If you want to make an impression, it helps to have a prophet on your side. Jeffrey Katzenberg, the former Disney production chief who co-founded the DreamWorks studio with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, wanted to prove that he could make animated films surpassing those of Disney in their technical prowess and artistic ambition. Spielberg suggested that he produce an animated remake of The Ten Commandments. (more…) Read more
Feature-length animation is enjoying a renaissance. From Mulan and A Bug’s Life to Antz and Rugrats, animated movies have succeeded where more highly touted live-action features have failed. But audiences ain’t seen nothing yet: the most ambitious challenger to Disney’s throne is just around the corner, and it is, of all things, a rather grown-up cartoon about the life of Moses. (more…) Read more
Go to the ant, thou moviegoer; consider its ways and be wise. This famous proverb works on the assumption that all ants act and work alike. But what if the ant we considered was a nonconformist, a social misfit who didnt feel like he or she belonged in proper ant society? Two recent feature-length computer-animated films explore this scenario. Antz, still going strong after almost two months in theatres, follows the misadventures of Z-4195, an ant who frets that he... Read more
Historical films, at their best, can bring the past alive and transport their audiences back to a time when the world was brimming with possibilities. At their worst, they can make the past seem like a stodgy pageant of vaguely connected costume changes. Elizabeth, the new film about the consolidation of political and religious power under Queen Elizabeth I, falls mostly into the former category, but it packs so many issues — not to mention 16 years of tightly-woven history... Read more
The movie Pleasantville has a top-notch cast and makes inspired use of digital effects. The story also has the potential to be a profound allegory about grace and redemption. In other words, the film could have been great. But it isn’t. Instead, it celebrates reckless sexuality while delivering a rant against moral conservatism. (more…) Read more
Of all the Saturday Night Live characters that have made it to the big screen, the Butabi brothers must have seemed the most unlikely. In a typical sketch, the brothers hop from one nightclub to another, bopping their heads to dance-club hits and trying, usually unsuccessfully, to pick up a babe or two. There’s no dialogue, no story, no character details beyond the fact that they like to go clubbing. In fact, until A Night at the Roxbury brought these... Read more
It doesn’t take a lot of money to make a good movie, just a good dose of moxie. For proof, look no further than Darren Aronofsky’s brilliant first feature film π, which he shot for a paltry U.S. $60,000, a sum he raised by asking everyone he knew to give him a hundred dollars. The film was an out-of-nowhere success at the Sundance Film Festival last January. Aronofsky won the best director prize and a distributor snapped up the film... Read more
Darren Aronofsky shot his brilliant debut feature film Pi for a paltry U.S. $60,000, a sum he raised partly by asking everyone he knew to give him $100 in exchange for a place in the film’s credits. The film concerns a brainy mathematician named Max who is convinced that there is a pattern — perhaps of divine origin — underlying the apparently chaotic universe. Wall Street brokers and Kabbalistic Jews agree, and they want to use the secrets locked inside... Read more
John Murdoch has a problem. He just woke up in an old, decrepit hotel suite — the sort where the shadows seem to be painted on the walls — to find blood on his forehead and a murdered prostitute beside his bed. The police are on their way, and a mysterious group of bald men, raspy-voiced and pale as ghosts, are after him too. Even worse, Murdoch has no memories; he only knows his name from the ID in his... Read more
SO MUCH hype has been built up around The Truman Show, the latest Jim Carrey vehicle to toy with serious themes, one is tempted to scream that the emperor has no clothes. Entertainment Weekly even deemed the film “the year’s best movie” some seven months before New Year’s Eve. Well, fortunately, the emperor is decently attired after all, but his splendor has been somewhat overrated. (more…) Read more
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