Film – Chuck Koplinski

Billy Bob Thornton is Willie, an ex-con whose annual scam is to get hired as a department store Santa along with his dwarfish buddy, Marcus (Tony Cox). Their goal: Rip off the place on Christmas Eve and score a take that’s big enough to last the whole year. This Christmas, the plan goes awry. Willie’s […]

Despite a promising premise that would have done Rod Serling proud (a likeable heroine caught in a nightmare that forces her to question reality), Gothika plunges headlong into the ridiculous, turning what could have been a taut, atmospheric thriller into a joke. Halle Berry portrays psychiatrist Miranda Gray, who blacks out after a horrific automobile […]

Why do so many good films slip by under the radar when bad films become huge hits? This peculiarity has plagued Hollywood since its inception, and these four releases from 2002 prove that things are business as usual. • Punch-Drunk Love. This is the Adam Sandler movie that Adam Sandler fans hate. Can there be […]

And so the saga of the messiah Neo (Keanu Reeves) ends with a bang instead of a whimper in The Matrix Revolutions. Too bad. Since the original made its debut in 1999, Andy and Larry Wachowski’s sequels have taken on an air of self-importance. Reloaded, the second entry in the series, caused the curious to […]

Who would have ever thought that the crew behind the Airplane! and the Naked Gun movies would actually add a little class to any sort of cinematic endeavor? But writer/director Jerry Zucker and his team of writers do just that with Scary Movie 3, the latest installment in the studio’s horror spoof series. Created by […]

Strong performances overshadow implausible plot of Runaway Jury The latest cinematic adaptation of a John Grisham novel, Runaway Jury, is a shamelessly entertaining film that asks viewers to set aside common sense and overlook some gaping plot flaws. In large part, it succeeds because of gripping performances by a powerhouse cast that includes Dustin Hoffman, […]

Halloween’s coming and it’s time to get spooked. Our recommendation: Watch a scary movie. Local video stores stock plenty of frightening choices, but some films are more disturbing than others. Here are our recommendations of some recent (mostly) releases guaranteed to curdle your blood: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). The remake currently in area theaters […]

Eastwood’s latest is brave, uncompromising Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River is a film of profound sadness, a meditation on the irrevocable consequences of violence and how a single act of cruelty affects not only its victim but also its witnesses. The film explored three troubled souls: one thirsting for vengeance, another searching for absolution and a […]

American Splendor Few people have led more banal lives than file clerk Harvey Pekar but that didn’t stop him from sharing. Inspired by the underground comics movement of the mid-’70s and his close friend, illustrator R. Crumb, Pekar began writing vignettes about his life: conversations with a co-worker, his fight with his partner, his allergies. […]

Grace Smith wanted to do something radically different for her 30th birthday: She decided to write, direct and star in her own feature film. She will screen the result–Hope’s Happy Birthday–at this year’s Route 66 Film Festival, where her do-it-yourself movie has been selected as the festival’s Best Comedy Feature. The protagonist, Hope, strikes out […]