Like Oliver Stone's Alexander, Scorsese's three-hour biopic of the late eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes is the tale of a prickly visionary whose own obsessions brought about his downfall. But unlike Alexander, The Aviator is engrossing, self-assured, well acted, and not a big pile of crap. (Wm. Steven Humphrey)
Beyond the Sea See review this issue.
Bj-rk: The Inner or Deep Part of an Animal or Plant Structure & David Bowie's The Man Who Fell To Earth
Inner or Deep follows Bj-rk's making of her album Medúlla, while Man Who Fell is a sci-fi flick featuring David Bowie as an alien. Awesome.
* Blade Runner
Ridley Scott's dark and moody interpretation of Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Pretty much a classic, and one of the best sci-fi films ever made. Ever!
BMX Video: Terrible One
A screening of the new Terrible One video, You Get What You Get. Proceeds go to help get BMX bikes allowed in the future Pier Park skatepark in St. Johns.
Borderline
Undercover cops cross paths, double cross, and cast sinister glances in Mexico.
* Closer
Closer's incestuously twisting, darkly fascinating narrative is rooted in the psychosexual drives of its characters, and it's all topped off with enough sadistic mindfucks and inevitable despair to satisfy even the staunchest emotional masochist. (Erik Henriksen)
Darkness
Not screened for critics, this film's press release insists that it's "a chilling tale of mounting psychological and supernatural terror." Scary... right? Right?
* End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones
Evenly tracing the feats and pratfalls of the Ramones' entire career with admirable honesty, End of the Century relies upon narrowly captured insights of the original foursome--miraculously filmed just prior to the untimely domino deaths of Joey, Dee Dee, and Johnny over the last four years. (Zac Pennington)
Fat Albert
Fabbuh Albuhbuh isbuh abuh fubuhnny, sweebuht stobuhry forbuh kibuhds whobuh likebuh carbuhtoons. Anbuhone buhver buh agebuh uhbuh threebuh maybuh wantbuh tobuh buhbringbuh abuhlongbuh abuh shapbuhned obuhject cabuhpabuh uhbuh carrbuhing oubuht uhbuh selfbuh-inbuhflicbuhted frontbuhal-lobuhbotobuhmy. (Mushmouth)
Finding Neverland
Finding Neverland is a pretty decent film. It's not bad at what it attempts; it's just that its heavy-handed attempts to be Oscar worthy are so transparent that they prevent the film from ever becoming an entity in and of itself. (Erik Henriksen)
Flight of the Phoenix
Can a disparate group of plane crash survivors learn to work together and make their former plane rise from the desert sands like the mythical Egyptian bird from whence it takes its name? If you can't figure out the answer, then I have another question for you: Are you retarded? (Wm. Steven Humphrey)
* House of Flying Daggers
The film's exhaustingly, insecurely histrionic, but Flying Daggers ends up being best at what it seems most self-conscious about being: a slam-bang kung fu movie. (Erik Henriksen)
Incident at Loch Ness
A mock documentary about the making of a fictional documentary gone awry. The film is cleverly constructed--though it's not nearly as quick and witty as it stuffily fancies itself to be. (Marjorie Skinner)
Inside Iraq: The Untold Stories See review this issue.
Kinsey
Kinsey convincingly argues that its subject's unflinchingly technical attitude towards sex helped liberate the American people in a time of intense prudishness. Good point, but what's missing is any exploration of why Kinsey is the way he is. (Justin Sanders)
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
To adapt a series of children's books like this--dry, dark, witty--to the screen, everything has to be firing on all cylinders. It isn't. (Wm. Steven Humphrey)
* The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
I liked The Life Aquatic the most out of anything else I've seen this year--and maybe even more than that. Take that for what you will. (Erik Henriksen)
Meet the Fockers
It's always a little depressing when a great cast is assembled around a piece of shit, and Fockers is no exception. While this isn't the worst movie ever, it definitely pales in comparison to its predecessor, feeling like something thrown together to cash in on both family holiday movie-going and its predecessor's surprising popularity. (Michael Svoboda)
Phantom of the Opera
Helmed by the Queer Eye of Cinema himself, Joel Schumacher, The Phantom of the Opera is best described as a cheesed-out '80s synth-pop air-guitar gothic romance novel mess of a movie--and if that's not hideous enough, it ends up feeling more like a musical version of Schumacher's abysmally rotten Batman & Robin. (Michael Svoboda)
* Shaun of the Dead
A sharp, clever, and gory horror-comedy that manages to be as scary as it is hilarious, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's Shaun of the Dead shows all the marks of becoming a classic (and yeah, I know that sounds clichéd--but in this case, it's actually true). (Erik Henriksen)
Sholay
1975's Bollywood classic, paired up with Holocene's Atlas club night.
Sideways
Paul Giamatti plays Miles, a would-be writer who accompanies his best friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church) on a weeklong trip through California's wine country for a final bachelor's hurrah before Jack's upcoming wedding. While the week begins idyllically enough, glaring character flaws are soon revealed--wine connoisseur Miles' pedantic ranting about pinot gris hardly conceals his deep dissatisfaction with life, and Jack is an immature man-child determined to get laid one last time before tying the knot. While Sideways is enjoyable, it's ultimately unsatisfying--we watch as Miles and Jack are stripped of all their illusions, but we never find out what they're replaced with. (Alison Hallett) Century 16 Cedar Hills Crossing, City Center 12, Fox Tower 10, Lloyd Cinemas,
* Spanglish
A slow-paced, meandering slice-of-life drama about a family in turmoil. While the film really isn't all that profound, enjoyment can be found in its subtleties. (Katie Shimer)
That Obscure Object of Desire See review this issue.
* Three Stooges Marathon See My, What A Busy Week! page 13.
Too Late For Tears
When some stolen money unexpectedly ends up in their hands, upstanding citizens Jane and Alan Palmer (Lizabeth Scott and Arthur Kennedy) decide to hold onto it instead of going to the police. But then an asskicker shows up lookin' for the dough (Dan Duryea).
* Touch of Evil
Orson Welles' last film for Hollywood is a look at the dirty dealings in a sleazy Mexican border town that makes the low-lifes in L.A. Confidential look positively sweet in comparison. (Gillian G. Gaar)
* Tron
A frenzy of stylized electro-fun starring none other than Jeff Bridges. Witness this new 35mm print, then witness the bewildering insanity of www.tronguy.net.
* Vera Drake
With women in a frenzy over the GOP's implied threat to yank our reproductive rights from under us, it's as good a time as any to revisit the wholesome, family value driven days of illegal abortions, yeah? (Marjorie Skinner)
A Very Long Engagement
Directed by Amélie's Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Amélie's Audrey Tautou, which is pretty much all you need to know. (Erik Henriksen)
* White Christmas
Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney whoop it up for charity at a failing Vermont inn.
