Archive for December, 2007
DVD Review: Dear Pillow
Filed under: Drama, Independent, SXSW, DVD Reviews, Home Entertainment, Cinematical Indie
It’s heartening to see a good indie film find distribution after you’d nearly lost hope of seeing it again, or being able to urge your friends to watch it. I caught Dear Pillow during a limited run at Alamo Dra…
War
The Verdict: Bog-standard actioner. Disappointing, considering the promising cast.The Rating: 4/10Action movies are really about escapism. Total immersion in a good action movie is a wonderful thing, achieved when your attention is totally focussed on the screen, and your instant surroundings are te…
I Am Legend
The Verdict: ‘28 Days Later’ meets ‘Cast Away’ in that derivative of ‘The Omega Man’. Slow-burning, watchable and inoffensive, but not legendary.The Rating: 6/10Will Smith has been at the helm of many star vehicles by the course of his career, so it may come as a bit of a surprise that he’s only …
RIP Borat: A comedy legend bows out just in time
Sacha Baron Cohen must have at some point turned down a big bucket of cash before making that announcement, to which I can only say huzzah.As he recently told London’s Daily Telegraph, SBC is retiring both the characters of aspiring rapper Ali G and, more importantly, the belovedly clueless Kazakh j…
New DVD Picks of the Week: ‘The Kingdom’ & ‘The Heartbreak Kid’
Filed under: New Releases, DVD Reviews, New on DVD, Home EntertainmentDVD releases are a little wacky and slow due to the holiday, so here’s some nibbles from that week. Happy whatever-it-is-your-celebrating-or-not!The KingdomTaking a cue from Babel, Peter Berg’s The Kingdom details a deadly attack …
“Charlie Wilson” wages campaign of sharp satire
Charlie Wilson: “Do you drink?”Gust Avrakotos: “God yeah.”I’ve waited all year for a movie that manages to properly mix its politics with pure entertainment, and after suffering through “Lions for Lambs,” “In the Valley of Elah” and other earnest offerings, Mike Nichols and Aaron Sorkin have finally…
Burton’s “Sweeney Todd” is just about pitch-perfect
In just about every second of “Sweeney Todd” you get what looks like a movie that could have only come from the delightfully twisted mind of Tim Burton. Which, of course, it didn’t, precisely.Just as the Coens did perfectly with Cormac McCarthy’s “No Country for Old Men,” Burton here has adapted ano…
