Reviews

Film Fetish reviews films, TV, gaming and other entertainment technology.

Shall We Dance film review

In Shall We Dance?, Richard Gere plays a man in the throes of a mid-life crisis. This is new territory for the 55-year-old actor who’s always found himself opposite considerably younger leading ladies. Here, he actually plays a man his age, and is married to someone a bit more believable. Has Gere finally grown up? ….

Shanghai Noon film review

The American movie studios are bastards when it comes to taking highly talented Asian directors and actors and pushing them into the American consciousness, invariably stereotyping and watering down the raw talent and energy of the individuals to increase their acceptance in American culture. Jet Li, Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam, Chow-Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh and ….

Showtime film review

Rodney Dangerfield knew it. You can’t get respect being funny. Nobody gets anywhere unless you’re taken seriously. At least that’s the company line these days in Hollywood, where it seems most of the entertainment industry’s best funnymen are becoming more interested in eliciting tears than laughter. It is really quite ironic then that the one ….

Sky Blue film review

Sky Blue is an ambitious mix of 2-D and 3-D animation, miniatures and live action. It is a notable anime achievement. With elements of ecological devastation, class warfare and romance, the story is much more typical than the visuals. But the striking rendering of an apocalyptic future are a definite selling point for anime fans. ….

Soap film review

Year: 2006 Director: Pernille Fischer Christensen Writer: Kim Fupz Aakeson Producer: Lars Bredo Rahbek Executive producers: Bo Ehrardt, Birgitte Hald Director of photography: Erik Molberg Hansen Production designer: Rasmus Thjellesen Music: Magnus Jarlbo Costumes: Signe Sejlund Editor: Asa Mossberg Cast: Charlotte: Trine Dyrholm Veronica: David Dencik Kristian: Frank Thiel Veronica’s mother: Elsebeth Steentoff No MPAA ….

Stage Fright film review

Alfred Hitchcock might have had a fair-to-good thriller here with Stage Fright had he not blown it with cheap plotting that has made the film one of his most reviled among Hitchcock enthusiasts and historians. The problem relates to the flashback, a device Hitchcock frequently used to good effect. But here, Hitch deceives us from ….

Star Wars: A New Hope film review

When the first Star Wars films came along, they filled a collective need. Movies had gotten too serious — too much realism, not enough escapism. It was a time when audiences wanted to escape from the headlines – as we still do – and return to moral, and cinematic, simplicity. George Lucas delivered the goods. ….

Straw Dogs film review

The movies you love best aren’t always the ones whose ideas you agree with. D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation is easy to admire for its technical innovation but easy to despise for its virulent racism; the Nazi hagiography Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will has similar pleasures – and problems. Sam Peckinpah’s 1971 masterpiece ….

Steal Me film review

Year: 2005 After watching films like Sin City and Pulp Fiction, people rarely leave the theater all abuzz with the excitement of having just seen a really great independent film. More than likely, viewers are excited to have seen such a kick ass action flick or such an awesome crime thriller. If folks get excited ….

Strangers on a Train film review

Picking Alfred Hitchcock’s best movie is a sucker’s game. His talents stretched across so many eras and worked in too many styles to reduce matters to one choice. But it’s hard to resist thinking of Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) as one of the director’s greatest creations; nobody was better at illuminating the charismatic sort of ….

Steamboy film review

Year: 2004 Animation in America once consisted of icons like Snow White, Mickey Mouse and Bug Bunny. But those icons are changing. These days, it’s just as likely to mean giant fighting cyborgs, kinetic action and sinister monsters. A large part of the reason for the increasing growth in popularity of Japanese animation is Katsuhiro ….

The Sugerland Express film review

Somewhere between unleashing the homicidal tanker of Duel on television audiences and the man-eating shark of Jaws on moviegoers, a young Steven Spielberg found the time to spin a far more human yarn in his debut theatrical feature The Sugarland Express. Employing the same storytelling techniques here as in the more fantastic fables that would ….

Supercop film review

The Jackie Chan franchise continues to expand in America. Riding on the success of last year’s Rumble in the Bronx, Chan returns to U.S. screens with the release of Supercop. Relying on the three pillars of Chandom — blazingly fast fights, awesome stunts, and bad dubbing — Chan once again turns out a crowd pleaser ….