Jesus Ain’t That Magic
Sarah Silverman is no Snakes on a Plane, but the slapdash movie bearing her name suffers from the same problem: overexposure.
Tagged: Comedies, Jesus Is Magic, Reviews, Sarah Silverman
Month: August 2006
This Could Be It
Much like the Boston Red Sox, the movie Game 6 hauls so much baggage that triumph seems nearly impossible. It’s akin to being down three games to none to the Yankees in a best-of-seven series. Lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ong odds. But somehow … .
Tagged: Baseball, Boston Red Sox, Don DeLillo, Dramas, Game 6, Michael Hoffman, Paul Auster, Reviews, Smoke
The U.S. Military: More Than Meets the Eye?
The article begins innocuously enough: “Hollywood’s depiction of the U.S. military is often laughably inaccurate to many Americans who wear their country’s uniform.” But then … .
Whores and the Whoring Whores Who Sell Them Out
While it’s worth debating the aims and functions of criticism, there’s a larger issue that’s rarely discussed: ethics in entertainment journalism. Critics have a credibility problem, and I think it’s the primary source of their diminished stature these days.
Tagged: Critics
Unlikely Hope
So we’ve dealt with opening shots and isolated shots, and now the House Next Door asks a different but related question:
“What single movie image or moment do you think of more often than any other?” My answer comes from my iPod.
People Will Most Definitely Come
The Netflix Rolling Roadshow is doubtlessly a brilliant piece of marketing, but the core concept celebrates the sense of place that movies can conjure or capture. But none of this summer’s selections can match the inspiration behind the showing of Field of Dreams this past Friday at Left and Center Field of Dreams.
Tagged: Field of Dreams, Netflix, Ways of Watching
Week-End Link Dump
- Given the current sorry state of my Red Sox, I appreciate Jose Melendez’s uncovering the agenda for a recent closed-door team meeting.
Tagged: Links
What We Talk About When We Talk About Film
We rarely take a Faulkner sentence and examine it in isolation. We generally don’t inspect a song’s introduction, or chorus, or bridge, without even dealing with the context of the whole. We don’t study the corner of a painting, pretending that there’s nothing beyond it. Maybe we should.
Willfully Difficult
The film’s subject makes it bluntly political, yet Syriana nearly demands multiple viewings to even understand its plot, let alone its meanings. It is intended to illuminate that the business of oil is a dirty one, yet even people who pay close attention to the movie will come away from it more confused than enlightened.
Tagged: Politics, Reviews, Stephen Gaghan, Steven Soderbergh, Syriana, Thrillers
You Are Blind Because You Remain Attached to Previous Incarnations of My Greatness
It is, of course, bad form to kick M. Night Shyamalan when he’s down, but here goes.