God Said, “Eh … “
The core material of Julia Sweeney’s performance movie God Said, “Ha!” is strong enough to nearly overcome the treatment.
Tagged: God Said "Ha!", Julia Sweeney, Reviews
Movies
War Won’t Tear Us Apart
In A Very Long Engagement, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s fervid need to turn everything into fussy, over-processed whimsy is wholly incongruous with its primary subject: war.
Anthropomorphic Widescreen
March of the Penguins, the surprise summer hit, is often awe-inspiring in its content and stunningly beautiful in its visuals, but it’s also a big fucking cheat.
Tagged: Documentaries, March of the Penguins, Nature, Reviews
The King(dom) of Comedy
The ever-divisive Lars von Trier is not known as a storyteller, and that’s the main reason his miniseries The Kingdom – which was released on DVD in November – is so surprising.
Tagged: Foreign-Language Films, Horror, Lars von Trier, Reviews, Riget, Television, The Kingdom
Building a Film-Book Library
A document of my film education and something that I hope will help guide people who are intimidated by the thousands of film books available – from omnibus guides to explorations of single works.
Tagged: David Thomson, Ways of Watching
Fear Is Blind
Afraid of the Dark, Mark Peploe’s smart but minor psychological thriller, comprises two movies. One of these stories represents reality, and one is fantasy, and it takes no genius to figure out which is which. Thankfully, the film doesn’t try to fool the audience.
Tagged: Afraid of the Dark, Mark Peploe, Reviews, Thrillers
There’s a Hole in the Goblet, Mike Newell, Mike Newell
Harry Potter in Goblet of Fire is stymied by a movie that makes him more pawn than active participant, a film so concerned with barrelling through its sprawling plot that it never finds any rhythm, resonance, or even genuine conflict.
The Mouse That Roared
The entertaining movie blog Cinematical reports that it was threatened by Disney because of leaked spoilers about the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean sequels. Some Web site claimed to have copies of the scripts and released details about them. Cinematical linked to the article, and Disney got all pissy. Cinematical removed the post.
Tagged: Disney, Pirates of the Caribbean, Spoilers
The Evil That Men Do
As an agnostic, the conclusion of Paul Schraeder’s Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist was deeply unsatisfying. Evil is unleashed on an eastern African town, and it is expelled by the power of … God? You might reasonably ask: What the hell did you expect, asshole? It’s a fair question, but it’s not quite that simple.
You Lost Me at “Gosh!”
I was willing to go with Jared Hess’ Napoleon Dynamite up until the very first exclamation of “Gosh!”
Tagged: Comedies, Jared Hess, Napoleon Dynamite, Reviews