What the Flick

You've seen him in various places over the past year or two, but suddenly this summer he's breaking out in 2 very different leading roles. In CRASH, he plays a successful black TV director whose patience snaps after one too many unprovoked humiliations at the hands of the LAPD, and in HUSTLE & FLOW, Terrence Howard carries the show as a pimp scrambling to survive and pull his crew up from the hot, tough streets of Memphis. From his sexy and riveting eyes that reveal a fierce intelligence to his manly demeanor and walk, Mr Howard is an actor who commands the screen. So, yeah, he sure is someone I'm going to enjoy keeping an eye on in the future.

Ah, those British in Africa. Besides setting fashion trends for Ralph Lauren to follow in perpetuity, they sure did stir up a whole lot of trouble. In THE CONSTANT GARDENER, set in present-day Kenya, the shenanigans of the Brits are examined through the lens of political payola, big business, and one man's broken heart.

What is the alien mystery underlying the NY Times' promotion of the show THRESHOLD (see article here, plus the video segment on NYTimes.com)? Are the triple-helix aliens on their payroll? I ask this because this season on TV offers 3 takes on the whole visitors from beyond genre (4, if you count NIGHT STALKER): Monday night's SURFACE (8 pm NBC), Wednesday night's INVASION (10 pm ABC). and Friday night's THRESHOLD (9 pm CBS), and from what I can tell after 3 viewings, THRESHOLD is the weakest of the lot.

Yeah, like "good luck" staying awake in this George Clooney-directed pseudo-docudrama. I appreciate a serious message movie as much as the next person, but GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK (which actually is two sentences in the title credits) is an earnest effort that represents some of the worst instincts of "edu-tainment." It's both preachy and boring, and fails to really educate us on the context of the times in which the story takes place. It tells a very specific part of the story of Edward R. Murrow's (David Straithairn) broadcasts during the twilight of the Army-McCarthy hearings and ask us to draw parallels with events of today. But, what's that you say, young people? Who? And the what? Thank you! GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK fails mostly by giving its audience too much credit for bringing background information to the theater (but you can catch up here with this good summary).

Capote. Ka-POTE-tay. However you want to say it, just go see it! This tale of Truman Capote as he researched and wrote "In Cold Blood" has now shoved CRASH aside as my favorite movie (drama) of 2005. CAPOTE is lush, beautifully shot, gorgeously acted, and dramatically complex. I want to say something snarky about it, as I'm known to do, but I am at a bit of a loss. But don't give up, I'll think of something. Meanwhile, the film opens with the single most beautiful image of the Great Plains I've ever seen (and, yes, I've seen PARIS, TEXAS and BADLANDS, and southern Minnesota at dawn), followed by the grisly discovery of the shotgun-murdered Clutter family, before zooming in on the fabulous late 1950s life of the writer charming guests at a swanky party.

Is it wrong for me to love Jake Gyllenhaal so? I've admired this young actor since his work in the uplifting OCTOBER SKY and the intriguing DONNIE DARKO. To me, he seems like the thinking girl's hunk, a role in need of filling since David Duchovny's Agent Mulder turned in his badge. Now he's arrived on screen in 3 films over the past few months. In a nutshell, his best work this fall is in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, but JARHEAD is also of interest. PROOF, on the other hand, was one of those oddly unsatisfying movies: I can't really say what was missing from it, but at the end, it just felt not quite whole.

You know the old saying, "there's a lid for every pot?" I can't say I'm convinced this is true: too many good 'pots' who I know are still lid-less for me to put much stock in it. But in fiction at least, the pot and lid always find their way to each other, no matter how many obstacles or dish racks are in their path. Wait, what was I talking about? Oh, right, true love. Anyway, today let's talk about 2 very different love stories that excellently illustrate the maxim: PRIDE & PREJUDICE and WALK THE LINE.

Seeing the top 10 lists reminded me that I never got around to sharing my opinion of David Cronenberg's A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, which I saw way back when in the fall. It was one of those movies that left me feeling very ambivalent -- it was good in its own way, but at the final scene I kind of felt like, "and then... what?" There was a 1970s feel about its ambiguity (think Carnal Knowledge, Chinatown, and The Conversation, just in the letter C); like many of the best movies of that decade, it left you without an easy answer or even a neatly tied ending. This is undoubtedly a good thing.

I started out with the intention of writing separate reviews of some end-of-2005 movies, but as they say, stuff happens. And with time a-wasteing and the Golden Globes telecast less than a week away, I figure I'd just better get down to business and wrap up so we can get on with the new year. And so...

Two magical children's movies are currently onscreen, and both deserve a look if you enjoy those sorts of things. The latest HARRY POTTER is the best yet, which, considering that the first 2 were really boring movies, and the 3rd was pretty good, may not be saying much. And THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA is a sometimes-frightening journey with 4 adorable little Brits that offers fantastic battles in the imaginary kingdom accessed through the back of an armoire.

Two bits of 2005 business to wrap up -- KING KONG and SYRIANA -- and you may wonder what the connection between them is. So what do they have in common? In a nutshell, they both involve a lot of monkey business with tropically hot places, natives in colorful costumes, and consequences right back here at home. Although both were of more than middling interest, they had fatal flaws that undermined their entertainment value.

For example, what can possibly be entertaining about...

Only 3 days until the Academy Awards are announced here in LA on Sunday, March 5. Here's my take on two nominated films, TRANSAMERICA (Best Actress, Felicity Huffman) and MATCH POINT (Best Original Screenplay, Woody Allen). That leaves only MUNICH to be seen, which is on my last-minute agenda for tomorrow.

Frankly, I'm disappointed that MATCH POINT didn't receive more notice from the Academy. It's a deftly acted drama that entertains and raises interesting questions during post-theater drinks. The basic plot starts off when Chris, an Irish almost-pro tennis player (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), takes on a wealthy tutoring client, Tom (the very Britishly handsome Matthew Goode), who befriends his tutor and, in the way wealthy people sometimes do...

If you are doubting Heath Ledger's acting abilities, watch him in quick succession in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and CASANOVA. In his Oscar-nominated performance in BROKEBACK, Heath plays a man who is so hardened by life, who holds his emotions so close, that he can barely get words out of his mouth. He is honorable, wry in a Dick Cheney sort of way, responsible, and tragic -- but he ain't charming and smooth and adorable. Flash to director Lasse Hallstrom's telling of CASANOVA, where Heath plays the lead character as a....

If you've been scratching your head and thinking "what the F" has happened to WTF, scratch no more. Let's just say that in the inevitable letdown after Oscar season (this year with the minor surprise of CRASH outpacing BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN for Best Picture), WTF felt the need to go on hiatus to retrench, refresh, and rehydrate. Okay, so we had a few drinks and waved at Sandy Bullock and Keanu outside the VANITY FAIR party at Morton's. At least WTF was NOT caught asking Jon Voight for his autograph, and it's not like we were recognized or standing on a ladder.

Finally, a nonromantic comedy that's funny and understands the meaning of comic timing, though aren't all movies with "devil" and overpriced luggage in the title just destined to set up the giggles? I'm talking, of course, about THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, a fashionlicious film based on the book of the same name. I'm not sure if the best part about DEVIL is the story, the over-the-top fashion, the danceable soundtrack, or the highly fabulous...

Yes, it's true. In THE LAKE HOUSE, Keanu Reeves (playing architect Alex Wyler), best known as NEO from THE MATRIX (in itself perhaps best known for Neo's classic flat line reading: "Whoa."), actually does some emoting, and it's good. Good. Alex is a frustrated architect, looking to fix up a glass house on Lake Michigan that his famous architect father (Christopher Plummer) designed when their family was happy and whole, as a way of retrieving something from his past. And then Alex finds a letter in the mailbox...

Well, of course, it's SUPERMAN RETURNS, which flew into my life over July 4th weekend. At once original and an enjoyable homage to the Christopher Reeve SUPERMAN movies, this new Supe had me at times wistfully thinking of those memorable moments between Reeve's Man of Steel and Margot Kidder's Lois Lane (S: "Don't worry, I've got you, miss." LL: "You've got me? Who's got you?"). And, really, no one will ever be a better Lex Luthor...

Those Australians have struck again... with a screening of LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, a Sundance favorite that is now my favorite comedy of the year (thanks, Australians in Film). Really, I have not laughed as hard as I did in the third act of this movie in a long, long time. But before we get to that point, there's a lot to take in, as Albuquerque's Hoover family loads into the old VW bus...

Remember when Keri Russell cut her hair in the 2nd season of FELICITY, and it was major cultural news? No? Oh. Well, I do, and so of course when she popped up earlier this summer in MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3, I couldn't help but notice that her hair looked awesome. And the movie? Not so much, but not awful, either. Directed by FELICITY, ALIAS, and LOST creator JJ Abrams, M:I3 ...

Oops, it seems WTF has once again been distracted by the drudgery of daily life -- the dopey new people next door, the tedium of work-related travel, not to mention work itself -- but that doesn't mean we haven't been seeing those movies. One movie that's worth driving to the mall for is THE ILLUSIONIST, a moody, well-acted mystery romance involving a magician (Edward Norton), a dogged detective (Paul Giamatti), a lovely Duchess (Jennifer Biel), and a prince of the Hapsburg empire. The romance here...

By the time you read this, MIAMI VICE will probably be due out on DVD in short order. I'm not sure how to recommend it in that case, as part of what I loved about it was how gorgeous it looked wall-to-wall in the Cinerama Dome. As Sonny Crockett, the character that made Don Johnson a household name, Colin Farrell was...

I'm telling you, if Helen Mirren does not get an Oscar nomination and then actually win an Oscar (I think it's just scandalous that she's never gone home with that little gold man) for THE QUEEN, there is no divine justice in this world. She is amazing here portraying Queen Elizabeth II during the days after Princess Diana was killed in a car accident in Paris, letting loose on the world one of current society's least appealing spectacles, the public grief fest. QE2, good WASP that she is, believes that grief is...

If, like me, you thought Michelle Pfeiffer played the Worst Movie Mom Ever in WHITE OLEANDER, think again. Today I caught the movie RUNNING WITH SCISSORS, and believe me, I have been forced to think twice. In RWS, Annette Bening plays the Mom From Hell, an undoubtedly bipolar "artist" who is convinced of the reality of her own grandiose dreams. In a showdown between the two, I'm thinking Annette...

The past few months are a bit of a blur to your humble reviewer -- my clearest impressions of the weeks since mid-October are of the amenities and indignities of the United gates at LAX. Imagine how Christmas-y that was!

And yet. And yet, we did get to a batch o'movies... some losers, some of the year's finest, but all pretty much fun. So here goes, with a round up of movies from the past few months -- starting with those still in the theaters: Casino Royale and Children of Men.

My love for Denzel Washington knows no bounds. There, I've said it. So I am happy to report on 2 Denzel efforts, both well-directed by Tony Scott, one in the theaters and one on DVD.

Deja Vu. All over again. This time-twisting thriller pits ATF agent Doug Carlin (Denzel) against a home-grown terrorist intent on blowing up a Mississippi River ferry (hasn't New Orleans suffered enough?). With a weird time-travel dependent love interest mixed in...

Finally, a movie has made me happy that I'm not engaged and sporting a gigantic diamond. First, because then I'd have to feel guilty about sooo enjoying that scene of Leo in a towel (which I think we can all agree, deserved to be a lot longer than it was). And second because, duh, conflict diamonds. Seriously, though, BLOOD DIAMOND brings home in a dramatic and brutal way the cruel shenanigans that went on in Sierra Leone in the late 90s as the diamond trade...

Happy Valentine's Day out there. And what better way to celebrate than with a fun movie? 2007 already has a great romantic comedy in Music & Lyrics.

The key ingredients for a romantic comedy are obvious -- first of all, it should be funny. Not sour funny like some awful version of Along Comes Polly. Not mean bittersweet crazy-family funny like Rumor Has It. And certainly not nasty argument funny like The Break Up. Hmmm, looking back on all that, I'm thinking a short cut would be to say "not a movie with Jennifer Aniston," and just be done with it. Also, it should be romantic. Seems simple enough, and yet, there are so few good ones. But today we have Music & Lyrics, which is cute funny,...

Kate Winslet, so pretty and winning in the live-action shopping catalog known as The Holiday (with Cameron Diaz, Jude So-Fracking-Gorgeous Law, and Jack Black), really frumps herself up to play the disenchanted suburban housewife, Sarah, in Little Children, a role for which she's received an Oscar nomination as best actress (sorry, Kate, it's going to Helen). Which is kind of funny, because the guy she ends up commiserating with, Patrick Wilson, is like...

You know how sometimes you'll be walking around and remember something and think, "note to self: check out those shoes;" or "note to self: use some mascara," or whatever? Well, seeing NOTES ON A SCANDAL did that to me, so here goes: note to self, don't become a cat-loving, bath-taking, diary-writing, gold-star awarding, psycho-stalking crazy old lady teacher. Because if I did become that, there's no way I'd be anywhere near as convincing and scary as Judy Dench in ...

Yeah, I know winter doesn't seem to be in any hurry to evacuate the premises (sorry New York), but that's no reason to avoid the hilarious ice capade that is Blades of Glory. It is 100% funny, and maybe that's just what we all need this week. And not just this week, last week, too, as it's selling out theaters nationwide. Take 1 male ice skater who's adopted "heavy metal" as his theme...

Set in an unnamed Deep South town at Joe's Pie Diner, Waitress follows the story of Jenna (Keri Russell) as she confronts impending motherhood with dread. To cope with her life's complications (the baby's father is her abusive dumbass husband), Jenna whips up the unusual pies that keep the locals coming to Joe's. Serving them up her are her fellow waitresses and friendly support group...

George Clooney bored me last night. Yeah, I know. I never thought I'd say those words, but there you have it. Ocean's Thirteen, the third installment of the capers of Danny Ocean (Clooney) and his crew of unlikely cohorts, lacked the lightness...

Last weekend I saw 2 movies that, each in their own way, illustrated how good people suffer when the forces of extremism dominate the dialogue of society. The first, Islam vs. the Islamists: Voices From the Muslim Center, was actually intended to be a television documentary as part of the PBS series America at the Crossroads, which aired a few months ago. However, before airing PBS decided not to include it, citing...

"Sometimes you just want to blow the crap out of something." -- Mulder to Scully in the episode First Person Shooter.

This is the sentiment that drives people to movies like Live Free or Die Hard, and it's perfectly valid -- as long as the crap being blown up involves special effects and not your next-door neighbors. As a firm believer in this principle, I can say that I truly enjoyed Bruce Willis'...

OOOkay. I have no excuse for being absent from my own blog-thingy, but here it is, mid-August, and I've been AWOL since July. But I have been to the movies -- not as much as you'd think, given my predilection for the summer blockbuster -- so let's start with the Bourne Ultimatum, which needs no introduction.

In A Mighty Heart, Angelina Jolie portrays Marianne Pearl, journalist wife of Daniel Pearl (Dan Futterman), the Wall Street Journal reporter who was kidnapped and beheaded on tape (to just say murdered doesn't really cover the outrage) by self-proclaimed Islamist nutjobs in Pakistan in 2002. Going into the movie I was expecting it to be serious and heartrending -- it is --

Oh, boy. I am a pretty big fan of Sci Fi and willing to go out on a lot of limbs for it (Ha! I'm going to see The Invasion!), so I was looking forward to Sunshine, the new movie from Danny Boyle, who previously has brought us the awesome 28 Days Later and the unusual Trainspotting. Sadly, Sunshine is a muddled...

So let’s dive in. The past few weeks have presented a deluge of serious movies as everyone starts polishing up their Oscar speeches and prepping for awards season. First up (on my list), is Michael Clayton, starring the lovely George Clooney. Of the three I’m discussing this week, this was the one I’d most recommend to you all. It’s got action and some moral complexity; ...

Moving along, it’s Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Not that this movie wasn't fabulous, in its own, tapestry-mad way, but it wasn't great. It follows Elizabeth I from 1585 through the whole Spanish Armada thing and into the 1590s. Frankly, I think “Liz, Warrior Queen” is a more apt title, ...