Sophie Scholl: Die Letzten Tage

In 1943, Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans and Christoph Probst were convicted of treason by the Nazi regime for their involvement in the White Rose—a resistance movement that opposed the Nazi party’s ideologies. It was not then fully realized by the German public that the Nazis were planning mass extermination of Jews. Thus, this film avoids revisiting…

Thank You For Smoking

My first impression was that this film was a shiny rehash of Andrew Niccol’s smug polemic “Lord of War.” I was right. However, oddly, it actually works. In this case, writer/director Jason Reitman (son of Ivan Reitman) takes on the tobacco industry, a ripe target for the kind of deconstruction and criticism for…

Ice Age: The Meltdown

So someone figured out that sequels are inherently displeasing to the mind. Thus, we have not “Ice Age 2,” but “Ice Age: The Meltdown.” I can just imagine the umpteen meetings or memos that transpired to execute the change… but, seriously, let’s talk about the….

A Good Woman

This adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s “Lady Windermere’s Fan” has all the excitement of styrofoam. I have no idea how many more times the studios will confuse bone-dry pseudointellectual melodrama of the cultural elite for artistic cinema.
During the 1930’s, in the coastal town of Amalfi, Italy, arrives Mrs. Erlynne (Helen Hunt), a socialite with a [...]

Slither

A small town in the south known as Wheelsy, is one of those quiet “nothing ever happens here, so of course this is where this atrocity takes place” towns. The residents keep to themselves, confederate flags hang over stores, and the mayor (Gregg Henry) screams profanity in front of children. I wouldn’t want to live there, but the people are fairly content with their…
 

C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America

The film opens with a quote from George Bernard Shaw, “”If you’re going to tell people the truth, you better make them laugh; otherwise they’ll kill you.” Suffice it to say, the “British Broadcasting Service”-produced documentary begins with a television commercial for a fictitious company, Confederate Insurance. Trust me, when the camera pans over to the African-American raking leaves as the voice-over talks about “property,” it’s okay…

Inside Man

There are films of substance, and then there are films that give the illusion of substance. “Inside Man” is the latter. Whenever a film begins with the principal actor staring into a camera prefacing the story, immediately my bullshit detector screams, “RED ALERT! RED ALERT!” In this case, the bullshit begins with Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) telling us, “Pay close attention to what I say.” This is, of course, a way of telling us that the payoff…

Tsotsi

A man is stabbed on a train and robbed. Behind the young gangbangers is one of many AIDS awareness posters you’ll find in South Africa, as a constant reminder of the advice going unheeded by many of Africa’s (and the world’s) youth—ever oblivious to dangers that aren’t immediately…

Find Me Guilty

The opening titles inform us that the court dialogues in “Find Me Guilty” are from actual testimony in the racketeering trial of twenty associates and members of the Lucchesi crime syndicate, led by Nick Calabrese (Alex Rocco). Giacomo “Fat Jack” DiNorscio (Vin Diesel) is, by relative standards, a pawn in the equation. After his cousin, Tony Compagna (Raúl Esparza), attempts to kill him in his…

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