Email Author Bill Gallo

2004 Stories by Bill Gallo

• Closer to Fine

  published December 2, 2004

  Mike Nichols' new film Closer is a boiling pot of lust, mistrust and double-dealing that might well be taken for outright soap... More >>

• Redemption Thong

  published November 11, 2004

  The witless inanity of After the Sunset is so numbing that the sole reason for any living creature to sit through it--man, woman or... More >>

• Crooked As They Come

  published September 9, 2004

  The most crucial piece of equipment in Hollywood is obviously not the movie camera. It's not the casting couch. Not even the Rolls-Royce Silver... More >>

• Paddled Senseless

  published August 19, 2004

  Summer movies don't get much sillier or more empty-headed than Without a Paddle, and that includes Catwoman and King... More >>

• Collateral Damaged

  published August 5, 2004

  Sheathed in a custom-tailored gray suit and sporting expensively barbered silver hair, Tom Cruise looks like an older, harder version of the... More >>

• Wet Kisses

  published August 5, 2004

  There is nothing mysterious or subdued about Stacy Peralta's enthusiasms. A product of Southern California's vivid beach scene, he's been a surfer... More >>

• Playing on Fear

  published June 17, 2004

  Getting stranded at snowbound O'Hare for the night is one thing. You call home, maybe knock down a couple of martinis, then grab a blanket. A... More >>

• Pitt and the Pabulum

  published May 13, 2004

  In the mood to launch a thousand ships? Fine, but it's gonna cost you. Feel like sacking the Temple of Apollo? OK, but bring drachmas. Depending... More >>

• Kill Wil

  published April 22, 2004

  Suicide made merry. Brotherly devotion tinged with carnal deceit. Personal tragedy transformed by malicious humor. These are some of the... More >>

• Family Ties

  published April 15, 2004

  In Israeli writer-director Nir Bergman's Broken Wings, we never see an automatic weapon, a military roadblock or a horrific... More >>

• None Like It Lame

  published April 15, 2004

  When we first see the title characters of Connie and Carla, a penny-dreadful imitation of one of Hollywood's most inimitable... More >>

• Hamer Time

  published March 18, 2004

  The appeal of a quirky little Norwegian film called Kitchen Stories arises from the unlikeliest of sources--a series of domestic... More >>

• Bush Comes to Shove

  published March 4, 2004

  At first glance, Hidalgo seems to be nothing more than an old-fashioned, flat-footed adventure epic plunked down on a vast stretch... More >>

• Ropes a Dope

  published February 19, 2004

  It's clear by now that Meg Ryan, the bubbling sweetheart of half a dozen romantic comedies, means to bring new substance and seriousness to the... More >>

• Great Heights

  published February 12, 2004

  Some acts of courage command everyone's respect--the firefighter's return to a burning house to rescue a child, the infantryman's sacrifice of... More >>

• Rage Against the Machine

  published February 5, 2004

  On its surface, Jose Padilha's absorbing documentary Bus 174 shows us how a homeless 21-year-old named Sandro Rosa de Nascimento... More >>

• Elmore or Less

  published January 29, 2004

  Surf's up. Palm trees sway invitingly in the breeze. The sparkling beaches are amply decorated with bikini babes and hard-body surfer dudes.... More >>