“You know your speech, I know your speech… the kids know your speech,” says Susan (Gigi Rice), the wife of Andy Fiddler (Eugene Levy). He’s a dental supplies salesman. Fiddler is perfect for the job. He’s obsessive about dental hygiene… and about giving a good speech. I’m glad someone’s enthused, because I have this funny feeling we’re going…
The film opens on a dank streetside in Joliet, Illinois, at what appears to be the height of the Great Depression. A bookie, Granger (Ed Bakey) steps out of his office and witnesses a thief making off with an old man’s wallet. Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) stops the thief. The old man, Luther Coleman (Robertearl Jones), explains to them that he had to deliver that money to someone fast or face a…
What’s interesting about the process by which this mystery unfolds lies in the parallel between Justin’s career as a diplomat and his interest in gardening. Gardeners and diplomats both require patience. Fiennes manner is slight, carefully paced. He understands he’s treading…
The film works through its necessary conflicts, between Mel and Cher, between Cher and Tai Fraiser (Brittany Murphy, in one of her most underrated, clever performances), and so on… but intelligently, not malevolently. I credit this partly to Jane Austen, as the film is based loosely on Emma. I also credit this to Amy Heckerling, who demonstrates a keen understanding, much like Tina Fey (head writer of “Saturday Night Live” and screenwriter of “Mean Girls”), of…
If I can try to summarize, however, Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) is a hotel manager who maintains the tenuous belief that the customer is always right. We know this because, lo and behold, there’s a customer in need of better service than Reisert’s in-charge is prepared to provide, which begs the question…
This is yet another one of those formulaic plots where the woman needs to recruit a male companion to accompany her to a wedding. This is, of course, so she doesn’t look desperate to her family/ex-boyfriend/sister or whomever else it is a director of a film like this decides to insert as the requisite hindrance to her self-esteem. How many times has this plot been recycled?
“Closer” is one of the most brilliantly-written films I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a film where the characters’ lives revolve around using sex to hurt each other, but (aside from a rather humorous “conversation”…
Antarctica, with its vast ranges of white, cliffs of ice, and frozen, deep blue, is an awe-inspiring place. My gratitude goes to the film makers who were insanely ambitious enough to brave this weather so that I need not. The cinematography, directed by Laurent Chalet and Jerome Maison, is the most remarkable documentary footage I have seen. Perhaps…