A version of this review first appeared in The Colorado Springs Gazette. To read this review at its original source, click here.
It is ironic that Charlotte Brontë’s 1847 novel Jane Eyre, one of the books that could be most relied upon to elicit groans and yawns from a high school English class, is also one of literature’s most frequently adapted for the screen. For this reason, and because it has been done very well in the past, we are forced to wonder if this latest version of the story about piety, suffering in silence, smoldering eroticism and Gothic horror was truly necessary or merely a filmmaker’s passion project. Necessity is certainly debatable, but this new adaptation’s quality is not. Jane Eyre is a sumptuous, transcendent melodrama—it feels more tragic, more authentic and more alive than ever before. [read more]
Rarely has the title of a film better described its contents. Win Win is yet another funny, poignant and endearing creation by writer/actor/director Tom McCarthy. Turns out, sometimes there is truth in advertising. [read more]
One complaint you cannot level at Limitless is that it is unoriginal or uncreative. In an upcoming summer of senseless sequels and repugnant remakes, Limitless—warts and all—is at least something we’ve never seen before. [read more]
A version of this review first appeared in The Colorado Springs Gazette. To read this review at its original source, click here.
From their inspired horror spoof Shaun of the Dead, to their enjoyable action movie send up Hot Fuzz, to their new cute and clever alien road movie Paul, the hilarious team of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have proven there is no genre outside their enviable range or comedic abilities. [read more]
A version of this review first appeared in The Colorado Springs Gazette. To read this review at its original source, click here.
I have a friend who loves airport novels. You know the type. You’re getting ready for a long flight when you realize you’ve forgotten something to read. So you drop by the airport bookstore and give yourself permission to buy the sort of paperback page turner you wouldn’t otherwise give a second glance—something fast-paced, superficially engaging and without a whole lot of depth. After all, nobody here knows you or will ever see you again. Why not get that detective novel, historical romance, spy thriller or, best yet, pulpy courtroom drama? The Lincoln Lawyer, based on exactly such a book by Michael Connelly, is also exactly such a movie—exciting, shallow and unfussy. But its entertainment appeal, based largely on the personality of its star, is equally undeniable. Do you believe in the resurrection? Well you should. Matthew McConaughey is back from the dead. [read more]
A version of this review first appeared in The Colorado Springs Gazette. To read this review at its original source, click here.
Following the Red Riding Hood screening, I expressed my feelings about the film to a colleague who was lucky enough to have been otherwise occupied. “Was it really that bad?” she asked. “Bad?” I replied. “Hitler was bad. This was awful.” [read more]
Recently, astrophysicist Stephen Hawking suggested that if alien life exists, we shouldn’t be in a rush to make first contact. “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet,” he said. “I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they can reach. If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.”
Consider Battle: Los Angeles Hawking’s cinematic “I told ya so.” [read more]
Most animated films are made for kids but contain just enough smarts to entertain adults. Rango is made for adults and contains just enough fun to entertain kids. Rango, which just may be the most beautiful and certainly among the strangest films you will see all year, is Disney by way of Hunter S. Thompson. It is Chinatown recast with a lizard. It is Blazing Saddles with existential angst. It is John Ford’s vistas and Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns spoofed, but romantically so. Rango is, quite simply, both weird and wonderful. [read more]
A version of this review first appeared in The Colorado Springs Gazette. To read this review at its original source, click here.
In It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey discovers, with a little supernatural assistance, that he has a very precise destiny and that one misstep could generate a radically different future. The Adjustment Bureau is a sort of modern retelling of the holiday classic, this time placing the emphasis less on the altered timeline and more on the events that transpire to bring it to pass. The result is an intoxicating and pulse-pounding mix of science fiction, philosophy and theology. [read more]
Start at the bottom and read up… [read more]
