Director Alison Maclean, from Canada by way of New Zealand, turns her camera on the American landscape — or more accurately the underbelly of the American landscape — in Jesus’ Son, an uneven but often effective adaptation of Denis Johnson’s autobiographical book. Billy Crudup stars as a thoroughly marginalized character…
Film has always turned to classic literature for inspiration, but rare is the film adaptation that dodges the Scylla and Charybdis of the trade: too much reverence leads to inert moviemaking, too little results in parody. In Time Regained Chilean director Raoul Ruiz has taken on the Mount Everest of…
Had Julian Glover not broken his leg at the beginning of January, it’s quite likely he would be off filming a movie. But, Glover reminds, having a broken leg in the movie business is like being pregnant in the movie business: “It lasts five years,” meaning casting agents don’t phone…
The press kit for The Perfect Storm contains the damnedest thing I’ve ever read: a “special request” that reads, in full, “Warner Bros. Pictures would appreciate the press’ cooperation in not revealing the ending of this film to their readers, viewers, or listeners.” All due apologies but that seems highly…
It has taken moviemakers and, more crucially, foot-dragging movie investors, almost a decade to catch up with rave culture, the heady mix of secret warehouses, electronic music, designer drugs, and ecstatic dancing that has come to define the yearning and the restlessness of a generation. But now, the 5:00 a.m…
Kikujiro, the latest release from Japanese filmmaker Takeshi Kitano, is likely to be a surprise — possibly even a disappointment — to his American fans if they walk in unprepared. In fact the movie is altogether worthwhile, so just get yourselves prepared.Kitano attracted international attention when his first two movies…
Nick Park speaks so softly that the tape recorder barely registers him at all. His is a whisper of a voice, the sound of a man who has spent years in isolation talking to no one but himself. Transcribing an interview with him is like trying to decipher a man’s…
In the new Jim Carrey farce, Me, Myself & Irene, the rubber-faced comedian plays a meek Rhode Island state trooper named Charlie, whose aggressions are so pent up that they finally break out in the form of a second personality called Hank. Where Charlie silently endures potty-mouth curses from little…
I never imagined the day would come when I would cringe to see Ralph Fiennes onscreen. Not only is he shamelessly good-looking but, whether playing the brooding, remote figure doomed by love in The English Patient or the bloodless commandant of a Nazi death camp in Schindler’s List, he projects…
Holy moly! Yet another version of Hamlet? Will they never stop? Ah well, at least Michael Almereyda’s new adaptation is one of those really different takes on the venerable play. While the last two widely seen versions (the 1990 Mel Gibson/Franco Zeffirelli film and the four-hour-plus 1996 Kenneth Branagh/Kenneth Branagh…
There exists deep within any man who once read comic books and collected them–protected them, actually, with plastic sleeves and cardboard backs and boxes that fought off the yellowing of time–the mythical being known as The Fanboy. A long time ago, The Fanboy pored over every issue of World’s Finest…
Sixty years after Walt Disney’s original plans to expand on 1940’s Fantasia, Walt Disney Pictures has finally gotten around to making new musical segments for a reprise of the film’s classical-music-cum-animation concept. Fantasia/2000 has seven new sequences, with that old favorite, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” thrown in for old times’ sake…
It’s the year 3028, and man … is an endangered species! (Haven’t we heard that somewhere before, like last month?) But this time around, the threat is a little more intimidating than those effeminate, Xenu-worshipping Conehead psychologists in platform boots. The villains in Fox’s new animated spectacular Titan A.E. are…
Blink — or, more likely, doze — and you will miss it, this tiny, beautiful oasis in the middle of an otherwise barren wasteland. For a moment, a precious, frustrating moment to be treasured in a movie that flaunts its disposability, Nicolas Cage reminds us how good an actor he…
His name appears in almost every book written about Groucho Marx, so much so, he has been given the appropriate appellation by members of the Marx family: Wesso. But Paul Wesolowski is of no relation to the famous clan. He’s a man in his 40s who lives outside Philadelphia and,…
War, as many have said, is created by old men to be fought by young men. In today’s world that ancient adage must be amended to include young women. While many American kids stroll through their school years without much more to worry about than clothes and grades, too many…
Could there be any less appealing image than that of a fat Martin Lawrence in drag scratching his rear, as on the poster for Big Momma’s House? The idea of sitting through any movie promoted in such a fashion brings to mind the hideously awful It’s Pat: The Movie, or…
So, when was the last time you shared a woman with your dad? No, not your mom — don’t be gross. You know, just some woman who you and your dad both dug, who perked you up a bit. It’s probably been awhile, huh? What? Never? Well that may be…
For a moment or two, David Lowery–frontman for the band Cracker, and before that, beloved college-radio revolutionary sweethearts Camper Van Beethoven–found himself enjoying the book. He laughed in the right places, winced in the appropriate spots, and thought, for a moment, the book wasn’t half bad. And there’s no reason…
Brazilian filmmakers have enjoyed a reputation for being some of the most prestigious and talented in Latin-American cinema. From early works, such as O Cangaceiro by Lima Barreto (1953), one of the most emblematic Brazilian films, to Black God, White Devil (1964) by Glauber Rocha, to Vidas Secas (1963 )…
As the title suggests, Faith (Fé) explores the world of faith in Brazil. It documents spirituality at the end of the Twentieth Century in this vast and diverse nation, showing us all types of religious celebrations, rituals, sacred offerings, and pagan cults. From the lower Amazon to the arid northeast,…
Apart from mass cultural annihilation, Beatniks, Hee Haw, some dumb-ass sports, and the freak shows of Brentwood, most pop-culture trends are not homegrown but imported to America after prolonged cultivation overseas. Take tofu, for instance, dubbed le curd du soy by uncredited Belgian sailors exploring China centuries before we discovered…
