Archive for February, 2008
Medical Tourism
The Toronto Star, July 2007
They say a few weeks in the tropics does wonders for a person’s constitution - most come back with a slight increase in energy, a healthy tan and a few less wrinkles. But if your coworker comes back from vacation with a new head of hair, a larger bust line […]
Spiderman 3
Swing High, Swing Low
**1/2 out of *****
Pity poor director Sam Raimi. In much the same way Peter Jackson went from schlock king (zobie gore-fest Dead Alive) to film god (Lord of the Rings), Raimi has gone from cheese king (demon gore-fest Evil Dead) to one of the most respected and trusted directors in Hollywood […]
Revenge of the Sith
A Force to be Reckoned With
****1/2 out of *****
George Lucas isn’t a very good director. That’s right, I said it. But what he can do better than nearly everyone else is tell stories that involve you and create characters that are real and interesting. I can’t imagine how he must feel this […]
Aeon Flux
All Fluxed Up and No Place to Go
** out of *****
Begun as a series of anime-inspired shorts that aired on MTV in 1991 (and a subsequent regular series and graphic novel), Aeon Flux was a violent, sexual, kinetically charged series that pushed all kinds of boundaries and gained quite a large cult following. […]
Brokeback Mountain
Rocky Mountain Sigh
**** out of *****
I remember back in 1997, I went to the theater to see The Jackal, with Bruce Willis and Richard Gere. There’s a scene where Willis, as the Jackal, has to kiss a gay man during a con he’s pulling, and I remember being alarmed by the severity of “Agggghhhh!!!” […]
Walk the Line
Rebel Without Pause
**** out of *****
For whatever reason, I was either too sheltered (doubt it), too young (probably) or just too unlucky (bingo) to be exposed to the music of Johnny Cash when I was growing up. I knew he was an influential country singer known as ‘the man in black,’ and that’s about […]
V For Vendetta
Revenge is Neat
***1/2 out of *****
“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” - Traditional proverb
Nowhere is this statement more true than in the year 2006 (well, it was probably really true during the Crusades, but I’m generalizing). You have to hand it to 20th Century Fox for having the balls to release a […]
Ultraviolet
More Like Barely Mauve
½ out of *****
They finally did it. Usually, innovative films are noted for blurring the lines between something-and-something, like how Lord of the Rings blurred the line between action and fantasy. Instead, Ultraviolet manages to hone the line between video game and film into a laser-sharp mark of where filmmaking […]
Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
Let Your Axle Bone Slide
**/12 out of *****
For those of you that say movies aren’t educational, I say to you: Bah! If it weren’t for the triad of flicks in the Fast and Furious family, I never would have known that there exists a worldwide underground culture of people who pour thousands of dollars […]
Casino Royale
Audience - Shaken and Stirred
**** out of *****
My favorite Bond line ever was in 1964’s Goldfinger, when Bond was interrupted during a massage by a contact. He stopped his masseuse, smacked her on the ass and said “Give us a minute, darling. Man talk.” The words ‘cheesily sexist’ don’t even begin to […]
