Peter Schilling 28 Weeks Later, 2007. Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, written by Fresnadillo, Rowan Joffe and Jesus Olmo. Starring Robert Carlyle, Mackintosh Muggleton (a J. K. Rowling creation?), Imogen Poots, Amanda Walker, Rose Byrne, Catherine McCormack, Jeremy Renner, Idris Elba, Emily Beecham, and Harold Perrineau. Now showing in theaters around town. Writing about the movies can … Read more
This week on DVD: What to watch, what to watch? Hollywood seems dead set on shoving its worst garbage down our throats this week, what with Spider-Man 3 devouring all the screens at the Multi-Plex. There’s not a whole lot that’s new this week down at your local video store, either. Breaking and Entering is … Read more
Spider-Man 3, 2007. Directed by Sam Raimi; written by Raimi and his brother Ivan, with help from Alvin Sargent. Starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Hayden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rosemary Harris, J. K. Simmons, Dylan Baker, Bill Nunn, Bruce Campbell, and, utterly wasted in five minute roles, the great James … Read more
This acclaimed comedy classic was made in 1962, given a brief American run in ’64, and then, for forty years, it vanished like a mob boss on the Witness Protection Program. Nino, the lead character, is a portly middle manager, happily passing time at a Fiat plant in Milan. He finally returns home to a … Read more
In this purposefully ridiculous sequel to his popular The Monster of Phantom Lake, Christopher R. Mihm offers yet another send-up of ’50s B-movies. This Ed Wood-like quality is achieved with grainy black-and-white images, a hambone cast, and special effects that look as though created from random objects found in the garage—which, in fact, is often … Read more
François Pignon (the Moroccan-born Jewish actor Gad Elmaleh) has it pretty rough. He’s a good-natured but horse-faced valet who can’t convince the love of his life to marry him. Out moping one afternoon, he is caught on film while standing on a street corner, by chance next to a supermodel who’s out on a romantic … Read more
“When you wake up in the morning, don’t kvetch! Say ‘Yippee’!” So suggests the wisdom of this happy collective of Hasidic Jews in this delightful, if somewhat workmanlike, documentary from Paul Mazursky. Mazursky, once a presence in Hollywood (he created the outstanding Enemies: A Love Story before flushing his career down the toilet with some … Read more
Once again, your best bets this weekend, cinema-wise, are to be found at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival, and the Childish Film Festival within it in particular. This weekend sees a pair of international features for kids and some awesome animated shorts. On Saturday, take the young ones to Flights of Fancy, wonderful shorts … Read more
Jane Eyre, 1944 My wife likes costume dramas; I’m a fan of Orson Welles. Our interests meet this week with the DVD release of Jane Eyre. If you ask the both of us, Welles is ideal as Mr. Rochester. The big boy’s histrionics perfectly suit that literary madman (and over the years Rochester’s never been … Read more
Everyone’s talking about the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival, and for good reason: once again, the good fellows down at Minnesota Film Arts have pulled a rabbit from their collective hats, working with few resources to provide one of the great festivals in the country. There’s a slew of intriguing films this year, but none … Read more