You could argue that during most of these long, hot summer baseball seasons, the Texas Rangers play like stiff-legged, bandaged-head-to-toe, eyeless, earless mummies. You know, with knees and elbows that hardly bend, growling and groaning on the way to first base, trailing muslin streamers and looking for all the world…
The bad news for Memento fans is that Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia is far less complex and challenging in form than the backward-edited art-house hit that sparked as much disdain as devotion among moviegoers last year. The good news for Memento-haters is that Insomnia is far less complex and challenging in…
The plot of The Importance of Being Earnest, for those unfortunates who’ve missed it these past 109 years, goes something like this: A dandified London wastrel by the name of Algernon (Algy) Moncrief (portrayed in this adaptation by Rupert Everett) welcomes into his chambers his friend and ally Ernest (Colin…
A year ago, Jeffrey Katzenberg hit the promotional circuit to support his green baby Shrek, and even before its release he proclaimed that its successor would be “bold and daring and unlike any other animated movie ever made.” If by “bold” he meant “monotonous” and “daring” he meant “histrionic,” the…
It’s very tempting to not just dismiss Enough, the latest bill-paying gig by Michael Apted (Enigma) starring Jennifer Lopez, but shred it altogether. Ms. Lopez hasn’t exactly added to her acting credibility with a string of showy, glamorous roles in such mediocre fare as The Wedding Planner and Angel Eyes…
This 2001 Spanish production, directed by lvaro Fernández Armero, is so derivative of numerous other sources it’s almost novel; it’s either a brilliant fusion or a heap of baffling confusion, but the end result’s not entirely unsatisfying. At first, it plays like little more than a I Know What You…
Every movie lover has heard of Pepe le Moko, the suave French crook hiding in plain sight in the slums of Algiers, with his romantic watch-cry of “Come wiz me to ze Casbah.” But in America, Pepe has always been connected to the romantic myth of Charles Boyer, the star…
Anime director Rintaro (X) is out to dazzle us with this adaptation of a 1940s Japanese comic, and for the most part he succeeds. Blending eras as deftly as Baz Luhrmann in Moulin Rouge, he gives us a detail-heavy computer-animated city populated by hand-drawn characters who resemble old newspaper comics…
Roman Coppola and L.M. Kit Carson, filmmakers and friends and co-conspirators, sit in front of an audience of 30 on the University of Dallas campus. Their appearance together, in this wood-paneled auditorium on this verdant site, completes a circle, or perhaps a dozen of them, and the moment makes Carson…
Here are the things you should know about Crawfest 2002: 1.The Dallas Observer sponsors the event. 2. A pretty young lass from the sales/promotions department at said newsweekly asked if we could write something about this event. (Can we ever!) 3. This reporter feels no conflict of interest in writing…
Three years have passed since The Phantom Menace thrilled some and infuriated others, yet the schism in the Church of Lucas remains. Die-hard supporters still refuse to admit that Episode I has some truly awful acting, dialogue and borderline offensive caricatures; and dyed-in-the-wool detractors won’t acknowledge that, despite its faults,…
While the world queues up to gawk at George Lucas’ latest homage to himself–and make no mistake, Star Wars: Episode II–Attack of the Clones is but a sleek and sanitized redo of Empire Strikes Back–a far better, and smaller and quieter, film awaits next door; skip the lines, and your…
If you enjoy movies about a violently widowed man who’s unsure of his identity–and is covered in tattoos that remind him of his mission of vengeance–but you can’t be bothered with the frustration of watching a movie that’s edited backward, put that Memento DVD aside and check out The Salton…
Merchant Ivory productions–Howard’s End and A Room With a View being two of the most notable–are famous for their almost tactile sense of time and place. The company’s latest effort, which was not directed by the team’s customary director, James Ivory, but by its producing half, Ismail Merchant, is no…
A more nasty and cynical film was never made, and this from a director (Alexander Mackendrick) known previously for his comedies; though, when read between the lines, this 1957 masterpiece plays darkly hysterical–the laugh that coughs up blood. Tony Curtis is Sidney Falco, a pathetic PR man peddling mediocre clients…
It’s easy to see why this comedy-drama about a thoroughly assimilated Indian-American college student at loggerheads with his tradition-minded father has been such a big hit on the indie film festival circuit. Written and directed by Anurag Mehta and starring his brother Aalok, American Chai doesn’t have anything especially new…
At first, they approach tentatively, their pens and posters timidly extended as though afraid the two men standing beneath the blank movie screen might bite or bark them out of the theater. “No, no,” insists Chris Weitz, standing next to his older brother Paul. “I’m happy to sign your poster,”…
The actresses playing conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton in the musical Side Show, now on view in a fine, emotionally charged production at Theatre Three, don’t use any special tricks to achieve the illusion of being attached at the hip. Their costumes aren’t even stitched together. Julie Stirman (Daisy)…
The way the story goes, a famous Hollywood mogul was once asked why he kept so many screenwriters working on so many scripts. The reply: If you lock a dozen monkeys in a room with a dozen typewriters, eventually one will bang out Hamlet. I don’t know whether the movie…
Binge-drinking isn’t even remotely compatible with parenthood, so Sunday mornings find my husband and me clear-headed, albeit bleary-eyed-tired from a long week of toddler-chasing. We cling to two other vices when the baby’s asleep–chain-smoking and coffee-chugging–out on the porch. I’ll usually start the conversation with a button-pushing rant for my…
What’s most surprising about Nine Queens, a wry if awfully derivative caper come-on from first-time feature director-writer Fabián Bielinsky, is how easily it suckers you into its swindle. After all, you know from jump that something’s up. You’ve sniffed out this con before in the films of David Mamet and…
To the woman who broke Adrian Lyne’s heart all those years ago: Stop what you’re doing right this minute. Drop everything, pick up the phone and call him. Apologize profusely for cheating on him. Tell him it’s all your fault and you’re a worse person for leaving him. Offer him…
