These are the posts for the month of February in the year 2008 of the common era.
My priest says shame is God telling you what you did was wrong.
All of the reflexive Ben Affleck haters reading this will probably take heart that he appears nowhere on screen during this movie and should be further gratified that he seems to have a real future behind the camera. As a director, he seems to have a sure but almost unnoticeable hand while filming this adaptation of the novel by Mystic River author Dennis Lehane.
If you piss in your pants, you only stay warm for so long.
Despite the “One Degree of Marky-Mark,” this film is not quite the rip-off of The Departed that it appears to be on the surface, but it’s not different enough to make it worth almost two hours of your time. The first-rate cast gives it an illusion of substance that is slightly deceptive, but great performances do not compensate for the run-of-the-mill cop story with a weak villain.
What would you have me do? Hang half the people in England, or just imprison them?
Some movies are made to entertain us, others to inform, titillate or provoke. This one seems to have been made expressly for the purpose of winning the Oscars for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction. It certainly wasn’t produced to give us a rigorously authentic account of Queen Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett) at the time of the Spanish Armada or a deeply insightful examination of England’s Virgin Queen as a human being. While 1998’s Elizabeth was fairly sober-sided historical drama, director Shekhar Kapur has this time offered up As Ye Olde World Turns.
…when you love something, every time a bit of it goes, you lose a piece of yourself.
No matter how much lipstick you put on the pig, in the form of an accomplished, Oscar-winning star and an Oscar-nominated director with art house credentials, The Brave One remains an exploitation movie at its heart. (more…)
I’m deeply saddened to report that actor Roy Scheider (Jaws, The French Connection, All That Jazz) has passed away at the age of 75. He starred in some of the great movies of my childhood and youth and he will be sorely missed.
See also:
No man controls my destiny. Especially not one who attacks downwind and stinks of garlic.
In my last review, 3:10 to Yuma, I lamented the casting of two non-Americans, Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, in the lead roles for a Western. I suppose, however, that would be our just desserts for movies like this, which retells an English legend with four Americans in the lead roles. The most visible British actor is stuck playing the villain, making this, I suppose, sort of an unofficial Star Wars film. To add insult to injury, the entire story is refashioned as a generic action movie, raining down clichés like flaming arrows.
You’re conscience is sensitive, Dan. I don’t think it’s my favorite part of you.
Unlike the South, the western does seem to rise again. And again and again and again. The genre has been pronounced dead more often than Generalissimo Francisco Franco on Saturday Night Live, but they keep making them. And despite the tendency of the Horse Opera to endlessly recycle plots, this is one of the few explicit remakes I can recall, save for the odd TV movie of the week.
3:10 to Yuma is a movie with its feet in two eras. (more…)
R.I.P. HD DVD (2002-2008)
Tuesday, February 19th, 2008It’s over.
The white flag has flown. The tattered remnants of the Red army have laid down their arms. The bitter conflict that has divided the land is now decided. It is time for the period of reconciliation to begin.
Today, February 19, 2008, the final nails were driven into the coffin of HD DVD. Toshiba, the driving force behind the format, announced that they were ceasing development of new players and technology. Universal Studios, the most stalwart of the format’s supporters, announced that it would start releasing movies on Blu-ray. The dominos that started to fall on January 4th, when Warner Brothers announced their plans to go Blu-ray exclusive, are all now down.
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Posted by Paul McElligott in Commentary | Comments Off