Full disclosure:  I watched the X-Files television series until the first movie came out.  I was so disgusted with the transparent clumsiness of the story (so much more forgivable on TV) that I stopped watching the show.  Curiosity and a cautious sort of press buzz (”it’s a stand-alone episodes even non-fans can love!”) drew me […]

Wow, what an experience! The movie starts hard core with a crime in progress, a common every-day cinema crime. All the rules are being broken again and again, making what was a workaday heist into a peek into the madness behind the perpetrator’s madness. The Joker’s paradigm is eschew predictability, and the […]

Indiana Jones is the kind of beloved cinematic icon whose fourth movie, set age-appropriately years after his last films, could stain his charming persona forever. The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull does veer dangerously away from its more archaeologically relevant predecessors, but it is still very much in the spirit of the original series. […]

Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Catch it on HBO
The short version:  Prince Caspian (the movie) is gorgeous and a total snore.  All the best effects houses worked on the computer and practical effects.  The locations are in the stunning environments of the Czech Republic, Poland, and New Zealand.  Every dollar of that budget is on that […]

As the sequel to 1998’s lauded movie Elizabeth, this film could perhaps have been called Elizabeth I: II: Liz Harder. She’s established herself as powerful, and this time, it’s personal. It’s 1585. She’s 52 (a well-preserved sexy Cate Blanchett of a 52) and has been on the throne for 27 years and […]

Full disclosure: I did not See Resident Evil: Apocalypse (aka #2) but my companion did and assured me that I would better maintain my faith in the franchise if I skipped it. An interview with Milla Jovovich echoed that sentiment in as politic a way as possible, and so I went in, certain […]

Nothing makes you appreciate the simple technical skill of making a generic movie than preceding it with Shoot Em Up. Rush Hour 3 on its own merits is pedestrian, simplistic, mildly funny, and painless. After seeing Shoot Em Up, Rush Hour 3 can also be appreciated for good camera work, talented stunts and […]

Walking into The Bourne Ultimatum I was mentally in a place that would have made it difficult to focus on most movies. Ninety-eight percent of the time, Bourne took me completely out of myself and held my attention, which, in that moment, is a massive achievement. I wasn’t inulted or bored, and […]

Nothing I say in a review will make a difference as to whether Potter fans see this latest film adaptation of the 5th book in the Harry Potter series.  This is fortunate for Warner Brothers, as this film grossly misfired where its predecessors had so (seemingly) effortlessly gone before.  I confess, I was taking the […]

Day Watch (Dnevnoy Dozor)
Catch it on HBO
Fans of Night Watch, we eagerly gobbled up previews for this sequel.  The trilogy is based on popular Russian fantasy novel by Sergey Lukyanenko (1998), and began with the excellent film Night Watch.  We rushed out to our local art-house theater to fight the crowds we had fought the […]