Film Articles

What Shakespeare described as the undiscovered country from whose borne no traveler returns is also something less poetic: the subject of a turf war among theologians, charlatans, New Age fabulists and other opportunistic metaphysicians. Like the true believer, Clint Eastwood's latest – with the unsubtle title “Hereafter” – aims to prove itself of a modern, post-Enlightenment mindset by exposing various con-artists out to exploit the grieving through the pretense of communicating with the dead. In an amusing bit of mockery, various kinds of mediums — channellers, spiritualists and Electronic Voice Phenomena technicians — are paraded and punctured.

What ever happened to the humble vial of truth serum? A few drops of the stuff and suspects were chirpier than a colony of birds on a telephone wire. It was the epitome of spy movie interrogation technology. The real drama, of course, came from the pitting of mind vs. mind, spy vs. counterspy, in tense, unaided confrontations across a table. Now we get neural imaging devices that scan a suspect’s brain in real-time to root out deception, which is convenient as it illustrates how much technology — both real and speculative — has infiltrated our spy movies. Like the dilemma facing the intelligence services, people have given way to machines.

Dismissed by many among the film cognoscenti as shallow spectacle and proclaimed a flop by the media for raking in a mere $24 million on its five-day opening weekend — Disney’s second misfire after “Prince of Persia” — “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” seems positioned for box office oblivion.

Handling dreams like Russian nested dolls is perhaps not, in itself, the most innovative concept given movies like “The Matrix,” “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”

The foremost question of “Iron Man 2” is: What happened to the Jon Favreau of the first Iron Man and Zathura? That Favreau was a director from the old school, comfortable with modern CGI effects but at home in the roots of classical filmmaking and, crucially, well-versed in the storytelling arts. In the armored superhero’s second outing, however, Favreau has been edged out by Marvel’s marketing committee.

Although it would be rather hyperbolic to suggest that District 9 represents a milestone in 21st century science fiction cinema, Neil Blomkamp’s gritty tale of aliens among us certainly does set the pace for a new trend. And it is this: science fiction rooted in near-future speculation.

It must be true that “The Losers” started life as a groundbreaking comic book; I’ve never heard of it. Or perhaps “groundbreaking” is merely the buzzword of an enthusiastic publicity department.

The brothers Butler return with a sense of humour that, like a dirty martini, is bone dry, liable to kick your teeth in, and generously dosed with comical vulgarity. In the format of their latest venture, a web series called Larry and Burt’s Gut Rot (http://www.subprod.com/?p=219), it works especially well, better even than in their compelling but somewhat unfocused film effort The Notorious Newman Brothers.

On Friday, “41st & Central: The Untold Story of the L.A. Black Panthers” will open for a limited engagement as part of the Pan African Film & Arts Festival’s Encore Program at the Culver Plaza Theatres in Los Angeles.  Bernie Carter, 76, the oldest of 10 siblings that included Alprentice (Bunchy) Carter, former leader of the Southern California Chapter of … Read More

As far as Tim Burton fans were concerned, there might as well have been a little white rabbit in a waistcoat wearing Mickey Mouse ears running around the director exclaiming, “You’re late, you’re late!” And so it seems that this pairing of the visionary Burton and Lewis Carroll’s classic fantasia was a long time coming. At last, the moment to fall down the rabbit hole has arrived. This may not be the definitive cinematic Alice, if such a beast is even possible, but we are nonetheless well-treated to an imaginatively realized Wonderland sumptuously filtered through Burton from the pages of the original books and Sir John Tenniel’s illustrations.