Quickie: 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
3:10 to Yuma (2007)–***1/2 Quickie Review Dan Evans is a defeated rancher who is days away from loosing his farm to a neighboring land owner. When he gets the opportunity to earn a quick $200 by escorting the murderous robber Ben Wade to a train headed for federal prison, the usually safe Evans takes a chance on the fool’s errand. A well-composed and dramatic western, 3:10 to Yuma proves to be the always solid James Mangold’s best film to date. All around great performances are highlighted by Christian Bale’s harrowing turn as the rancher, Evans. A thrill for classic western fans. Also starring Russell Crowe as Ben Wade with Ben Foster and Peter...
Read MoreQuickie: The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)–*** Quickie Review After being laid off from his job as a Boeing engineer, Steve Wiebe utilizes his obsessive personality and engineering-oriented mind to beat world champion Donkey Kong player Billy Mitchell’s high score. But Mitchell and his gang of devotees won’t let Wiebe take Billy’s record away that easily. An enthralling, emotional documentary, The King of Kong may be one of the best competition (sports?) films ever created. Rarely does any movie demand so much investment in its characters while so effortlessly telling their story. Sports genre techniques, flawless editing and a cast of characters too bizarre to be made up results in a cinematic gem you have to...
Read MoreQuickie: Resurrecting the Champ
Resurrecting the Champ (2007)–** Quickie Review A fact-driven boxing beat reporter tries to break out of his famous sportscaster father’s shadow by writing a heartbreaking feature on a homeless man who claims to be a legendary boxer. An earnest, but unaffecting sport drama, this Rod Lurie picture has all the skill of the reporter this film follows; it’s a straight-forward, informational drama. Samuel L. Jackson is superb as the homeless boxer, as is Josh Hartnett as the reporter/father trying to impress his own son. Still, the audience would be better served reading the Denver Times Magazine articles on which this feature is based than watching the movie and all of its easy, over-sentimental...
Read MoreQuickie: THE APARTMENT (1960)
The Apartment (1960)–**** Quickie Review In order to become more than a just another number in his insurance company, C.C. Baxter loans out his apartment for executive flings. When he falls for Fran the elevator girl, it’s the apartment arrangement that stands in the way of his own love life. Funny and touching, this classic romance starts with huge laughs, serves up a poignant drama halfway, and has it all by the end. Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine are fabulous as the unrequited lovers, but Fred MacMurray steals the picture as Fran’s sleazy executive lover. Oscars for Best Picture and Director, Billy...
Read MoreQuickie: Hairspray
Hairspray (2007)–***1/2 Quickie Review Pleasantly plump teen Tracy Turnblad dances her way onto the Corny Collins Show and aids social change in 1960s Baltimore. A rousing and rebellious musical treat, this film adaptation of a Broadway production, in turn based on a 1988 John Waters’s film, captures the essence of the Hollywood musical for the first time since 2001’s Moulin Rouge. No performer is a disappointment, while director/choreographer Adam Shankman makes his best film to date. The musical does lose some of the John Waters spirit in the second half, but the film is always fun and inspiring. Starring Nikki Blonsky, Christopher Walken, Michelle Pfeiffer, Zac Efron, Amanda Bynes, Elijah Kelley and John Travolta as Edna...
Read MoreQuickie: Sicko
Sicko (2007)–***1/2 Quickie Review Activist/filmmaker Michael Moore offers up stories from Americans whose interactions with the health insurance industry are..um…less than heartwarming. Poignant, disturbing and generally enlightening Moore’s Sicko is his least volatile film to date and his most affecting since Roger & Me. Citing deadly encounters with HMOs and other health insurance company tactics to maximize profit, Moore effortlessly connects the dots between America’s failing health and a rogue industry. The grand finale gimmick (taking 9/11 rescue workers to Guantanamo Bay to get the same health care as the “evil doers”) seems trivial when one rescue worker breaks down in a Cuban pharmacy after paying 5 cents for a prescription that costs $120 in the States. The demystifying of government-sponsored health care in Canada, Cuba, the United Kingdom and France is essential viewing. Roger &...
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