After thinking long and hard about it, I’ve still come to very few conclusions about the success of this past summer’s movies. Part of me wants to say it was fantastic and a summer to be remembered, that is, Christian Bale kicked ass in “The Dark Knight.” The other part of me wants to hang my head in shame and mourn the state of modern filmmaking — did they...
In “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” a Spanish artist named Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) offers two beautiful young women a romantic weekend getaway. He promises, “We will see the sights, eat some good food, drink some good wine and make love.” Woody Allen’s latest film offers us all this and more in a breezy fashion that is almost as good as embarking on a European...
“Henry Poole is Here” comes out of nowhere in a disappointing summer movie season overdosed with superhero blockbusters, and might just be the film you have been waiting for. Surprisingly refreshing and often funny, the movie tells of terminally ill patient Poole (Luke Wilson) who moves to the suburbs of Los Angeles with hopes of spending his remaining days alone with...
‘Hamlet 2” is a shambles of a movie hurled from the screen with ten thousand seams showing. Tonally, it’s all over the map, and the plot goes nowhere we haven’t seen before. But wow, when “Hamlet 2” gets on a roll, it leaves you delirious (the friend I went with said he hurt his stomach from laughing so hard), and its faults are easy to ignore when you’re...
“When life gives you lemons, just say ‘Fuck the lemons,’ and bail,” Peter Bretter’s stoner surfing instructor (Paul Rudd) flippantly tells him off the coast of Hawaii as he struggles to get up on his board to ride the waves (of life). Maybe this surfer-bum pseudo-koan is meant to inspire, to provide feelings of hopeful renewal to the film’s hapless center of...
Many experience excitement, shock and even dread as they await the birth of their offspring, but Morgan Spurlock is different. Motivated by the news of his wife’s pregnancy, he embarks on a journey to make the world a better place for his yet-to-be-born child by capturing the most notorious man of our age: Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda and architect of 9/11...
“88 Minutes” delivers everything that made horror and suspense action movies like “Saw” or “Speed” successful — in a laughably watered-down version. It begins with a man elaborately binding a girl and trussing her up by one leg using ropes and pulleys. After muffling her cries with a rag soaked in halofane, he proceeds to surgically cut her open and rape...
This week saw the debut of two student-produced films, “Half Court Shots” by Maxwell Lanman ’10 and “Everyone Who Has Ever Lived Here,” the senior thesis of Michael Nedelman ’08. “Half Court Shots” runs like a YTV comedy, employing “The Office”-like situational humor and playing off social stereotypes to appeal to a student crowd. In contrast...
With a tagline that may seem relevant to Yalies, the newly released “Smart People,” directed by newcomer Noam Murro, makes the claim, “Sometimes smart people have the most to learn.” Slow-moving and uninspiring, the film’s tagline should read, “Sometimes smart people should learn to be more interesting.” Class is in session with Professor Lawrence...
Let’s face it: You’d enjoy watching a cute little boy playing soccer. You might even pay to sit in a dark theater and eat popcorn while doing so. But if you’re expecting a more meaningful experience than that from “O Ano em Que Meus Pais Sairam de Ferias” (“The Year My Parents Went on Vacation”), you will be disappointed. The film, directed by Cao Hamburger...
