WATCH NOW A true 1950s drive-in classic (along with War of the Worlds and Forbidden Planet), The Day the Earth Stood Still anticipated the earnest, melodramatic artiness and social commentary of sci-fi TV series such as The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone. From the opening sequence, in which a flying saucer lands in front […]
WATCH NOW ERIN BROCKOVICH Pop culture gets slammed often enough by moralists, so it’s only fair to note those times when all the commercial ingredients come together and benefit social justice. A few million more will see this film and be moved by the environmental struggle against corporate greed simply because it’s also an entertaining
EVER AFTER: A CINDERELLA STORY The ultimate Mr. Right story, of course, is Cinderella, in which a dashing prince (and a fairy godmother) rescue a pathetic girl from a life of poverty and abuse. A lot is changed but the charm definitely remains in this 1990’s feminist (and much more realistic) version. It is set
EVITA As created by director Alan Parker, the movie Evita explodes visually, using the editing and looks-like-reality powers of cinema to overwhelm the senses as it never could on stage. It so thoroughly transcends mere acting or performance that it hardly matters that Madonna plays the title role, or that Antonio Banderas is Che and
WATCH NOW In a darkened room an elderly man sits at a piano. He’s barely outlined by light from a window, his face obscured in shadow. Then, a light fades up, spotlighting him, followed by light everywhere. Thus starts De-Lovely and its style of self-aware artificiality. It purports to be the life of composer Cole
WATCH NOW THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE: Emily Rose (Jennifer Carpenter) is dead at age 19. Her shocked family is grieving and afraid. The parish priest, Father Moore (Tom Wilkinson), is charged with criminally negligent homicide because he supposedly told Emily to stop taking the medicine the doctors had prescribed. The young woman had been
Here’s the tagline for the first installment of Miike’s highly regarded (and deeply disturbing) Dead or Alive trilogy: “WARNING: This motion picture contains explicit portrayals of violence; sex; violent sex; sexual violence; clowns and violent scenes of violent excess, which are definitely not suitable for all audiences.” Never mind the clowns. This warning doesn’t even
Katy McLaughlin is a dreamer in the classroom. She fails history in the exclusive Wyoming academy she attends. After two hours of exam time she hasn’t put a word down on paper, although, she tells her father, “I wrote it in my head.” What she’s dreaming about are horses their strength and power, their ability
WATCH NOW EXTREME MEASURES is a cut above the average thriller. Its “mad scientist” plot a reputable researcher (Gene Hackman) collects homeless derelicts in Manhattan for spinal cord experiments is only a cover for exploring very relevant issues in medical ethics. Hugh Grant plays the idealistic E.R. doc who stumbles onto the conspiracy and pursues
WATCH NOW One of the more successful entries into the Stephen King horror film genre (and probably the best under the Dino De Laurentiis production label), The Dead Zone is aided in no small part by Christopher Walken in the lead role. Walken stars as high school teacher Johnny Smith, who wrecks his Beetle and
