Review: THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)–*** The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is, in a childish and sometimes silly way, a charming little epic. Whereas The Lord of the Rings is gargantuan andHarry Potter is angst ridden and adventurous, the adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ fantasy masterpiece is fluffy and wholesome. It’s not the epic other recent fantasy films can claim to be, but it certainly is a welcome addition to the contemporary fantasy genre. The plot is simple enough. After the WWII bombing of London, the four Pevensie children are rushed to the country to live in relative peace with an old professor (Jim Broadbent). The professor’s stodgy maid forbids playing children’s games that could disturb the professor who is hidden away in his study, so the four Pevensie children play a children’s game of hide...
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Movie Review: MUNICH (2005)
Munich (2005) – **** It’s no wonder so many people, Israeli spies and PLO members, alike, feel threatened by Munich .Steven Spielberg has, in a fearless and revolutionary way, forced each person who views this film to bear witness to something that is quite uncomfortable. On more than one occasion,Munich made me squirm and question the paradigm with which I am so familiar. DoesMunich have an agenda? Hell yes. But for anyone with an opinion, Spielberg has one reply: reconsider everything. After a sect of the PLO known as Black September kills nine Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics, the Israelis decide to send a message. They hire an assassination team, lead by Mossad agent Avner (Eric Bana), to kill the men who planned the massacre. As the body count increases, Avner’s group finds itself on the radar of other murderers and assassins....
Read MoreMovie Review: SYRIANA (2005)
Syriana (2005) – **** It took me a while, almost halfway through Syriana, to finally get beyond comparing the film to 2001’s Traffic. Syriana, written and directed by Traffic scribe Stephen Gaghan, isn’t nearly as epic a film, but Gaghan’s portrait of oil politics caught me off-guard. Not nearly as aloof as I was expecting, it took me a long time to realize that I cared what happened to these characters. The film mainly follows the story of five characters whose lives intersect directly and indirectly because of America’s need for oil. There’s Prince Nasir Al-Subaai (Alexander Siddig), the oldest son of the Iranian Emir who envisions a democratic Iran using its oil wealth to modernize the country. Nasir is courting the Chinese in a deal that could bring the country the prosperity he sees possible. At weekend business party hosted by the Al-Subaai...
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Movie Review: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)–**** Most great love stories don’t have happy endings. So goes Brokeback Mountain, the first great love story of the 21st Century. It’s impossible to calculate the cultural impact of a mainstream film about two men falling deeply in love in 1960s Wyoming (so tenderly called the “gay cowboy movie” in the major media). What I can gauge though is the emotional scope of a film that brilliantly and tragically captures the complexities of human relations. There’s no doubt that Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) will fall in love. As the two men meet waiting to get instructions on their sheepherding job, glances are exchanged. It’s not love at first sight, but Jack and Ennis notice each other in a way that two men in their place and time were not supposed to...
Read MoreMovie Review: THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN (2005)
The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005)–**** If one great thing came out of the cancellation of Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, it must be The 40 Year-Old Virgin. The TV series, which revealed in the awkward geekdom of high school and self-reinvention in college, respectively, lead up to Judd Apatow’s comedic examination of the insecurities that affect men as the age and still can’t seem to find a place in life. Andy (Steve Carrel) is the package deal when it comes to male anxiety. He’s a play by the rules kind of guy who exercises every morning, keeps his action figures in the package, signals when he makes a turn on his bike and drinks Fanta soda instead of beer. It’s a last minute invite to fill-up a poker game from his male co-workers who really don’t know or like him that gets him...
Read MoreMovie Review: ALIVE AND LUBRICATED (2005)
Alive and Lubricated (2005)–**1/2 I was honestly scared watching the first ten minutes of the Butler Brothers film Alive and Lubricated. Pop savvy dialogue. Sex from the male point of view. Was this an uninspired rip-off of Clerks? Thankfully, the answer is no. Alive and Lubricated does have it’s setbacks, but none have much to do with a damning comparison toClerks. Dedication to the characters and a better eye for filmmaking certainly stand in the face of most Kevin Smith comparisons. Where the film succeeds is the Brothers’ commitment to the characters and relationships, Seinfeld-esque as it may be. The immaturity in some of the scenes, however, does impede the film’s momentum. Breakups seem to be a good place to start when it comes to making an indie film about relationships. That’s where Alive and Lubricated begins, with voice over dialogue that says things like “Every...
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