Dear KERA-FM, Are you trying to break my heart? I thought we had something good going here. I listen to you daily, I pledge when drive time comes around, and I laud you in public, telling every person I know (and even those I don’t) about all of the new…
Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds, opens nationwide this Friday. Two days ago, however, the film was screened for press in New York and L.A. and the buzz has been, well, less than friendly. Yesterday, Drew McWeeny from HitFix posted his review, calling the film “awkward, uneven,” and saying it “packs…
It’s 10 minutes before a human character appears on-screen in Green Lantern, a personality-free franchise-launcher that builds toward a quaint, if explosive, argument in favor of the nebulous quality of “humanity.” Via a heavily CGI’d prologue, we learn the universe is patrolled by a group of fearless, multispecies warriors called…
The path of post-superstardom is a treacherous one for big-screen comedians, paved as it is with second-rate opportunities for dramedy schmaltz (See: Robin Williams in Patch Adams), wretched remakes (Steve Martin’s Pink Panther retreads) and talking-animal kiddie crap (Eddie Murphy’s Dr. Doolittle do-overs). Mr. Popper’s Penguins finds Jim Carrey choosing…
The otaku flooded downtown Saturday on their annual migration. From far and wide they came, like salmon in spawning season, to home: A-Kon. It was the 22nd year for North America’s largest anime convention this past weekend, and like almost every year since it began, it was bigger than the…
Yeah, OK. Now I’ve seen Bill Cunningham New York, too. And yeah, it’s cool, passionate and compassionate. Anyone who can’t find something to love about the movie and the man is a bad person. A very bad person. Bill Cunningham is a cool guy. Charming. He’s certainly passionate about his…
If you spend any time in Twitterville, you’ve probably read puh-lenty on Bill Cunningham New York, the documentary about a beloved New York Times photographer who captures people going stylishly about their business for “On the Street with Bill Cunningham.” The movie opened in March and now everyone who has…
Amblin Entertainment. It’s the production company founded in 1981 by Steven Spielberg. You have, without any doubt in my mind, seen an Amblin film at some point in your life. The best Amblin films were the ones that took you away from everyday troubles and made you believe in something…
A big-bang demolition derby, J.J. Abrams’ Super 8 seems bound for box-office glory. Opening three weeks before the Fourth of July, this Steven Spielberg-produced, kid-centric 21st-century disaster flick could well hang in at theaters till the 10th anniversary of 9/11—an event that haunts Abrams’ surefire blockbuster nearly as much as…
(Editor’s note: We mistakenly ran a full review of Beginners in last week’s issue, though the film opens this Friday at the Magnolia. To read the complete review, visit www.dallasobserver.com.) Playing an emotionally asphyxiated illustrator whose cancer-stricken dad comes out of the closet at age 75, Ewan McGregor looks positively…
The finest Western you’ll see this year, The Princess of Montpensier is set in aristocratic 16th-century France, in the heat of Counter Reformation. Mélanie Thierry’s father barters her for the titular title, marrying her off to Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet’s shy, pained prince—instead of her heart’s first choice, Gaspard Ulliel’s Duke de…
Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts), a rampant 15-year-old only child, has two presiding preoccupations, detailed in rapid voiceover throughout Submarine: a broody classmate, Jordana (Yasmin Paige), and the flatlined sex life of his parents (show-stealers Noah Taylor and Sally Hawkins), brought to crisis by the arrival of mom’s glam-guru old flame…
Lord Naritsugu (Gorô Inagaki) is a royal terror, and the court fears Caligula-like horrors should he come into his royal succession. Samurai Shinzaemon Shimada (Koji Yakusho) is secretly recruited to preclude this possibility with his sword, leading the title’s dirty baker’s dozen on a hit-job quest. Set in 1844, in…
Cinematographer Tat Radcliffe’s gray Turin sets the monotone of The Double Hour, while director Giuseppe Capotondi softens promising material to mush for the refined digestion of sophisto audiences. Guido (Filippo Timi, Vincere’s Mussolini), a retired policeman turned security guard, is a habitué of speed-dating events, where he meets Sonia (Ksenia…
Since most of your favorite shows have already aired season finales, you’ll probably be spending your weeknights going through your Netflix queue, but why sit at home when you can enjoy free screenings of films in the Arts District? AT&T Performing Arts Center and Dallas Film Society are kicking off…
A short film by two Texans that’s played on the festival circuit from San Francisco to Sarasota, including South by Southwest and Dallas International Film Festival, is a finalist for Oscar’s little brother, the Student Academy Awards. Fatakra (Firecracker in Gujarati), the brainchild of writer/director Soham Mehta and producer Ninaad…
Nancy Kwan was hot. She’s in her 70s now and still very beautiful, but when she started her film career at 20 years old, playing a prostitute in The World Of Suzy Wong, her hotness positively sizzled off the screen. Same thing in her next movie, the Flower Drum Song,…
One of my favorite things about seeing a film on its first weekend of release is the trailers that play before it. I normally try my best to avoid trailers at all cost because I hate seeing too much — I want the full surprise. When I see a film…
(PPT won the theme song contest for the 2006 Playoffs, and it’s still awesome.) More Mavs talk on the Mixmaster? Yes, but we’re not here to talk about statistics or match-up breakdowns or any of that mumbo-jumbo. We’re here to take a look at some of the finest Dallas Mavericks…
If you grew up dreaming of partnering up with The Duke for shootouts in the Old West or battles in Japan, you’ll probably want to rethink what you’re going to do with your 401(k) fund. After John Wayne passed away in 1979, his family donated much of his film memorabilia…
A nebbishy screenwriter who longs to publish a novel, Gil (Owen Wilson) is tentatively working on a book set in a nostalgia shop—much to the open frustration of Inez (Rachel McAdams), his all-too-modern rich-girl fiancée, who has a tendency to talk about him in catty, judgey tones as if he’s…
Playing an emotionally asphyxiated illustrator whose cancer-stricken dad comes out of the closet at age 75, Ewan McGregor looks positively yummy in Beginners, a gay-is-OK dramedy from the distributor that brought us The Kids Are All Right. In fact, this semi-autobiographical movie by SoCal skater-boy-turned-graphic-designer-and-filmmaker Mike Mills has no shortage…
