Based on a true story, The Children of Huang Shi has sincerity to spare. What it lacks is vitality. Jonathan Rhys Meyers stars as George Hogg, a journalist who helped rescue a group of Chinese orphans from the Japanese occupation in 1937. Cocky and reckless, Hogg manages to slip into the occupied zone by conning […]
Bradley Steinbacher
Posted inMovies & TV
Feel-Good KO
Into the Ring with Resurrecting the Champ
Blatantly uplifting in intent, Resurrecting the Champ is rescued from bland melodrama oblivion thanks to sharp performances from Samuel L. Jackson and Josh Hartnett. Jackson plays “Champ,” a one-time contender whose post-fighting path ended on the streets of downtown Denver. Long forgotten and assumed dead, Champ—who fought under the name “Battling” Bob Satterfield—is unearthed by […]
Posted inNews
Butts Out
Six Things Portland Should Know Before Banning Smoking
[Editor’s note: Bradley Steinbacher is a writer for Seattle’s The Stranger.] Last November, Washington State overwhelmingly passed Initiative 901 (I-901), which banned smoking from all public spaces—including bars and clubs. Naturally, in the weeks before the vote, expected rhetoric came from both sides. But now that the law has been on the books for close […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Oily Uncertainties
The Ambitious and Somber Syriana
There are a handful of complaints one can level against Syriana. For starters, it’s awfully ambitious; wading deep into the muck of the worldwide oil industry—from the dark complexions manning the fields to the pasty and smug faces reaping the profits—the film occasionally risks collapsing under the weight of its own ambition. It also resists […]
Posted inVideo Games
JFK Reloaded
JFK Reloaded (Traffic) available for download on PC It was my third shot that got him. After gunning down Governor John Connolly and his wife, after littering the limo with holes, after adding some ventilation to Jackie’s forehead, it was my third shot on my fifth attempt that finally killed Kennedy. JFK was dead, and […]
Posted inMovies & TV
A Few Dead Men
Michael Mann Makes a Mediocre Thriller
Collateral dir. Mann Opens Fri Aug 6 Various Theaters In Collateral, Jamie Foxx stars as Max, a cab driver in the hellish sprawl of Los Angeles. Max’s fare is Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith), who flirts with him all the way downtown. She hands him her business card, he promises to call–and then moments after she […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Air Gump
Spielberg Violates Me
The Terminal dir. Spielberg Opens Fri June 18 Various Theaters If an army of critics lines up to heap praise upon Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal (as early internet firings hint that they will), then something has gone terribly wrong in the world. This is easily the worst film of Spielberg’s career, surpassing even blemishes like […]
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Heartbreak Theory
Explore the Pain of Recollection
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind dir. Gondry Opens Fri March 19 Various Theaters The last Michel Gondry/Charlie Kaufman collaboration, Human Nature, eventually crumbled under its own quirkiness (considerably helped along by the staggering blandness of Tim Robbins). But their new film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, finds director and scribe fitting perfectly together. […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Girl, Interrupted
Picture Paints a Thousand Boring Words
Girl With a Pearl Earring dir. Webber Opens Fri Jan 30 Fox Tower Girl With a Pearl Earring is beautifully photographed and splendidly assembled. It is also surprisingly inert–not technically, but emotionally so, and the overall result is akin to watching paint harden on canvas. This, obviously, is not a prime choice, no matter how […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Those Twisted French
Eyes Without a Face Deserves Your Attention
Eyes Without a Face (Les Yeux Sans Visage) dir. Franju Opens Fri Jan 8 Cinema 21 Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face is twisted and freakish and, perhaps most troubling, French. It also may turn out to be one of the most wonderful and disturbing films to be released this year–an odd fact, to be […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Stuck on Crap
The Farrelly Brothers’ Downward Slide
Stuck On You dir. The Farrelly Brothers Opens Fri Dec 12 Various Theaters Let us for a moment ponder the oeuvre of the Farrelly Brothers. I’m serious, take a look. Three titles stand out: Dumb & Dumber, Kingpin, and There’s Something About Mary–three films that just so happen to be the siblings’ first. Dumb & […]
Posted inMovies & TV
The Paris Review
Rick Salomon’s Paris Hilton Sex Tape is a Masterpiece
Paris Hilton Sex Tape dir. Rick Salomon Now playing on the internet Rick Salomon’s new film, Paris Hilton Sex Tape, opens awash in a gloomy green. We are in a Paris hotel room, though the film’s first images–shot, as they are, with nightvision equipment and little more than tight close-ups–offer us very little to confirm […]