Welcome to the Archives

These are the posts for the month of May in the year 2007 of the common era.

The Good German (2007)

Wednesday, May 30th, 2007

I wouldn’t put too much stock in that SS stuff. When I was at West Point, we put a uniform on a mule.

Steven Soderbergh’s latest experiment is a clear triumph of style and technique over coherence and content. The Good German is admirable as a successful attempt to revive some lost techniques of filmmaking. Sadly, the less than clear storyline and shallow characters squander what could have been an intriguing exercise in resurrecting some of the great traditions of classic Hollywood. It’s still interesting to look at but after the stylistic novelty wears off, you’ll find yourself checking your watch regularly.

The Good German

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Director:  | Released:  | 105 min. | Rated:  | Genres: 

Beetlejuice (1988)

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

Please, they’re dead. It’s a little late to be neurotic.

So, the story is: One day Adam and Barbara Maitland died and things sort of went downhill from there. The end result is a movie showcasing director Tim Burton at the top of his game. It also helped launch the careers of both Alec Baldwin and Winona Ryder (and introducing me to Winona Ryder is more than enough for me to forgive Burton for that Planet of the Apes remake).

Beetlejuice

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Director:  | Released:  | 92 min. | Rated:  | Genres: 

Lethal Weapon (1987)

Wednesday, May 16th, 2007

This is a real badge, I’m a real cop, and this is a real fucking gun!

You might not remember it, but this film was Mel Gibson’s “comeback” after his first career meltdown during the mid-eighties. At least that one didn’t wind up offending any ethnic groups. Through the production of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Gibson had acquired a reputation for surliness, hard drinking and brawling, until he finally walked away from the movies for two years. This 1987 prototype of the buddy cop movie marked not only his return to the film business but the birth of a new Mel Gibson, the funny action star with the Three Stooges fetish.

Lethal Weapon

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Director:  | Released:  | 110 min. | Rated:  | Genres: 

Carnival of Cinema Episode XXX: Don’t Trust Any Blogger Over 30.

Friday, May 11th, 2007

Well, how time does fly. It seems like it was only a couple months ago I was hosting this… oh, yeah, it was a couple of months ago.

Back then, we were all getting worked up over a sensitive little period piece called 300. No such theme this time around. I had expect this week to be especially heavy on spiders, but I guess not.

So, shall we begin? (more…)

Kelly’s Heroes (1970)

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007

To a New Yorker like you, a hero is some type of weird sandwich, not some nut who takes on three Tigers.

A contemporary of both M*A*S*H and Patton, this gleefully anti-establishment World War II comedy manages to bridge both films, turning a lot of the clichés of earlier war movies on their heads while not totally disrespecting the genre. The American GIs in this film are still square-jawed and tough-as-nails, but they are also tired of war and bored out of their minds.

Oddball, Kelly and Big Joe cut a deal.

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Director:  | Released:  | 144 min. | Rated:  | Genres: