jackman Hugh Jackman Hugh Jackman Hugh Jackman. (Hugh Jackman Hugh Jackman.) Hugh Jackman. Because that is all I need to know about a … more…
U.S. AND CANADA/OPENING WIDE Knight and Day: Tom Cruise does some spy stuff and runs around a lot, while Cameron Diaz does a lot of screaming and runs around like a girl. If you can’t make it to the multiplex, try: • The 39 Steps (1935): Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll are mismatched maybe-spies in … more…
I cannot stop listening to the *Walk the Line* soundtrack. No, seriously. I’ll play ‘Ring of Fire,’ like, half a dozen times over and over before I start to worry about my sanity and then let the CD continue… and then a few tracks later it’ll be ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ half a dozen times. I’m not well. I left the screening room on Monday afternoon with Johnny Cash’s voice– no, with Joaquin Phoenix’s where’d-he-get-*that*-from baritone echoing in my head, and I ran to Tower Records to snatch up the CD only to be thwarted: it would not be released until the next day. Torture, I tell you, to wait 24 hours for the thing, and it’s gonna be worn out before Christmas.
