Brokeback Mountain
Jake Gyllenhaal (left) and Heath Ledger (right) star in Ang Lee’s BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. A Focus…
Year: 2005
The Family Stone
At first glance, Everett Stone (Dermot Mulroney) and Meredith Morton (Sarah Jessica Parker) seem appropriate for each other: Everett’s the stiff, never without a necktie—running for mayor. If Meredith’s hair were tied back any tighter, her face might explode. However, while Everett comes from an affluent, liberal family, Meredith’s…
King Kong
There seem to be two movies intercut with one another. The first is a story about Carl Denham (Jack Black) and his haphazard plan to make a movie, the details of which he hasn’t completely sorted out. The second centers on the relationship between an out-of-work vaudeville actor, Ann Darrow…
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
My childhood memories of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe evoke two different emotions in me: first, I remember my second grade teacher (and first love) reading to us after lunch time…so I was of course doubly enthralled by the experience. My second, and most vivid memory, is of crying my eyes out while…
Syriana
Sunrise on a desert. In the haze, there are throngs of migrant workers crowding around buses. The scene is emblematic of one of many central themes struggling to be heard in this movie. The very next scene takes us into a city—a party in stark contrast to what we’re used to seeing when the media feeds us imagery of the Middle East. Bob Barnes (George Clooney) is asked by a friend, “Have you ever tried…
First Descent
I went to this movie thinking that it was going to play out like the brainchild of a few marketing execs sitting around patting themselves on the back for figuring out a way to milk the last drops from the “extreme”-everything trend that has dumbed down product marketing over the last two years. I even seem to recall there was a run of “extreme” sugar-loaded kids snacks somewhere in the midst of…
The Ice Harvest
The story opens in the present with Charlie scanning the frozen plains near Wichita, Kansas while he waxes philosophical about the possibility of pulling of the perfect crime. As the film flashes back to the previous day in which the story unfolds you’ll soon realize that Charlie’s definition of “perfect†is about as accurate as that of a drunken frat boy wearing…
Rent
First, I’ll admit to you I’m not a huge fan of musicals—much less musicals on film. In numbers like “Light My Candle,” the songwriting falls into that abysmal style of reciting actions as they’re being depicted on screen. Roger and Mimi share an unnecessary exchange in song, “Oh the wax, it’s dripping/I like it between my…/fingers.” When Marc describes to Maureen’s new girlfriend, Joanne (Tracie Thorns), the…