06 Jan 2004

Film Festival Showcases Wide Range of Hispanic Movies

By Administrator
Like all good film festivals, one joy of the 10th Annual Hispanic Film Festival at Augustana College will be discovering a wonderful movie you haven't heard much (or anything) about. It also doubles as a sampler of world cinema, showing the breadth and quality of Hispanic movies, which rarely penetrate the American market but can nonetheless be fascinating as cultural studies and breathtaking examples of filmmaking outside of the dominating American studio system.
06 Jan 2004

"Cold Mountain" Is a Cold Fish: Also, "Pieces of April" and "Stuck on You"

By Mike Schulz

Jude Law in Cold MountainCOLD MOUNTAIN

Though the story of two separated lovers braving incredible hardships to eventually reunite is a common one in war-themed movies, I don't think I've ever been less moved by it than in Anthony Minghella's Cold Mountain, an adaptation of Charles Frazier's much-adored Civil War novel.

23 Dec 2003

2003 in Movies

By Mike Schulz

Among the year's seemingly endless spate of business-as-usual Hollywood product, with the remakes and sequels and - in the case of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines - a de facto remake of a sequel, I saw exactly one work in 2003 that, with absolutely no qualms, I would call a masterpiece, and it made its debut on HBO. (It was that kind of year.)

16 Dec 2003

"Something" Gives Audiences One of the Year's Most Entertaining Movies: "Something's Gotta Give," "Honey," and "Thirteen"

By Mike Schulz

Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson in Something's Gotta GiveSOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE

In Something's Gotta Give, a sixtysomething womanizer, currently dating a twentysomething auctioneer (!), finds himself, for the first time ever, falling in love with a woman roughly his age, and - wouldn't ya know it? - it's his girlfriend's mother! Has there ever been so High a Concept? A forced, jokey premise like this is usually enough to make me hide under my theater seat; it's a situation so nakedly designed to provide good-natured chuckles and muffled sobs that a hardened cynic like me walks into the movie with all defenses immediately up.

09 Dec 2003

"The Last Samurai" Derivative, Dull: Also, "Timeline," "The Haunted Mansion," and "The Missing"

By Mike Schulz

Tom Cruise in The Last SamuraiTHE LAST SAMURAI

Occasionally, all it takes is sharp cinematography to get critics all woozy. How else to explain the positive notices for Edward Zwick's The Last Samurai, a period epic so unexceptional and derivative it might as well have been called Dances with Wolves Meets Braveheart? (Barkeep! Oscars for all!)

02 Dec 2003

"Bad Santa" a Salty Holiday Treat: Also, "Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat" and "Gothika"

By Mike Schulz

Billy Bob Thornton and Lauren Graham in Bad SantaBAD SANTA

You might find yourself fearing the worst in the opening reel of Terry Zwigoff's Bad Santa.

25 Nov 2003

Fall Leftovers Full of Turkeys: "Looney Tunes: Back in Action," "Dirty Pretty Things," "Tupac Resurrection," and "Brother Bear"

By Mike Schulz

Brendan Fraser, Jenna Elfman, Steve Martin, Bugs, and Daffy in Looney Tunes: Back in ActionAlthough I'm sure some of you are wondering if Dr. Suess' The Cat in the Hat is as thoroughly obnoxious as its trailers indicate, I'll begin assessing the major holiday releases next week. Until then, here's a look at the pre-Thanksgiving leftovers ... .

18 Nov 2003

"Love Actually" Is a Glorious Mess: Also, "Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World"

By Mike Schulz

Emma Thompson in Love ActuallyLOVE ACTUALLY

If you are to believe the (mostly) glowing responses to Love Actually, writer-director Richard Curtis has compressed material for a half-dozen romantic comedies into one, creating, in the words of one reviewer, "an epic romantic comedy." But that's not exactly accurate. For his first directorial outing, Curtis - the clever, funny screenwriter of Four Weddings & A Funeral and Notting Hill - has apparently decided to take every idea he's ever had, every last one, and blend them into a frothy, holiday-themed confection; it's less an epic romantic comedy than a romantic comedy shaped as an epic (which isn't the same).

11 Nov 2003

"The Matrix Revolutions" Emerges as the Best of the Matrix Series: Also, "Elf" and "American Splendor"

By Mike Schulz

Keanu Reeves and Hugo Weaving in The Matrix RevolutionsTHE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS

The Matrix was, for me, mostly hooey, and this summer's The Matrix Reloaded seemed, at best, visually resplendent nonsense, so imagine my surprise when I attended The Matrix Revolutions and found myself really enjoying it.

04 Nov 2003

Campion's Latest Doesn't Work, but It's Hard to Shake: "In the Cut," "Beyond Borders," and "Buffalo Soldiers"

By Mike Schulz

Meg Ryan and Mark Ruffalo in In the CutIN THE CUT

Jane Campion's erotic thriller In the Cut is, for the most part, an unholy mess, but as messes go, it's certainly one of 2003's more intriguing ones.

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