Hipster loathing has graduated from passive distaste to aggressive protest. The religion of rebellion, of conformity to anti-conformity, seems to every generation looking back on their bygone years in the fold to be at a fever pitch. As naive and as stylistically and ideologically clichéd as each iteration of youth culture is, it was never [...]
Paperwork? You must be kidding. No badass buddy cop duo has ever been troubled by the monotony of filling out countless forms for every firearm discharged, domestic dispute, auto accident, petty shoplifting, or false burglar alarm. You never saw the likes of Riggs and Murtaugh, Tango and Cash, Hammond and Cates or even Turner and [...]
Two attractive twentysomethings meet for the first time in a Manhattan restaurant and engage in obligatory small talk. What was intended to be a meeting between indie film director and potential star soon promises to be the beginning of a long and complex relationship that won’t end how either had planned. So begins director Brian Ackley’s micro-budget [...]
Brilliant, vivid colors flood the opening moments of Ya’Ke Smith’s latest short film, “Katrina’s Son.” A bright yellow sun bathes a young boy in a beautiful warmth — a superficial warmth obscured by the coldness of death, abandonment. Ed, a young New Orleans resident quietly mourns the death of his grandmother and only guardian in [...]
Rumor has it that three follow up films, a sequel and two crossovers with the “Alien” franchise, to John McTiernan’s 1987 sci-fi thriller, “Predator,” exist somewhere out there in the ether. I’m convinced this is nothing more than a legend, an old wives’ tale. I don’t believe it. There is only one sequel to that [...]
Two parts “Captain Planet,” one part “Star Wars.” Mix together in a large bowl of rock-paper-scissors. Replace ethnic characters with white Americans. Cast “The Daily Show” comedian as evil fire lord. Bake for 103 minutes. If you’re interested in seeing M. Night Shyamalan’s cartoonish adaptation of Nickelodeon’s hugely popular animated television series, save yourself ten bucks and [...]
Jason Rosette’s no-budget tale of desolation, desperation and loss subtly weaves together the disparate lives of a group of struggling Southwesterners in “Lost in New Mexico.” Susan (Drea Pressley), grieving and aimless after the loss of her newborn daughter, thoughtlessly seeks out a rogue animal-cloning geneticist (Dr. Alan Rice) to reverse, or subvert, the most inevitable of human events [...]
Pixar isn’t blazing any new trails in the realm of critically acclaimed animated cinema. Its parent company, Disney, has been winning Oscars with its hand-drawn masterpieces since 1937. But, the relatively young computer animation studio, through a flawless record of mature, innovative, deftly crafted pictures, has positioned itself atop the heap as a perennial Oscar [...]
The merits of an intellectual elucidation of Joe Carnahan’s 21st century revamp of the mid-1980s absurdist TV show about a team of disgraced Army Rangers-turned outlaw mercenaries are negligible at best. To engage in such an endeavor would neutralize the only conceivable reason to watch the film at all. Which is why I love it. [...]
Is “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” the best video game adaptation ever? Personally, I prefer Uwe Boll’s “House of the Dead.” At least the latter had the decency not to spend $200 million as if it were a legitimate movie. This Jerry Bruckheimer-produced monstrosity is exactly like every other Jerry Bruckheimer-produced monstrosity. The [...]
