film criticism by maryann johanson | celebrating 25 years: 1997–2022
Total Film recently ran a hilarious piece entitled ‘30 Rubbishest Movie Character Names’ — their choices range from Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars to Silken Floss in The Spirit to Scut Farkus in A Christmas Story…
Another pretty blond boy. Sorry: I do mean to mix it up a bit more. But I saw *Middle Men* today, and Macht is in it, as a genius idiot moron. (It makes sense in the context of the film, really.) His character is amusing, but far from attractive. So I felt the need to wash my brain out with some pretty pictures.
green light (definitely check it out): The Reader: Kate Winslet likes books and teenaged boys. [Amazon U.K.] [now available at Amazon U.S.] Tokyo!: Think Tokyo je t’aime, but weirder. [Amazon U.K.] [preorder at Amazon U.S.] Pushing Daisies: Complete Season 2: How come England gets an American TV show on DVD before we do? No fair! … more…
A slowish week for DVD releases… Out April 13 in Region 2: green light (definitely check it out): • Inkheart: read my review/buy at Amazon U.K./preorder in Region 1 at Amazon U.S. • Meeting Resistance: not reviewed/buy at Amazon U.K./already available in Region 1 at Amazon U.S. yellow light (worth a look on DVD) • … more…
I guess this had to happen eventually, but you always think these things will never come to pass: The worst movie of 2008 is now available on DVD. In a two-disc special edition, no less. Because twice as much bad is better? The mind boggles. I wrote this back in December, when The Spirit was … more…
It had to be done: all in one place, the very best bad dialogue 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. There’s surprisingly few of these. That’s … more…
I had a little email exchange this week with a representative of the UK Film Council, who explained to me why the U.K. box office numbers aren’t made public till midweek (as I discussed last week). Turns out it’s a matter of paying customers getting first crack at the numbers on Monday. I am not, … more…
Trying to figure out how to talk about the box office at the moment is a bit of a challenge, what with Christmas Day — always a big moviegoing day in North America — falling on a Thursday, and all the new wide releases opening that day. And then there’s this odd week, with no … more…
obsession: Doctor Who (a new episode!) boyfriend: Lee Pace in Pushing Daisies (three more episodes to go *sigh*) psyched: absolutely nothing (I’m exhausted from being psyched for so many movies — time for a break) dreading: Bride Wars (more proof that Hollywood hates women) enemy: Frank Miller, for mangling The Spirit (an utter abuse of … more…
Bête Noir It’s been a week since I saw The Spirit and I’m still thinking about it, and usually that’s a good thing, when a movie sticks with you like that, but not always. Like, not this time. Cuz what I’ve been turning over in my head is this conundrum: Just how awful is this … more…
