Given its pedigree and hype, one would expect “Prometheus” to have Great Film written all over it. This is an even more important label than Oscar Material, because Great Films are the ones that set the standards and populate the coffee table books, becoming the currency of Best lists and endless debates about what works […]
Review: “Prometheus” Read More »
As nearly every prognosticator predicted, “Madagascar 3” went on to take the weekend away from Friday’s #1, “Prometheus,” by a wide margin. Chalk it up to the kid-friendly Saturday and Sunday matinees, but both films dropped more than expected on Saturday and Sunday. “Prometheus” was bound to be front-loaded given that hoards of fanboys showed
Weekend Box Office: “Madagascar” franchise can still move-it move-it Read More »
“Moonrise Kingdom” begins with a narrator informing the viewer—among other geographical details about a small New England island—that a cataclysmic storm once hit this idyllic coastline in the summer of 1965, around the time the story takes place. This coming storm creates a sense of impending doom that permeates Wes Anderson’s latest film, as if
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Just as I predicted in this week’s Box Office Beat, Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” and DreamWorks Animation’s “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” both opened well yesterday, separated by a margin of less than a million dollars. “Prometheus” took the day, but it’s clear now that “Madagascar” should take the weekend, being that kid-oriented films perform best
Friday Box Office: “Prometheus,” “Madagascar” neck and neck Read More »
Rian Johnson, one of the great young technicians of cinema (see “Brick” and “The Brothers Bloom”) wrote a blog post today about 3-D that is particularly insightful, a respite from the usual black-and-white assessments of the now common technology. You’ll have a hard time not reading on after this seemingly contradictory thesis: One of the most
Rian Johnson waxes thoughtful about 3-D Read More »
“In the Family,” the debut feature of writer/director/actor Patrick Wang, pulls off the elegant task of being a film that is political, but not politically charged. This small, but vital distinction–the difference between a work that enlightens and a work that lectures–is the staple of the movie’s success. Too many filmmakers, especially first-timers, are so
Review: “In the Family” Read More »
The name J. Michael Riva is likely not familiar to you, but you have certainly seen the man’s work. Riva was the production designer on dozens of films over the years, from “The Goonies” to “Lethal Weapon” to “Iron Man” to the upcoming “Django Unchained” and “The Amazing Spider-Man”. While on location for “Django Unchained” in New Orleans, Riva
“Django Unchained” production designer J. Michael Riva dead at 63 Read More »
It’s Thursday evening, meaning it’s time for me to once again hopelessly predict the tallies of this weekend’s box office stars. Two openers that could not be more different, Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” and DreamWorks Animation’s “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted,” are vying for the top slot. Let’s crunch some numbers. If one was to pay
Box Office Beat: Weekend of June 8 Read More »
Read Critic Speak’s early review of “Flight” from the New York Film Festival here.
New trailer: Robert Zemeckis’ “Flight” Read More »
Get ready to see Leonard DiCaprio as a sadistic slave master, as the new trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” has hit the web. The film, a Western (or “Southern,” as Tarantino has called it) sees Jamie Foxx as the eponymous Django, a freed slave looking to liberate his wife from the clutches of plantation
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