There are some films, and more specifically some directors, to which and to whom I devote my time and money against my better judgment. Alexander Payne is one such individual. After the painful but promisingly hysterical Election, he regressed with the irksome About Schmidt before taking a nosedive with the bafflingly adored but loathsome...
I never drank the Cameron Crowe Kool-Aid. He always seemed a filmmaker hinting at depth and significance without having experienced either. His films suffer from an incurious lack of dynamic range and the only injection of energy they’ve ever received was Cuba Gooding, Jr.’s spirited Rod Tidwell in the otherwise puzzling Jerry Maguire. We...
As I recall, I had zero interest in experiencing Guy Ritchie’s first interpretation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s esteemed super-sleuth. I nevertheless ventured forth and was, to my surprise, pleasantly entertained in a somewhat passive way. Having thus been indoctrinated, I approached Ritchie’s follow-up with my expectations lowered and ready for amusement. From the...
I found it nearly impossible to watch David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo without the spectre of Niels Adren Oplev’s adaptation prodding my expectations. Objectivity became even more strained as events inched ever closer to that scene. The traumatizing effect of its Swedish predecessor clouded the entire first act of the film...
Brad Bird loves James Bond. This was evident in the Sean Connery-era 007 touches he infused into his Pixar hit The Incredibles. It is even more evident in the director’s recent Mission: Impossible episode (gone is the numerical increment, instead we’re given an honest-to-god subtitle, Ghost Protocol), an enjoyably absurd spectacle that hearkens back...
