Trash, art, and the movies.
A sandstorm of media insanity has preceded this movie like an army of Oprah devotees marching into the streets to beat you in the head until you buy the self-professed prophet’s most treasured book of the month, week, hour or minute… I have not read the book, but I will make no comparisons to it in my evaluation of the movie. On its own merits…
Chuyia (Sarala), not even ten years old, was to be married but her father informs her, coldly, “Your husband is dead. You are a widow now.” Chuyia, clearly at this age not even yet aware of the finiteness of life, asks, “For how long father?” According to at least some interpretations of the Laws of Manu, ancient Hindu scriptures, widows are forbidden to remarry. So, Chuyia is to…
The story seems like a “Freaky Friday” rehash. Ashley, a public relations agent working for Peggy Braden (Missi Pyle), scores an opportunity to put together a PR event for record executive Damon Phillips (Faizon Love). Jake is an aspiring producer doing sound for a British rock group, McFly. Somewhere along this dreadfully languid plot the twain shall meet. Of course this occurs at
The movie begins with a tired shot: The camera sweeps past the gigantic CG ship, tracking briefly alongside Dylan Johns (Josh Lucas) as he’s running. The camera sweeps again to show us (cue angelic choir) a sunset that looks as ostensibly fake as the ship. Generic music rises with tribal drums and swelling horns, regurgitating the mood if not the exact melodies of Klaus Badelt’s…
“The Promise” is one of those films that begins with, “When the world was young…” Whatever its idiosyncrasies, this mythology-regurgitating film does have some qualities. A young girl steals a biscuit from the hands of a fallen soldier on a battlefield. Instantly, one soldier seems to come alive—a child, actually. He takes the bread but offers it back if she promises to…
The mission, should you choose to sit and bear it, involves Ethan Hunt (Cruise), who is now retired from active duty in the IMF (Impossible Mission Force), rescuing a nearly-disavowed agent who has an explosive implanted in her head—not to mention a bad contact lens job implanted in her eye, but nevermind. The character and the general concept are based on the TV series by Bruce Geller, which featured…
Where does one begin to comment on a film like this without injecting one’s self and one’s ego into the words being written? That is, after all, the style of “United 93.” There’s no trace of artifice, intention, agenda, style, or plot in the film. The tension that builds relies heavily on what we already know, so there’s no manufactured twist needed here. Our anxieties are…
Akeelah Henderson (Keke Palmer) seems like a typical girl on the surface. She talks about boys with her friend, Georgia (Sahara Garey), at Crenshaw Middle School. But underneath her loquaciousness lies an insecure prodigy. She hides her perfect test scores from her peers, fearing ostracism for her intelligence. Her oldest brother is in the military, and…