12 Sep 2007

Moral Minority: "3:10 to Yuma" and "The Brothers Solomon"

By Mike Schulz

Christian Bale in 3:10 to Yuma3:10 TO YUMA

James Mangold's dramatic Western 3:10 to Yuma, the remake of a Glenn Ford oater from a half-century ago, is a tough, effective, frequently powerful piece of work. Yet despite its authentic period design and supremely intelligent performances, it feels a little lightweight; a few hours after seeing it, you may not remember much about the experience except having had a good time. Especially considering Hollywood output of late, 3:10 to Yuma is hardly a disappointment, but for all of its thematic richness, the movie is rather generic - it's a modern-day action blockbuster in Old West attire. The film is everything except moving, and I have a sneaking suspicion that Mangold desperately wants it to be.

12 Sep 2007

Make 'Em Laugh: "Shoot 'Em Up"

By Mike Schulz

Paul Giamatti and Clive Owen in Shoot 'Em UpSHOOT 'EM UP

Frequently unpleasant and almost pathologically violent, Michael Davis' action thriller Shoot 'Em Up is a joke, and the film's biggest detriment is that is takes too long for it to be an intentional one.

05 Sep 2007

Rotted Pumpkin: "Halloween" and "Balls of Fury"

By Mike Schulz

Tyler Mane in HalloweenHALLOWEEN

On the list of 1970s horror films that absolutely, positively did not demand a remake, John Carpenter's spare, suggestive, and deeply frightening Halloween would have to place right near the top. If, however, a 21st Century revamp was inevitable (and, Hollywood being Hollywood, it was), I would have thought Rob Zombie the ideal choice for the task, as the director's House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects were relentless, darkly funny, and unapologetically nasty entertainments with a low-rent style that captured the spirit of '70s exploitation terror to perfection. Who better suited to bring Michael Myers back to life?

Having seen Zombie's offering, I'm thinking the answer might be: just about anyone else.

05 Sep 2007

Dog Days: "The Nanny Diaries," "Resurrecting the Champ," "September Dawn," and "Mr. Bean's Holiday"

By Mike Schulz

Scarlett Johansson and Laura Linney in The Nanny DiariesTHE NANNY DIARIES

There are two wholly different films at war in Shari Springer Berman's and Robert Pulcini's The Nanny Diaries, and unfortunately, the wrong one wins.

22 Aug 2007

The Kids Are Alright: "Superbad" and "The Invasion"

By Mike Schulz

Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jonah Hill, and Michael Cera in SuperbadSUPERBAD

Superbad, the wildly hilarious, subtly moving, and only-a-little-disappointing comedy about two youths hell-bent on securing booze for (and getting laid at) a high school party, is directed by Greg Mottola, but it's impossible to miss the imprint of its producer, Judd Apatow.

15 Aug 2007

Austentation: "Becoming Jane" and "Rush Hour 3"

By Mike Schulz

Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy in Becoming JaneBECOMING JANE

I have friends, most of them equipped with a Y chromosome, who wouldn't be caught dead at an 18th century British period film studded with corsets and bucolic splendor and one of those "That man is so insolent and frustrating I must be in love with him!" storylines.

08 Aug 2007

Heroes Aren't Made; They're Bourne: "The Bourne Ultimatum"

By Mike Schulz

Matt Damon in The Bourne UltimatumTHE BOURNE ULTIMATUM

There's a lot of plot in The Bourne Ultimatum - all manner of clandestine meetings and hidden motivations and governmental conspiracies - but the story can be neatly summed up by the titular fugitive himself: "Someone started all this," Bourne tells the brother of his murdered lover, "and I'm gonna find him." Nothing else is really germane here, and the exhilaration of this third entry in the spy-thriller franchise is that, with as visceral a filmmaker as Paul Greengrass at the helm, nothing else needs to be.

08 Aug 2007

Prime Suspects: "Villisca: Living with a Mystery," August 10 at the Englert Theatre

By Mike Schulz

Villisca: Living with a MysteryVILLISCA: LIVING WITH A MYSTERY

Just over a year ago, I was sent a DVD screener from area filmmakers Kelly and Tammy Rundle (of the Moline-based Fourth Wall Films) for their feature-length documentary Villisca: Living with a Mystery. I found it to be a beautifully researched and effectively unsettling true-crime thriller, but unfortunately, there never seemed an appropriate time to tell anyone that; since receiving the DVD, the nearest the movie ever came to our area was during a one-night engagement in Cedar Rapids, and so I held off on writing about the film until it made its way closer to the Quad Cities.

01 Aug 2007

Praise Jeebus!: "The Simpsons Movie"

By Mike Schulz

The Simpsons MovieTHE SIMPSONS MOVIE

The Simpsons Movie is perfect, by which I mean it's like a really good, really long episode of the show.

01 Aug 2007

Just Her Luck: "I Know Who Killed Me"

By Mike Schulz

Lindsay Lohan in I Know Who Killed MeI KNOW WHO KILLED ME

Lindsay Lohan's latest movie, I Know Who Killed Me, is for those who saw the actress' recent mug shot and were praying that Hollywood would adapt it for the big screen. (The photograph in question, as nearly everyone now knows, was taken after Lohan's arrest for alleged drunk driving and cocaine possession.)

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