You could sit and read dozens of “Year’s Best” lists in the next few weeks, or you could just skip all of that and pencil this date onto your calendar: January 9th, 2005. I’ll be at GreenLake Presbyterian Church in Seattle to talk to anyone that cares to listen about what the films of 2004 say to us about ourselves, our culture, where we’re hurting, what we’re hoping for, and what we value. I’ll talk about what was worth seeing, what... Read more
The first group of critics have delivered their film awards for 2004. (The National Board of Review members aren’t exactly critics.) New York Online Film Critics Awards PICTURE Sideways DIRECTOR Martin Scorsese (The Aviator) ACTOR Jamie Foxx ACTRESS Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake) SUPPORT ACTOR Thomas Haden Church (Sideways) SUPPORT ACTRESS Laura Linney (Kinsey) (tie) Cate Blanchett (The Aviator) (tie) SCREENPLAY Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Charlie Kaufman) FOREIGN LANGUAGE The Motorcycle Diaries DOCUMENTARY Broadway: The Golden Age (tie) Supersize Me... Read more
It’s hard to come away from Ocean’s Eleven and Ocean’s Twelve without a bad taste in your mouth. After all, it appears that immensely talented individuals have channeled gobs of money into a high-profile project that a) has little or nothing of substance to offer, and b) appears to be packed end to end with famous people who wanted an excuse to celebrate their own popularity and coolness. But then again, both films are thoroughly entertaining, and this new one... Read more
If you missed the 60 Minutes special… (more…) Read more
… Bryan Cox. (At least, that’s what Ain’t It Cool News is reporting.) I’m thrilled. Cox has a big, booming, rough voice. He never wastes one line of dialogue. His voice has so much more character, personality, and complexity than the large-but-dull voices usually employed for characters of commanding authority. I was afraid they’d go for a voice that would be instantly recognizable to the moviegoing public, but Cox is lesser-known than James Earl Jones (who’s already played a Lion... Read more
So, Chris Weitz is withdrawing all references to God and the church from his adaptation of Phillip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. (more…) Read more
While the mainstream press writes off the Kinsey-backlash as merely a sign of paranoia and hysteria from conservatives, those who are paying attention are having quite a chuckle over the facts that the movie ignores. Thanks to Kathy Shaidle’s Relapsed Catholic: “The Rockefeller Foundation eventually shut off its spigot of financing for the Kinsey Institute during the early 1950s, not because this was the McCarthy era and Kinsey’s findings were associated with communism as the movie claims (in fact, Kinsey... Read more
UPDATE 2010: Looking back at my original review for Fight Club, I find my feelings haven’t changed about it… except in one significant way. The conclusion of the film is much, much more disheartening. It portrays a calamity that, at the time of the film’s release, seemed over-the-top and incredibly bleak. Apocalyptic, even. Well, a couple of years after the film came out, we came to know calamity just like that. And so, what was once a sort of absurd... Read more
With amazing performances and some bizarre spectacles, Leos Carax’s The Lovers on the Bridge a paints unforgettable (if not exactly admirable) pictures of wild romance. Plunging us into a the difficult and unpredictable lives of the homeless in Paris, Carax shows us an ugly, cruel world that is full of betrayals. Romantic love and passion are upheld as the best hope for a fulfilling life, and its characters pursue this with a passion, believing it should be attained no matter... Read more
I just returned from L.A., where I had an opportunity to participate in a press conference with writer/director Paul Weitz, asking him questions about one of the most enjoyable mainstream comedies of the year, In Good Company, which stars Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, and Scarlett Johansson. I also had the privilege of tossing a couple of questions at Quaid and Grace. And I had the fantastic, inspiring experience of getting better acquainted with many of my fellow religious-press film critics.... Read more
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