Archive for December, 2009
Thursday, December 31st, 2009
Up in the Air
More than a century has passed since the Wright Brothers first took off from Kitty Hawk, but flying still retains some of its romantic appeal. Nothing represents freedom better than defying gravity, hurtling hundreds of miles per hour across the sky. The vistas turn towns into toys as you drift through those polymorphous clouds. Life […]
2 Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by elliott
Thursday, December 24th, 2009
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Some people have the worst luck. Others are invented to have the worst luck. Such is the genesis of the title character in Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. From that title alone, you know how importantly bad her luck is; the title needs a colonic. Produced under the aegis of Oprah Winfrey […]
2 Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by elliott
Thursday, December 17th, 2009
Invictus
Some things in life are inevitable. Morgan Freeman playing Nelson Mandela has finally come to fruition. In Invictus, the newly elected president of South Africa faces a country wriggling out from under apartheid. Rather than disbanding the Springbok—the nation’s piddling rugby team, which has traditionally been championed by the whites and the bane of the […]
3 Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by elliott
Thursday, December 10th, 2009
Brothers
It’s abundantly possible to make a good movie with much compassion and little creativity. Brothers is such a case. As the film opens, Marine Captain Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) is about to embark on his second tour of duty in Afghanistan; his younger brother Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) is just getting out of the slammer. The […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Uncategorized by elliott
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
Ninja Assassin
In its first few minutes, Ninja Assassin has some of the most creative dismemberments that you’re likely to have seen; and then, disappointingly, the satirical blade goes dull. In fact, it takes a considerable amount of time before another weapon is unsheathed, and you start to wonder why the hell we’re in Berlin—or why the […]