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A camcorder records the dimly lit opening scene: mutilated bodies of torture victims are strung up on a basement wall, their heads laying feet below in pools of blood. A feeling of unease settles over the audience and stays there throughout the next two hours of “Savages.” Frequent scenes of
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It’s been 10 years since Tobey Maguire donned the red and blue spandex and battled the Green Goblin in Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man.” Including the two sequels, Raimi and company held a five-year grip on the franchise, weaving various strands of the web crawler’s intricate story arcs. After becoming familiar with
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The premise of “Ted” starts out simply enough. The loneliest boy in the neighborhood receives an endearingly cute stuffed creature for Christmas, wishes upon a star and finds his teddy bear has come to life. After the initial shock and 10 minutes of TV fame, the bear fits with surprising
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Men, women and children parade through the streets of a swampy neighborhood, and homemade alcoholic beverages are consumed in unmarked bottles, the children burn Roman candles as they run. This community is called the Bathtub, and life is different here. First-time director Benh Zeitlin creates an expressive and signature film
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A chance encounter leads to a quick marriage, an ordinary man is followed around the city by a pack of paparazzi and there’s a young guy trying to justify his impending act of infidelity. The word “pseudo-intellectual” makes an appearance at some point as does an old Jewish New Yorker
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At first sight, previews for “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” spurred the only thought that could overshadow the blatant absurdity of its title: “Do we really need more vampire movies?” The answer to that question, of course, is no. Interestingly enough this film succeeds in not only separating itself from much of today’s vampire rage.
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With a plot that could be lifted from any Disney film, Pixar’s “Brave” although beautifully filmed and animated, lacks the depth and nuance that had graced other Pixar films. Even aside from the borrowed storyline, “Brave” is as close to a typical Disney film as Pixar has been.
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“Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” doesn’t stop to find out whether we’ve had our fill. The feature shouts “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!” and plunges headfirst into showing us the inhabitants of a few towns — if the world is ending for everyone, our self-absorption certainly isn’t aware of it — running around like Chicken Littles with their heads cut off.
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The only thing that was well executed in the new film “That’s My Boy” was casting Andy Samberg as Adam Sandler’s son. The pair’s uncanny resemblance proved to keep me interested for a good short while, but eventually something else of worth would have to arise to warrant the film’s existence.
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LGBT films have been a subgenre of film for far too long. For years, they’ve existed underground, almost like foreign films, as relics of an outside culture. With San Francisco’s Frameline film festival, these voices can finally find an audience. An Internet celebrity, an Iranian transgender and a drug-addicted lawyer
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