Untitled Document The Third Man (1949) is the greatest Orson Welles movie Welles didn’t direct. It is a testament to the greatness of this film that many people assume that Welles did direct it. Criterion has preserved this classic thriller on a new two-disc special-edition DVD. Joseph Cotten stars as an American who is invited […]
Movies
Posted inArts & Culture
Full house
Untitled Document Perhaps it’s a personal thing, having a grandfather who was a professional gambler during the Depression, but few occupations are as cinematically fascinating. Apparently I’m alone on this, with Lucky You folding at the box office despite its relatively realistic portrait of the game of poker and its players. Eric Bana […]
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Neverending wars
Untitled Document May 1 marked the four-year anniversary of President George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” photo-op debacle, and the Iraq War rages on. Just as Hollywood avoided confronting the Vietnam War while it was in progress, we aren’t likely to see anything significant representing Iraq until it comes to an end, whenever that may be. […]
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Rising star
Untitled Document Every new generation has its rising star, and the newest is Ryan Gosling. Fresh from his first Oscar nomination, he can be seen in the murder thriller Fracture. Gosling plays a hotshot prosecutor who never loses a case, but he is frustrated trying to prove the guilt of Anthony Hopkins, who has confessed […]
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Big Dam road show
Untitled Document The emergent Young Springfield Professionals Network takes a cue from the Young Professionals of Quincy: a short film festival highlighting 18 movies from around the country. The best entries from Quincy’s Big Dam Film Festival, each clocking in at less than 20 minutes, unspool this weekend in Springfield. A few YSPN members traveled […]
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Movie watching
Untitled Document All it takes is a murder to make the subject of voyeurism acceptable to mainstream audiences. Without the violence factor, the subject is just plain sick. Disturbia plays it safe in that regard, but it takes a huge risk by borrowing a plot device from Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954). James Stewart stars […]
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Grindhouse classics
Untitled Document Quentin Tarantino continues his role as the cinema’s greatest cheerleader of B-movies. His latest foray into cheese is a celebration of grindhouse movies — or, as they are better known, exploitation cinema. The relaxing of restrictions in the 1960s allowed filmmakers to up the quotient of sex and violence, elements necessary in all […]
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The surprising Will Ferrell
Untitled Document Comedy depends on the unexpected, and perhaps no one illustrates this better than Will Ferrell. After ignoring his work on Saturday Night Live and barely noticing his switch to film, I was surprised by the number of movies he stole in minor roles. Ferrell can easily match the buffoonery of Jim Carrey and Adam […]
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Marky hits the mark
Untitled Document Stardom has finally come to Mark Wahlberg, a decade after he proved his skills as an actor. Wahlberg has come a long way since his dubious entrance into show business with Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, and I’m sure he would like to forget that chapter in his life. (I would.) His […]
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Sacre bleu!
Untitled Document The French cinema certainly looks a lot different today than it used to. The country that many Americans have deluded themselves into believing is a nation of wimps and cowards has been producing a steady stream of action and violent movies. The turning point may have been the success of Luc […]
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Family road rage
Untitled Document When movie families take to the road, they never have a good time. The trip usually brings out the worst behavior in everyone. The recent indie hit and Best Picture nominee Little Miss Sunshine is a shining example. Olive (Abigail Breslin) freaks out when she receives a call telling her that she has […]
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Killer classics
Untitled Document I had a premonition about Sandra Bullock’s latest film, which just happens to be called Premonition. I sensed that this was going to be another misguided effort by an actress with a career built on half-baked movies. Regrettably, I was right. I can think of no other actress of Bullock’s stature who has […]
