Because it’s the next film from the Rian Johnson, the writer/director of Brick.
A very cool website for the film, created by the director and not the studio, has gone live here.
Brick was a hard-boiled noir detective story transplanted to an Orange County high school, and populated with burned-out teenagers. The incongruities work beautifully, and the […]

[Read more →]

By: Aaron Shay
Sometimes, when one digs through the dung pile long enough, a nugget of gold can be found.  This is the only way to describe the experience of watching Hamlet 2.
The story: Failed actor Dana Marschz (Steve Coogan) has taken up the job of a stereotypical drama teacher in Tucson, […]

[Read more →]

The Los Angeles Times posted pieces from Kenneth Turan and Charles McNulty, their stud film and theater critics, respectively. It’s part of an “ongoing series” (which is newspaper-ese for “slow news day”), but the conceit is great.
Each critic was asked if there was a review that they regretted writing. The question itself is the job-interview […]

[Read more →]

Oliver Stone is at it again. After taking a run at the JFK assassination and Nixon, he’s wading back into presidential politics with a fast-tracked production of a film about George W. Bush.

[Read more →]

Season twelve of South Park continues to hit high notes with “Canada On Strike!”

This is what South Park does best — lining up the confluence of power and self-righteousness and gleefully hanging it with its own rope. Trey Parker and Matt Stone despise the arrogance of authority and privilege. One of the most […]

[Read more →]

It’s the Potter Puppet Pals, in “The Mysterious Ticking Noise.”
 
Since this is one of the most-viewed videos on YouTube, the odds are that one out of every five of you has seen this. That’s an amazing statistic for something that doesn’t involve kittens in funny hats, scatological humor, pornography, or someone getting hit in the […]

[Read more →]

One picture is current Oscar nominee for Best Actor, Daniel Day-Lewis. The other is television superstar Tom Selleck playing his second signature role, Quigley Down Under.
    
Can you tell who is who?

[Read more →]

At first glance, There Will Be Blood feels pre-fabricated for the “masterpiece” label. It’s anchored by a showy, overly-intense performance. It has elegant cinematography, and the courage to unfold at a languid, dream-like pace. Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson won’t hurry along the story, letting his lead performers inhabit their characters at a turn of the […]

[Read more →]