film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
Yesterday’s female-gazing at Gary Cooper made me think: Wow, Gary Cooper really kinda looks like Kevin Costner, doesn’t he? Or, the other way around, actually, since Costner came second. The thing about Costner is, he really is the embodiment of the evil of Hollywood. Because he has appeared in some seriously shitty movies — hello, … more…
Out January 12 in Region 2: • Pineapple Express [buy at Amazon U.K.]. From my red light review: I think it’s supposed to be funny, the idea of violent pot dealers, of warring gangs of weed pushers, but it probably helps to actually be stoned while watching this to appreciate that. In fact, I wonder … more…
There’s an odd bit of nonsense in the ends credits of Swing Vote: The CNN Journalist portrayed is a fictitious character I’m not sure which character this is meant to refer to. I suspect it’s the TV news reporter played by Paula Patton, the one who befriends Molly, the little girl, but she’s not a … more…
If you need any more proof that a movie like *Swing Vote* is complete balderdash, with its fantasy about getting couch potatoes out to the polls as the cure-all for what ails America, then here is it.
You almost want to hug ‘Swing Vote,’ too, it’s so cute in how it thinks that it’s not too late for all that, that one-man-one-vote really is something akin to, well, maybe nine innings of baseball on a glorious summer’s day.
I like the Mummy movies and I don’t care who knows it. And I am absolutely determined to enjoy The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor [opens wide August 1] as much as I possibly can. If that means I have to plug my ears and loudly sing-a-ling “La la la, I can’t hear you!” … 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…
