“Proof” would have been incredibly easy to screw up in transition from the stage to the screen. The characters are absurdly complex (hence the Tony and Pulitzer honors), where what they say and do reveals only a tenth of who they are. To further complicate things, the play has one, count it, one set throughout. And yet, as “Proof” unfolds, it doesn’t feel at all stagey; instead, the story seems to be liberated by the jump to film. A world of opportunities is suddenly available to the filmmakers, and they use them to great effect. Gwyneth Paltrow stars as Catherine,…
Author: David Medsker
Director Scott Derrickson said that he wanted “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” to feel like a horror episode of “Law & Order.” For better and for worse, that is precisely what he has made. The courtroom scenes have the same kind of outrageous statement-objection-snarky judge retort that the NBC juggernaut has honed into an art form, and the flashbacks that show the events at hand are far, far creepier than anything Jack McCoy or Lennie Briscoe (R.I.P.) has ever encountered. In the end, however, the courtroom drama, however competent, pales in comparison to the spook show, and the movie loses…
“A Sound of Thunder” is a failure, but a noble one. Based on the Ray Bradbury story that serves as the origin of the expression about a butterfly flapping its wings on one side of the world, causing a chain of events that leads to a hurricane on the other side, you have to give them credit for trying to make something heady. The problem is that they ended up making something cheap and heady, and in the process made one of the most fake-looking movies to come down the pipe since CGI was invented. Set in the year 2055,…
It’s easy to tell when a second unit director or director of photography is making his directorial debut – Bruce Hunt, DP on the “Matrix” movies, please step forward – because everything looks fantastic, but it doesn’t mean anything. “The Cave” is such a movie. It was clearly a costly shoot, with a majority of the action taking place underwater, and James Cameron will tell you all about shooting underwater. To its credit, the underwater shots look nice. In fact, they’re stunning. But thanks to a script that looks like no human hands touched it at any point, those elegant…
It’s said that there are things in life that are so beautiful that men would go to war for them. “The Brothers Grimm,” on the other hand, is so bad that it will start riots. Indeed, three of the fellow viewers at the screening I attended were actually angry when they left, frustrated beyond belief that someone as talented as Terry Gilliam could make something so spectacularly awful. “Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo” and “The Dukes of Hazzard” were bad too, but there was no chance that they would be anything but bad. Anytime Terry Gilliam is behind the camera, however,…
“The Skeleton Key” is one of those rare movies where the payoff is actually better than the setup. The ending is the part that most moviemakers screw up, so it’s good to see someone get the important stuff right. However, to get to this ending, one must suffer 90 tedious minutes of a spook-free thriller with an affinity for the way David Fincher poked through key holes in “Panic Room.” By the time the good stuff arrives, it makes for a tidy ending, but not a particularly shocking one. It does get bonus points, though, for using an obscure, underrated…
“Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo” is exactly what you expect it to be. It’s crass, it’s gross, it goes for the easy joke at every opportunity, it – ooh, the weather girl is topless! Sorry, what was I saying? Oh, right. This movie is fucking dumb, okay? And apparently, based on the audience that attended this screening, there are tons of people who love this shit. At the same time, even these very, very easily amused people groaned on more than one occasion at the cheap shots the filmmakers took. Is there anyone left who thinks that jokes about Asians having…
It’s now the first week of August, which is as good a time as any to take a look back at what the moviegoing public has been subjected to over the last three months. This should be fun. “xXx: State of the Union”: sequel “House of Wax”: remake “Star Wars Episode III”: sequel/prequel “The Longest Yard”: remake “The Honeymooners”: TV adaptation “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”: remake “Batman Begins”: prequel “Herbie: Fully Loaded”: sequel/remake “Bewitched”: TV adaptation “War of the Worlds”: remake “Dark Water”: Japanese remake “Fantastic Four” comic book adaptation “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”: remake (screw Tim Burton, it’s…
“Red Eye” is a surprisingly good thriller, placing the hapless victim in a very realistic scenario that offers little to no options for escape or even a cry for help. Its secret weapon is its use of time, wisely choosing not to test the patience of the audience and moving on to the next part of the story at all the right moments. The movie is rather short – 85 minutes, according to Fandango – but no one in the audience felt cheated, if the applause that came from the half-filled theater is any indication. Rachel McAdams (“Wedding Crashers”) stars…
I recently took a beating from the sports fans who frequent Bullz-Eye when I dared to suggest that the Washington Nationals would finish in last place this season. At this point in time, they are the feel-good story of the summer, and that’s great, though I still don’t hold out hope for their playoff chances. Nonetheless, it forced me to look at my predictions for this summer’s movie slate. When it came to “The Island,” Michael Bay’s new sci-fi action thriller, I said, “While it will no doubt have more than its share of crane shots and preposterous explosions, it…