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 | Big Sister is Watching (and Listening) For their second collaboration, D.J. Caruso ([b]Disturbia[/b], [b]Two for the Money[/b], [b]The Salton Sea[/b]) and Shia LaBeouf ([b]Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull[/b], [b]Disturbia[/b], [b]Holes[/b]) decided on [b]Eagle Eye[/b], an action-heavy update of the paranoid political conspiracy thrillers of the 1970s and the wrong man/double-chase scenario popularized in Alfred Hitchcock’s [b]The 39 Steps[/b] and [b]North by Northwest[/b].More |  | A Passionate Polemic for the Progressive Cause [b]Battle in Seattle[/b], an Altman and Haggis-inspired film written and directed by actor-turned filmmaker Stuart Townsend ([b]Chaos Theory[/b], [b]The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen[/b], [b]Queen of the Damned[/b]), is a powerful, if occasionally simplistic, fictionalization of the five days of protests and demonstrations (and later riots) that upstaged the 1999 World Trade Organization (WTO) conference in Seattle. Mixing video footage shot during the protests and demonstrations with footage shot specifically for [b]Battle in Seattle[/b] and characters based on real-world analogues, Townsend has crafted a remarkably assured debut.More |  | More Like Purgatory…for 90 Minutes Written, directed, and produced by genre veteran Larry Bishop ([b]Mad Dog Time[/b], [b]Shanks[/b], [b]Chrome and Leather[/b]), [b]Hell Ride[/b] is an irony-free throwback to the late 60s-early 70s biker flicks. Quentin Tarantino ([b]Kill Bill Vol. I and II[/b], [b]Pulp Fiction[/b], [b]Reservoir Dogs[/b]), a vocal fan of exploitation cinema, convinced the Weinstein brothers to cough up $3 million for Bishop’s second film as a writer-director ([b]Mad Dog Time[/b] was his first). Unfortunately, [b]Hell Ride[/b] delivers few of the guilty pleasures that made exploitation flicks so watchable almost forty years ago.More |  | He’s Scarier Than He Looks [b]Baghead[/b], an audience favorite and critical hit at this year’s Sundance and South by Southwest film festivals, is the second film from writing/directing/producing brothers, Jay and Mark Duplass. Their first film, [b]The Puffy Chair[/b], a so-called “mumblecore” effort (i.e. a twenty-something character-driven indie comedy/drama, heavy on non-action and natural speech patterns), was also a hit on the festival circuit. For [b]Baghead[/b], the Duplass Brothers decided to combine their mumblecore roots with the horror genre, to surprisingly positive results.More |  | A Mummy Movie Without Mummies [b]The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,[/b] the third, and hopefully the last, film in the [b]Mummy[/b] franchise that began nine years ago is, like its predecessor, a theme park ride masquerading as a film. Directed by Rob Cohen ([b]Stealth[/b], [b]The Fast and the Furious[/b], [b]xXx[/b], [b]The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor[/b] is, sadly, the worst kind of summer blockbuster: empty, meaningless, shallow, and, ultimately, forgettable. Oh, and there are no actual mummies involved -- just a warrior-king, a Terra Cotta Army, and an undead army.More |  | Lush Period Melodrama The second adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's classic 1945 novel, [b]Brideshead Revisited[/b] is a sumptuous, beautifully shot, capably directed, impeccably acted period drama that explores the conflict between love and religion and sexual orientation. Adapted by Jeremy Brock and Andrew Davies and directed by Julian Jarrold ([b]Becoming Jane[/b], [b]Kinky Boots[/b], [b]White Teeth[/b]), [b]Brideshead Revisited[/b] is old school melodrama at its best (or at its worst, depending on your perspective). As such, the film's themes feel out of step with contemporary concerns, but that doesn’t take away its universal appeal.More |  | Jukebox Musical Makes the Jump to the Big Screen Only a curmudgeon would dislike [b]Mamma Mia![/b], the big screen adaptation of the jukebox musical written by Catherine Johnson and directed by British stage veteran Phyllida Lloyd. Structured around an album's worth of greatest hits by 70s pop band, ABBA, [b]Mamma Mia![/b] is a too broad comedy that goes for easy laughs and cheap sentiment almost every chance it gets. That said, the film features some of the catchiest pop tunes ever put on vinyl (whether you want to admit it or not) and Meryl Streep tackling the one last great challenge of her career: singing.More |  | Rebel Without a Beat Box Insightful and hilarious in equal measure, [b]The Wackness[/b] is a sure sign that a new, uniquely talented filmmaker, Jonathan Levine, has arrived. [b]The Wackness[/b] is a sweet-natured, coming-of-age-tale involving a teenage drug dealer trying to get by and get with the high-school girl of his dreams, all set against hip hop music (e.g., Method Man, Wu-Tang Clan, Notorious B.I.G.) and New York City, circa 1994.More |  | An Exceptional Coming-of-Age Tale Written and directed by Garth Jennings (one-half of Hammer & Tongs, a music video and commercials directing/producing duo), [b]Son of Rambow[/b] is an imaginative, occasionally daft, ultimately engrossing coming-of-age tale set in England during the 80s. With Gondry-inspired visuals, the best synth-pop tracks of the decade, note-perfect turns by its young cast, and an unfailingly honest, sometimes raw, depiction of teenagers and social cliques, [b]Son of Rambow[/b] is easily one of most refreshingly original films to come along this year (or any year for that matter).More |  | Informative, if Self-Indulgent, Documentary On February 20, 2005, Hunter S. Thompson, the father of “gonzo” journalism, took his own life at his “fortified compound” in Woody Creek, Colorado. He was 67. His death brought into sharp relief his despair with American politics (e.g., the invasion and occupation of Iraq by the Bush administration). As a charismatic, contradictory larger-than-life figure, Thompson has been the subject of numerous documentaries over the years.More |
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