Brokeback Mountain: Interview with Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana
Films produced from Larry McMurtry’s works have garnered ten Oscars and 34 Oscar nominations, beginning…
Firewall
Because I also have a background in internet security, I was expecting this film to be a “high-tech” flambé of technological ineptitude. I was wrong. It’s not very high-tech at all. Actually, it starts out like it wants to be a technological thriller of of clandestine intrepdity, and ends up being another dull…
Final Destination 3
It’s obvious that there was no point to this sequel any more than there was a point to the previous one. It’s also obvious that these films have no purpose whatsoever except to serve as body countdowns in which the “takedowns” get progressively gorier. It’s…
The Pink Panther
And yet another film in enters the category of “Remakes That Should Not Have Been.” It took three writers, Steve Martin, Michael Saltzman and Len Blum, to put together a bland remake of the relatively unfunny Blake Edwards 1963 original. Before I forget, there’s a second category this film falls into…
Imagine Me & You
Granted, immediately upon the success of “Brokeback Mountain” I surmised that every studio would be chomping at the bit to exploit every conceivable plot involving a gay relationship. If you think for even a second that “Imagine Me and You” comes remotely close to capitalizing on the success of “Brokeback Mountain,” then you’re not just mistaken — you’ve missed every American romantic comedy in…
The World’s Fastest Indian
The names John Cobb, Malcolm Campbell, Mickey Thomas, Craig Breedlove and Richard Noble mean so much to so few people. Perhaps even fewer know of Burt Munro, who in 1967 set a class speed record for motorcycles under 1000cc at the Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. Munro’s accomplishments are notable, but at the height of the space program were quite possibly overshadowed by the test pilots of Edwards Air Force Base, and…
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Who is Melquiades Estrada? Is he the sum of his parts? Is one man’s memory of this migrant worker true to who he really was? There are a number of films that examine the differences between seeming and being, but this one handles its subject in a style similar to Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill,” Christopher Nolan’s “Memento” and Gaspar…
Something New
Kenya (Sanaa Lathan) wakes up to a world of, from her point of view, numerous couples immersed in the amorous splendor of Valentine’s Day. This could be a film about how the minority female power-businesswoman needs to take a long vacation from her dry, corporate existence, and wind up somewhere in the Caribbean with some smoldering hot…