film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
I love Depp and Weisz, and I bet they’d be fantastic together. But is there any reason to remake a classic? Is there any hope in hell it could possibly be better than the original? Why bother to make such a movie at all… except that Hollywood is unashamed of its creative bankruptcy?
Hoorah! A woman pirate who actually gets to do piratey things, and is played by Penelope Cruz? Awesome!
UPDATED: Winners are indicated with ♦s. I made informed guesses in 20 of the 24 categories; of those, I guessed 12 correctly. (Well, 13, really, except that in the animated short category in the original version of this page, I had both “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” and “Logorama” checked … more…
Thoughts while listening to the announcement of the nominations: • Penelope Cruz in Nine?! Matt Damon in Invictus?! Seriously? • No surprises in the Best Actor, Best Actress, or Best Director categories. • Looks like I’m gonna have to review The Messenger and The Last Station. • District 9 love! In the Loop love! I … more…
…as almost every other movie rakes in piles of dough, too: 1. Avatar: £5.9 million (3rd week; up 55%) 2. Sherlock Holmes: £3.4 million (2nd week; up 12%) 3. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel: £2.5 million (2nd week; drops 54%) 4. Did You Hear About the Morgans?: £1.2 million (NEW) 5. Nine: £.78 million … more…
Rob Marshall is directing Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides (according to the IMDB). Or because Captain Jack Sparrow is a tortured genius who simply must express his pain via tunes designed to be showstopping to mask their banality. This has been your WTF Thought for the Day.
Actual Italian movies too inscrutable for ya? Don’t like reading subtitles? Hate that stodgy, old-fashioned black-and-white cinematography? Never fear! You can now have the flavor of Italian cinema without any of the fuss or mess! Just try *Nine* for that authentic faux cinema Italiano experience.
And homegrown British films make good showings: 1. Avatar: £8.5 million (NEW) 2. St. Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold: £1.6 million (NEW) 3. A Christmas Carol: £1 million 4. Nativity!: £.58 million (4th week; drops 13%) 5. Planet 51: £.455 million (3rd week; drops 41%) (actual numbers, not estimates) Avatar enjoyed the third … more…
obsession: Doctor Who (David Tennant’s almost gone!) boyfriend: Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes (sexiest Holmes ever) psyched: Daybreakers (because the Spierig Brothers made the awesome Undead a few years back) girl crush: Vera Farmiga in Up in the Air (because she’s too cool) dreading: Leap Year (launching a new decade of rom-com crap) enemy: … more…
We know how it is: You’d like to go to the movies this weekend, but… prezzies! toys! candy canes! snowball fights! big holiday dinner! 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 Sherlock Holmes this weekend?” … more…
