Hooray, another ‘slice of life’ movie in which nothing actually happens. The only hint of plot development in this film involves the struggle by Jennifer Aniston’s character to find a decent boyfriend — and you’re better off watching The Good Girl for a more engrossing version of the same situation. Some fine performances by a [...]
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All about Film Reviews
Sep 14, 2006
Friends With Money
Aug 28, 2006
American Dreamz
The previews don’t do this film justice; American Dreamz is one of the funniest satires since Wag the Dog and Election, skewering reality TV, politics, terrorism and LA all at once. That said, the film starts to poop out in the second half, and the ending is disappointingly weak for such a strong start. Still, [...]
Aug 18, 2006
Tsotsi
Set against the townships beyond Johannesburg, Tsotsi tells the story of a region struggling with extreme poverty and abundant wealth, and of the characters who crash into one another at the divide. The young title character leads a vicious South African gang that has begun to spin out of control. A brutal act on Tsotsi’s [...]
Aug 14, 2006
Mailbag: Film Edition
Drew, Having faithfully read Evolvingpage’s movie reviews, we raced to add Shopgirl to our Blockbuster queue. We see grade inflation isn’t only in academia… That movie is bollocks. The only thing that separates it from the putrid mass of romantic comedy films is that: it has better cinematography; it doesn’t rely on hokie gross out [...]
Aug 13, 2006
World Trade Center
Oliver Stone’s emotional, reverential film presents the true story of two Port Authority police officers trapped in the rubble of the collapsed towers on 9/11. The movie follows both their struggle to survive and the growing anguish that grips their wives and families (who know little of the men’s whereabouts). What emerges is a moving [...]
Jul 27, 2006
Spy Game
An espionage flick with heart and a jumpy disposition. Tony Scott (Domino, Man On Fire) unleashes his frenetic, washed-out filmmaking style on the story of a retiring CIA spook (Robert Redford) who discovers on his last day at Langley that his protege (Brad Pitt) has landed in a Chinese prison and faces execution in T-Minus [...]
Jul 06, 2006
Training Day
Seeking the gray area between reality and unbridled idealism, Training Day overcomes the occasional credulity-straining coincidence to paint an effective portrait of corruption in self-destruct. Rookie cop Jake (Ethan Hawke) spends his first day as an undercover narcotics officer learning the ropes from lead detective Alonzo (Denzel Washington), and the day quickly devolves into a [...]
Jul 03, 2006
Caché
The title means “hidden,” and much that has been tucked out of sight is slowly revealed in Michael Haneke’s voyeuristic psychological thriller. An upper-middle class Parisian couple begins receiving video tapes of their comings and goings, and the chase to uncover the stalker’s identity turns up old skeletons and undermines the couple’s trust in one [...]