A Kinder, Gentler Genghis
By bukkhead | June 24, 2008
FILM REVIEW: ‘MONGOL’
Written by Arif Aliyev and Sergei Bodrov
Directed by Sergei Bodrov
Rated R
126 mins.
Mongol is the story of Genghis Khan before he was khan, when he was still called Temudjin. Those who are well-read in the history of Genghis may notice discrepancies or liberties taken with the telling of this story, but Mongol is not a biopic or a documentary, or even meant to be merely historical. Mongol is, at heart, a love story, about a boy who loves his people, and a man who loves his wife. Read the rest of this entry »
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Of Tea and Spices, Water and Fire
By bukkhead | June 23, 2008
FILM REVIEW: ‘BEFORE THE RAINS’
Written by Cathy Rabin
Directed by Santosh Sivan
Rated PG-13
98 mins.
In the jungles of southern India, an English spacer trader building a road falls in love with one of his household servants. She is married to an austere man from the nearby village, doubling the taboo inherent in the affair. Witness to this and accomplice in the consequences is an Indian guide and foreman who straddles India’s past and future, a dutiful son educated in British schools. Merchant and Ivory’s latest films is a symbol of the Great Britain’s own affair with India in the early 20th century. Read the rest of this entry »
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Money Can’t Buy Love
By bukkhead | June 17, 2008
FILM REVIEW: ‘PRICELESS’
Written by Benoît Graffin and Pierre Salvadori
Directed by Pierre Salvadori
Rated PG-13
104 mins.
Beautiful people and wealthy people go together like a horse and carriage, and even if there is no love, marriage is the ultimate goal. But they also say amor omni vincit… can love conquer Cartier, The Monte Carlo, and caviar? Audrey Tautou, who every loved in Amélie, (and raised an eyebrow at in The Da Vinci Code), plays Irène, a gold digger with enough experience in the game to be as much fighter as ingénue. Despite having won an almost sure thing, she can’t help but look for fun on her birthday, and mistakes a simple bartender for a very wealthy hotel guest. She’s not foolish enough to abandon one rich man for another, but not so focused that she won’t allow herself an indiscretion. However, it’s not called indiscretion for nothing. Read the rest of this entry »
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Not Just a Trashy Novel
By bukkhead | June 16, 2008
FILM REVIEW: ‘ROMAN DE GARE’
Written by Claude Lelouch and Pierre Uytterhoeven
Directed by Claude Lelouch
Rated R
103 mins.
Roman de Gare, a new film from Claude Lelouch, takes a mixture of complicated plot elements and expertly weaves them around and into one another, so that at any time, the audience can’t be sure what is the truth and what is fiction. It’s a delicate thread, one that both rewards and defies the astute viewer who picks up the details and pays attention to every nuance. For example, Pierre Laclos, as the story unfolds, might be a serial rapist, a magician, a ghost writer, or merely an estranged husband, or even a combination of a few of these. His character shares the same name as the novelist who wrote Les Liaisons dangereuses: is this a red herring, or is there a deeper meaning there? Read the rest of this entry »
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Give Me Your Tired, Yearning to Breathe Free
By bukkhead | May 19, 2008
FILM REVIEW: ‘THE VISITOR’
Written and Directed by Thomas McCarthy
Rated PG-13
108 mins.
Walter is a middle aged, middle-class widower, a professor of economics at a college in Connecticut. The only thing interesting about him is that he wants to play the piano. He enjoys classical music and a glass of wine. He is a simple and plain as they come. But The Visitor is not a film about how boring Walter is, or depressed, for that matter. It can’t be said that Walter is stuck in a rut, if only because he has no aspirations to do anything else, no desire or motivation to move outside his carbon-copied routines. Read the rest of this entry »
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It Was a Dark and Stormy Night…
By bukkhead | March 26, 2008
BOOK REVIEW: ‘STORM FRONT’
by Jim Butcher
368 pages
Published by Penguin Putnam, 2000.
I saw the rack of books and I was intrigued to write the author’s name down and Wikipedia him later. That was enough to send me to my library’s website and reserve the book. A few days later, it was ready and waiting for me. A few days later, I finished it, and put the next book in the series on reserve. That was my approach to Jim Butcher, the Dresden Files, and Storm Front. It’s a fun little book. Read the rest of this entry »
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Money for Nothing
By bukkhead | March 24, 2008
FILM REVIEW: ‘THE COUNTERFEITERS’
Written by Stefan Ruzowitzky, based on the book by Adolf Burger.
Directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky
Rated R
98 mins.
Opening shot: the sea, symbol of fortune and destiny. A man sits on the beach, contemplating his past… or his present. Each shapes the other: the past leads us to our present, of course; the present contextualizes our memories of the past. It’s one thing to survive; it’s another thing to have survived—what’s next?
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One Way Or Another, Heads Will Spin. Or Explode. Or Both.
By bukkhead | March 23, 2008
FILM REVIEW: ‘SAW III’
Written by James Wan and Leigh Whannell
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman
Rated R
113 mins.
I’ve never written a review for this kind of movie before, so let’s see what happens. What’s the appeal of the Saw films? (I hesitate to call them films, but this is a review environment, so I’ll use the nomenclature). I suppose it’s those insidious traps and devices, and of course, the plot twists at the end. They’re almost too expected by now, though, if you put enough time and other movies between the Saw sequels, you should be okay, In Saw III, the other element is furthered, sort of building on the momentum in from Saw 1 and 2: other people. Read the rest of this entry »
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I Crash, You Crash, We all Crash for Paradise
By bukkhead | March 21, 2008
VIDEO GAME REVIEW: ‘BURNOUT PARADISE’
Developed by Criterion Games
Distributed by EA
Platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3
Genre: Racer
I got the new Burnout video game, and thought I would talk about that. I got the game on February 2nd, and have played a little each day. For those who don’t know, the Burnout series got it start when they introduced a race game that had you forcibly crashing into other cars in order to gain boost and, of course, win. Since then the game has evolved into something with even more depth and replayability. Read the rest of this entry »
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Even The Title is Hilarious
By bukkhead | March 18, 2008
FILM REVIEW: ‘BLADES OF GLORY’
Written by Jeff Cox and Craig Cox
Directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck
Rated PG-13
93 mins.
Will Ferrell has hit on a formula: take a goofy profession, one with plenty of esoteric elements, add in a goofy guy, and support him with other goofy guys, and a few babes (but not typical centerfold babes, more the girl-next-door babe). Let the characters do whatever they would do, until the situation devolves and only the expertise of the profession can save the day. That’s a glib way to put it, but then again, these are glib movies. Talladega Nights, Ron Burgundy. Semi Pro, Even Elf and A Night at the Roxbury fit into this, in their own way. These are natural extensions of SNL sketches, with the extra depth that a movie allows. Actually, Ferrell’s not the first to do it: Austin Powers, Happy Gilmore, Superstar… all those SNL actors turned movie stars. But so far, Ferrell’s done it the most consistently, and the best. I watched Blades of Glory recently, and just about had an aneurysm. Read the rest of this entry »
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