Archive for May, 2010
Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Robin Hood
The Robin Hood legends give filmmakers a lot to shoot, but Ridley Scott is a rusty marksman. It’s an attempt to put a new spin on the myth: Robin Hood is a prequel to the glory days in the Sherwood Forest. But what’s the point of taking off from common knowledge if you’re going to [...]
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Thursday, May 13th, 2010
Iron Man 2
Iron Man 2 isn’t your daddy’s superhero movie. It’s your granddaddy’s. The steady torrent of wisecracks on the screen is indebted to the ’30s screwball comedies that accelerated newly audible dialogue to supersonic speed; and in this high-grade hybrid the screws are actual screws, and the balls energy-based projectiles launched from our hero’s metallic palm. [...]
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Thursday, May 6th, 2010
Ajami
An elderly woman recently told me that when she saw The Silence of the Lambs, back in 1991, she couldn’t follow the plot. What would she think of Ajami? This Israeli import seems to have been well-intended, and the international film-festival circuit tends to laud the good intentions of those whose cameras examine the streets [...]
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Sunday, May 2nd, 2010
A Nightmare on Elm Street
There’s no dishonor in trying to improve upon Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street; cloning it is another matter. It’s a form of ablation—using Freddy Krueger’s claws as surgical tools. The innards from the 1984 original have been removed, and placed, intact, in the gloomy frames that are meant to signify the present. The [...]