film criticism by maryann johanson | 25 years: 1997–2022
In *The Other Guys,* Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg are ordinary NYPD detectives trying to move out of the shadow of two superstar detectives, while also trying not to kill each other. This flick sprang from (among other films)…
I was Googling around for some information on the U.K.’s equivalent of the Miranda warning, the caution, for my *Life on Mars* blogging, and I came across a most interesting tidbit from Neal Stephenson’s essay “In the Beginning… Was the Command Line”…
It’s Thursday, so it’s time for another Dream Cast, in which we take a classic movie or TV show — perferrably something with Xer appeal that we can either trash or have fun with — and recast a hypothetical (or sometimes not so hypothetical) remake with actors working today. This week: Three’s Company, the 1977-84 … more…
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN (encompassing production design, costumes, and makeup) The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou I usually favor invented worlds when picking the year’s best production work… and maybe I’ve done that here, too. Steve Zissou’s universe feels like it’s a baby step off skew with our own — the colors just a tad flat, … more…
Here, in one place, the most quotable movie lines of the year 2004. They’re not ranked — they’re all great. [Warning: May contain spoilers.] [click here for the funniest bad snippets of dialogue from 2004] “Only people from the Bronx care about the Oscars.” –Sandra Dee (Kate Bosworth), Beyond the Sea “I’ve never seen a … more…
It’s probably a good thing that there isn’t, cuz the culties would be disappointed in this new *Starsky & Hutch.* The only thing that’s even remotely ‘Starsky & Hutch’ about this goofy adaptation is the red and white Ford Gran Torino.
