OK so the Oscar noms were announced this morning, and there were no surprises because all the nominees have been heavily campaigning for what seems like years but has actually been probably 3 months. I looked at the list of Best Picture nominees and thought it's been a pretty weak year. I haven't seen THE ARTIST yet which I know I'll love because it's a crowd pleaser but that doesn't mean it's good. I liked HUGO but it's far from Scorcese's best, a little bit meandering in fact. WAR HORSE, ty...
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With his latest film, MELANCHOLIA, Lars Von Trier confirms his place as my favorite living director.  Every time I see one of his films, I feel as if I get him and he gets me.  Now he's a chronic depressive, afraid to fly, with a tendency to say the wrong thing at Cannes and elsewhere, so what does that really say about me?  Unusual worldview, maybe.

It doesn't matter whether you like him, hate him, or never heard of him, Lars has made what someone called the most beautiful film about the end ...
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I can see why the critics are split on SHAME, Steve McQueen's (the other one) latest starring his muse of sorts, Michael Fassbender.   It's the kind of film that is truly a downer, but not necessarily in a good way.  Not even the glorious albeit brief sight of the stars privates could save the day.  It's a movie about sex that isn't in the least sexy, titillating or whatever description you might expect.  I'm the type who likes to cry at films, and I even like to be saddened deeply.  I'll off...
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Dogtooth is the kind of film about which I'm not at all sure what to say.  From the moment it begins you feel the walls closing in around you, it's that claustrophobic.  All this despite being set in a compound with lots of open, outdoor spaces, a swimming pool, yard etc.  But the actors are so tightly wound, or I should say their performances are so physically restricted that you get it.  This is a family: mother, father, brother and two sisters.  The parents have decided to raise the childr...
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Before there was TWILIGHT and TRUE BLOOD but after DARK SHADOWS there was Chris Sarandon and Roddy Macdowell in FRIGHT NIGHT. It was low budget and a somewhat satirical take on slasher movies and all things 80s, with it's big hair and shoulder pads. Normally I wouldn't care about a remake of something like this but when I heard COLIN FARRELL, TONI COLLETTE and, and, and DAVID TENNANT I decided it didn't matter what the source material was I wouldn't miss it. It does not disappoint. Now I did ...
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Wasn't as bad as it could have been but, sadly, did suffer from the not funny enoughs. It had the stench of too many (producer') notes all over it. When is Hwood going to stop making movies by committee? They just turn out to be so bland and spineless it's pathetic. Cameron Diaz has all the slapstick willingness to make an ass of herself that Lucille Ball or even Jennifer Saunders/Joanna Lumley have yet she's not given truly funny material. Here she's kinda funny but she's held back from bein...
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I haven't been to a press screening in ages as my NYC contact list is woefully undeveloped but then again I don't miss feeling obligated to write about hoe hum movies for free. Thus I found myself watching BRIDE FLIGHT a Dutch film about a foursome who emigrated to New Zealand from The Netherlands in the early 1950s. A noisy critic who was at the screening I attended described it as "Dutch Schmaltz" not a bad thing necessarily. One of the best things about it was the 5 minutes or so of screen...
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If there are any film files fans left in the world, I ask your forgiveness as we are in a transitional phase, inspired mostly by my attempts to do the majority of my writings and posting via my IPad. I also have less time to write reviews and don't want to write about things I detest for free just so some publicist will keep me on their screening invite list. Anyway the point of this post is supposed to be the Kristin Wiig film BRIDESMAIDS, which I did just pay to see (albeit only $6 for a ...
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