13 Feb 2008

Iowa Meets Sundance: "Sugar" at Sundance Film Fest Provides a Sweet Experience to an Iowa Quartet

By Ann K. Nicknish

Sugar The Sundance Institute has spent two decades building what is widely recognized as the world's premier showcase for American and international independent films. The Utah film festival - with more than 50,000 attendees - converges on the ski town of Park City each January.

13 Feb 2008

Suffering "Fool's" Not-So-Gladly: "Fool's Gold" and "Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights - From Hollywood to the Heartland"

By Mike Schulz

Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey in Fool's GoldFOOL'S GOLD

At one point during Fool's Gold's opening sequence, Matthew McConaughey's fortune-hunting hero is seen slo-o-owly hopping along the ocean floor, and for the next 110 minutes, the whole movie seems to be moving at the exact same speed. I understand that director Andy Tennant's (supposed) comic adventure isn't meant to be anything more than a featherweight romantic diversion - an excuse to watch the perfectly tanned McConaughey and Kate Hudson swap barbs while being photographed against intoxicatingly pretty Key West locales - and many in the audience appear content to accept it as such. But, good God, aren't these viewers at all bothered by how mind-numbingly lethargic the pacing is?

06 Feb 2008

Mine Eyes Have Seen the Gory: "The Eye," "Over Her Dead Body," and "Strange Wilderness"

By Mike Schulz

Jessica Alba and Parker Posey in The EyeTHE EYE

You know the expression "It's the little things in life"? Well, it's the little things in B-grade American remakes of Asian horror flicks, too, which is why I can't dislike The Eye as much as I probably should.

30 Jan 2008

Snake, Oil Salesman: "There Will Be Blood" and "U2 3D"

By Mike Schulz

Dillon Freasier and Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be BloodTHERE WILL BE BLOOD

As much as I adored Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood - and I adored nearly every second of its 150-minute running length - it's the type of movie that I hate composing a review for, because no matter what I write, I know it won't come close to doing the achievement justice.

30 Jan 2008

It Coulda Been Worse: "Rambo" and "Meet the Spartans"

By Mike Schulz

Sylvester Stallone in RamboRAMBO and MEET THE SPARTANS

In recent articles, I've mentioned how thoroughly I'd been looking forward to There Will Be Blood, and some might wonder whether my anticipation had me predestined to love the film, regardless of what was actually on-screen. I'd like to think not, but it's hard to deny that expectations do play an enormous part in one's enjoyment - or lack thereof - of any movie.

23 Jan 2008

2007 Oscar Nominees: What They Got and Where to Find Them

By Mike Schulz

Best Picture nominee JunoAmerican Gangster (R, on DVD February 19) - Back in November, I made an early prediction that Ridley Scott's underwhelming opus would not only be nominated for but win Best Picture and Director. Man, I'm glad my precognition abilities suck. The only nods tallied were for Best Art Direction and Supporting Actress contender Ruby Dee, making her five minutes the shortest amount of nominated screen time in Oscar history. Dee probably won't win, but she would've taken Best Bitch-Slap in a walk.

 

23 Jan 2008

Leapin' Lizards!: "Cloverfield," "Mad Money," and "27 Dresses"

By Mike Schulz

CloverfieldCLOVERFIELD

If the end of the world - or, at any rate, the end of Manhattan - eventually comes via a pissed-off, skyscraper-sized reptile, and the destruction is captured on video by an empty-headed twentysomething slacker goofus, the results will probably look and sound a lot like Cloverfield.

16 Jan 2008

Death Wishes: "The Bucket List," "The Kite Runner," and "First Sunday"

By Mike Schulz

Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson in The Bucket ListTHE BUCKET LIST

I can't begin to describe how much I was looking forward to making fun of The Bucket List. A Rob Reiner-directed dramedy about two squabbling terminal-cancer patients -Jack Nicholson, cackling and flexing his eyebrows, and Morgan Freeman, providing soothing, pithy bromides and the inevitable voice-over narration - who gradually become friends and live out their final days skydiving and race-car driving and scaling the pyramids ... . Was there any way this wouldn't be a syrupy disaster of epic proportions?

09 Jan 2008

Liar, Liar: "Atonement"

By Mike Schulz

Keira Knightley and James McAvoy in AtonementATONEMENT

It seems that lately, whenever I leave the film version of some well-regarded or beloved novel - be it No Country for Old Men or Gone Baby Gone or one of the Harry Potters - I feel a nagging guilt for not having previously read the books they're based on, and I'd consider remedying that if I wasn't concerned about being subsequently disappointed by the adaptations. (Or, in the case of most of the Potter movies, even more disappointed.) After seeing director Joe Wright's Atonement, though, I was completely annoyed with myself for being unfamiliar with author Ian McEwan's 2001 precursor - I was dying to understand what, when the end credits rolled, inspired a majority of my fellow audience members to applaud.

02 Jan 2008

Knocked Out: 2007's Best (and Worst) Movies

By Mike Schulz

Reader issue #665 Let me set the scene for you:

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