Taxi film review
Meet Belle (Queen Latifah), a classic New York loudmouth with a hunky boyfriend and a dead-end job. By day, she works as a bike messenger, hustling from destination to destination, utilizing garbage truck roofs and crowded department store floors as shortcuts. By night, she spends her time skipping out on dates and transforming her Crown ….
Terminator film review
I’ll never forget the first time I saw James Cameron’s The Terminator. I must have watched that movie at least 100 times during my youth. But during the 101st viewing, the VHS copy I stole from my uncle Dave’s video collection was eaten by my crappy old-school, top-loading VHS player. Damn, that sucked. The Terminator ….
Terminator 2: Judgement Day film review
James Cameron made one of his biggest early hits with the sequel to the popular Terminator, Schwarzenegger’s baddest-ass role to date. Sent back in time (again) to protect the young leader of a future resistance group, Arnie does battle with a superior model of himself (Robert Patrick). Of course he wins, but not before dazzling ….
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning film review
Year: 2006 WARNING! A FEW SPOILERS The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning tells the origin story of Thomas Hewitt, alias Leatherface (Andrew Bryniarski), and his clan of flesh-eating, psychotic murderers. We learn right away that nature vs. nurture goes a long way in rearing a child. R. Lee Ermey essentially takes Leatherface and the film, ….
The Great Debaters film review
Year: 2007 Every sista’s favorite swoon unit (Denzel Washington) helms this triumphant film based on the true story of historically Black Wiley College in Texas, where controversial debate coach Melvin B. Tolson fought to get his debate team on equal grounds alongside their white debating counterparts during the 1930s, amidst racism, lynchings, and Jim Crow. ….
The Thing About My Folks film review
Making a worthy “feel good” movie is the cinematic equivalent of successfully coercing pandas to mate in captivity. Sure, sentimental life-affirmation and skilled filmmaking are nice to look at when they’re sitting side by side, whether they’re munching bamboo or being The Notebook, but to create anything lasting out of the two, they must be ….
Three Kings films review
With two ex-rappers and a guy from ER leading the cast, I wasn’t expecting much from Three Kings. Am I the only one that can still picture Ice Cube being squeezed to death by a huge snake in possibly the worst movie ever, Anaconda? Or how about a buffed-up hood rat named Marky Mark dancing ….
THX 1138
George Lucas’s most grown-up piece of work is, oddly enough, his first feature from 1971, the instant classic of dystopic angst, THX 1138, inaugurating a steady reversal of artistic maturity that would culminate in the cartoonish Star Wars sequels; which is maybe where he wanted to end up all along. An angry, idealistic film that ….
To Catch a Thief film review
Alfred Hitchcock went a little soft in 1955, giving Cary Grant a largely throwaway role as a reformed cat burglar living incognito in the south of France. Hitch would really put Grant through the ringer in 1959’s North by Northwest. Here, though, Grant’s enjoying a day in the sun – and night – as he ….
Undercover Brother film review
The Blaxploitation films of the 1970s starred relatively unknown black actors playing new kinds of male and female superheroes that had all of the style, funk, and butt-stomping moves to tackle any foe. With the exception of the Samuel L. Jackson’s remake of Shaft and Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, very few films in this genre ….
Undertow film review
However you may feel about David Gordon Green’s movies, his strong suit is his ability to create powerful moments from the simplest daily activities. His characters feel like whole people, whether you’re aware of their entire personal history or not. And the settings in which his films take place play an intricate role in the ….
Underworld film review
Underworld’s trailer makes it looks wonderfully slick and dark in the tradition of The Matrix and Blade; but after seeing it, you’ll realize that everything that seemed dazzling was simply stolen and then abused – from its Dark Shadows-meets-Matrix costumes to its Blade weaponry to its Nine Inch Nails video backdrops. Nothing about Underworld is ….
The Usual Suspects film review
The Usual Suspects, the heavily hyped new film from Bryan Singer, is finally here, and with it comes the answer to the riddle posed in its high-powered ad campaign, "Who is Keyser Soze?" Keyser Soze is a semi-mythical crime kingpin who ultimately directs the actions of five small-time hoods. With the promise of $91 million ….
U Turn film review
0 I can’t imagine U Turn in any director’s hands except Oliver Stone’s. Breaking free from his political obsessions, Stone explores new territory, giving the material a stark edge, innovation, and a thick, memorable atmosphere. In one film he investigates adultery, incest, bad luck, Indian philosophy, gambling, paranoia, murder, deception, fraud, money, and the Russian ….
Vertigo film review
Awesome and brilliant, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo was recently restored, and its power is immense. Jimmy Stewart never did finer work, and Hitchcock’s masterpiece, though its meaning may be lost on many, reveals a man at his most obsessed — an apt metaphor for Hitch himself. The restored Vertigo features vibrant colors and a crystal clear ….
