Not since the over-hyped “The Blair Witch Project” have I had the pleasure of sitting through (just barely) such a ponderous and preposterous thriller as “The Ring.” If you think that’s praise, look up facetious in the dictionary. Based on the Chinese thriller of the same name, “The Ring” is as annoying as it is cloying. Read the rest of this entry »
I was introduced to the John Waters experience back in college. I was attending a journalism conference at U.S.C. over the weekend, and the midnight show at the campus theater was “Female Trouble,” “Pink Flamingos” and some old Army venereal disease training films. Read the rest of this entry »
Awaking from a coma to discover his wife has been killed in a car accident, Ben’s (Colin Firth) world may as well have come to an end. A few weeks later, Ben’s out of hospital and, attempting to start a new life, he moves home and is befriended by a beautiful young neighbour Charlotte (Mena Suvari). His life may be turning around but all is not what it seems and, haunted by visions of his dead wife, Ben starts to lose his grip on reality Read the rest of this entry »
After their young son, Adam (Bright), is killed in an accident, a couple (Kinnear, Romijn-Stamos) approach an expert (De Niro) in stem cell research about bringing him back to life through an experimental and illegal cloning and regeneration process. When Adam comes back to them, however, he’s. Read the rest of this entry »
Even though it’s screenplay was based on various real life incidents, when “The China Syndrome” was released in 1979, it was a work of fiction. All that changed within two weeks of its release when Three Mile Island mirrored the events in the film. Lucky for Columbia Pictures. Unlucky for people who lived near the nuclear facility. Read the rest of this entry »
Does the world really need another “Musketeer” movie? To be more precise, does the world need a “Musketeer” movie that bypasses logic and tradition in order to satisfy a youth action market who has no idea who Alexandre Dumas is, much less read one of his books? Read the rest of this entry »
It is a common practice in Hollywood to save Oscar-worthy films and release them at the end of the year, where they will be fresh in the minds of voting members of the Academy. That’s why there is always a proliferation of personal dramas and epic undertakings crowding theaters the last two weeks of December. Read the rest of this entry »
The deranged military and former CIA agent Dean Cage (Wesley Snipes) is in a rehab program, trying to forget the traumatic loss of his best friend Scott in Bosnia. When he dates with his girl-friend and Scott’s sister, Detective Amy knight (Jacqueline Obradors), in a dinning restaurant, he is mistakenly taken as being the CIA agent that is investigating the robbery of the military experiment EX by a man called Sullivan (Stuart Wilson). He is injected with the drug and abducted by the thieves Read the rest of this entry »
Last year, tucked away in my Sunday newspaper, I received a glossy flyer for “Van Helsing,” who would arrive in theaters May 7, 2004, to save the world from such classic Universal Studios monsters as Frankenstein’s creature, Dracula, and the Wolfman. If I hadn’t already gone to the bathroom I would have wet myself. Read the rest of this entry »
When a CIA operation to purchase classified Russian documents is blown by a rival agent—who then shows up in the sleepy seaside village where Bourne (Damon) and Marie (Potente) have been living under assumed names—the pair collapse their lives and head out. Bourne, who promised retaliation should anyone from his former life attempt contact, is forced to once again take up his life as a trained assassin to survive. Read the rest of this entry »
Written, produced and directed by James Bond III, “Def By Temptation” is one of those rare low-budget horror films where everything comes together. The film stars Samuel L. Jackson (”Pulp Fiction”), Kadeem Hardison (”A Vampire in Brooklyn”) and Bill Nunn (”Sister Act”), and was shot by Ernest Dickerson, who became Spike Lee’s main man behind the camera and then went on to become a director as well (”Juice”). Read the rest of this entry »
Samuel L. Jackson is a cool cat. Even when he’s surrounded by a choir of sourpusses, Jackson always purrs. That’s why he’s cool. Like a cinematic savior, Jackson has the ability to walk on top of rather than wade through crap. Take Coach Carter, a formulaic, preachy high school basketball movie. Read the rest of this entry »
Former LAPD cop, Dakota Varley (played by UFC champion Bas Rutten), enters a power boat race seeking the prize of 0,000, but immediately discovers, first hand, that this race’s risk matches the prize: one racer is killed, 3 others seriously injured in multiple action-packed crashes and explosions. Varley prevails. Varley tries to leave the lake and collect his prize money but is drugged and kidnapped by Dawson (portrayed by Michael Rooker) and thrown into a different world: a world where survivl means everything and no-one follows the rules Read the rest of this entry »
After 22 years and 10 movies, the “Star Trek” movie franchise is dragging. Looking more tired and worn out than a pair of Elizabeth Taylor’s shoes, “Star Trek: Nemesis” limps along like a one-legged dog begging for someone to shoot it. Read the rest of this entry »
After a successful last score, a master thief retires to an island paradise. His lifelong nemesis, a crafty FBI agent, washes ashore to ensure he’s making good on his promise. The pair soon enters into a new game of cat-and-mouse Read the rest of this entry »