The Lady is a Spy
By bukkhead | November 8, 2007
FILM REVIEW: ‘LUST CAUTION’
Written by James Schamus, based on the short story by Eileen Chang
Directed by Ang Lee
Rated NC-17
157 mins.
Spy films have become so ubiquitous these days, they’ll soon have their own section in the movie store. And when they do, we’ll have to identify sub-genres: whether it’s the action-adventure of The Bourne Ultimatum, or the political history of The Good Shepherd, spy movie are becoming diverse in their ubiquity. But Ang Lee’s Lust Caution isn’t just another spy film, anymore than Crouching Tiger was just another kung fu flick, or Brokeback Mountain was just another western. Read the rest of this entry »
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This is Why Real Surfers Get Stoned
By bukkhead | November 2, 2007
FILM REVIEW: ‘FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER’
Written by Don Payne and Mark Frost
Directed by Tim Story
Rated PG
92 mins.
You wanna like Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, because it’s based on a comic book, and it cost 130 million to make, and it has Jessica Alba in it. But then, other comic book adaptations weren’t this bad. And what the heck did they spend all of that money on. And why is it necessary to give Jessica the worse dye job in the history of hair, and make-up so poorly done she ends up looking like a plastic doll? The questions pound at you, and if you’re lucky, you get a touch of indigestion from the popcorn and have something else to think about once the movie’s over. Read the rest of this entry »
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This One Doesn’t Babble Unless He’s Alone
By bukkhead | October 25, 2007
FILM REVIEW: ‘MR. BROOKS’
Written by Bruce A. Evans & Raynold Gideon
Directed by Bruce A. Evans
Rated R
120 mins.
I wanted to see Mr. Brooks when it came out originally, because it had Dane Cook in it. And it wasn’t a romantic comedy! Dane Cook was following the Robin Williams plan for doing movies! But then, well after it left theaters, I sorta got over my Cook-love. Don’t get me wrong, I still think they guy is one of the best stand-up comics out there. And I ain’t hatin’ cause he got popular. Chalk it up to a short attention span.
So when they fiancée brought it home from the Blockbuster, I was sorta enthused. I wasn’t sure I wanted to watch Kevin Costner, since I don’t think I’ve liked any of his movies enough to sit through them. But Wililam Hurt showed up, and he was very much not William Hurt, which I liked. And Kevin wasn’t very Kevin. He was a little, but not too much. Dane was still Dane, so call that one typecasting. Read the rest of this entry »
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Necessary But Not Sufficient Conditions
By bukkhead | October 24, 2007
FILM REVIEW: ‘NEVER SAY GOODBYE’
Written and directed by Karan Johar
Rated PG-13
193 mins.
I am now going to review a movie and just give the whole plot away. You’ve been warned. But honestly, I can’t see you actually watching this one. Maybe you will. And despite my rating (which reflects, really, my own inexperience with the genre) maybe you should see this one. Or one like it. To me, they’re all the same, but hey, I’m not what you’d call discerning.
To date, Never Say Goodbye makes the second Bollywood movie I’ve watched beginning-to-end (Monsoon Wedding doesn’t count). I’ve seen lots of clips, and caught lots of pieces-parts from movies being on at this uncles house, or that auntie’s party. But I’ve only sat through two. That Rani Mukerji is in both doesn’t really say much, trust me. Read the rest of this entry »
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Wild Innocence
By bukkhead | October 6, 2007
FILM REVIEW: ‘INTO THE WILD’
Written by Sean Penn, based on the book by Jon Krakauer
Directed by Sean Penn
Rated R
140 mins.
Alexander Supertramp, nee Christopher Johnson McCandless, decides one day to leave it all behind and walk the earth. After graduating from Emory University in 1990, he eschews a chance at Harvard law, gives away all his money, cuts up his credit cards, his social security card, his driver’s license, and drives off into the sunset. Once his car is rendered inoperable by a flash flood, he is truly free of his earthly possessions, so he literally burns his remaining cash and begins his journey, hitchhiking around the USA. Read the rest of this entry »
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Hockey’s Just Not That Big in Kansas
By bukkhead | October 4, 2007
FILM REVIEW: ‘THE LOOKOUT’
Written and Directed by Scott Frank
Rated R
99 mins.
Sometimes when a movie disapoints it’s your own fault. You go in with an unrealistic or unfair expectation. This is almost impossible to avoid, however, and so either movie makers or movie watchers have to live with it. Nevertheless, this can make it difficult to be objective—so it’s only fair to tell you that The Lookout might be a better movie than I am going to give it credit for.
Chris Pratt is a janitor at a small bank in a small town in Kansas. He’s an ex hockey all-star, suffering from brain damage due to a car accident when he was in high school. As he deals with, still four years later , the frustration of memory loss and the remorse of causing the accident, he winds up befriended by Gary, a ne’er do well who wants Chris to help his gang rob the bank. Rounding out the film are Chris’s roommate Lewis, a blind man who wants to open a restaurant someday, and Chris’s parents, who are wealthy and pay for Chris to live without encouraging him to make more of his life. Read the rest of this entry »
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I Finished the Fight
By bukkhead | October 4, 2007
VIDEO GAME REVIEW: ‘HALO 3′
Developed by Bungie
Distributed by Microsoft Game Studios
Platforms: Xbox 360
Genre: First Person Shooter
Oh, the hype. People have been talking about Halo 3 since 2001. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but they have been talking about it at least since 2004, when Halo 2 hit the shelves. Seriously. Go to any web forum dedicated to a particular video game, and one of the first threads will be “what do you want to see in the sequel?”
Halo 3 day arrived a little over a week ago, and while I knew I would buy the game eventually, I didn’t plan on getting in on the early fun. I was in the middle of Bioshock, and drooling for Skate. But a trip to the local Blockbuster revealed 10 copies of the game—most checked out of course, but still. How could I not rent it? Read the rest of this entry »
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More Or Less, Just a Sandwich
By bukkhead | October 1, 2007
TV REVIEW: ‘HEROES
Created by Tim Kring
NBC
Season 1: 23 episodes
We finished watching Heroes Season 1 on DVD about a month ago, a week after it hit the stores. We are fans of DVD TV shows as opposed to watching them in a normal broadcast fashion, since we don’t like to be toyed with, with regard to cliff hangers. And it’s this that best illustrates why I have not written the review for this long: I don’t have much to say.
What I mean is, had we been watching Heroes week by week, we would have seen the cliffhanger, agonized for 7 days (or more if a repeat was showing), and then been very disappointed at the often lame cliffhanger resolution. And by the middle of the season I would have gotten fed up with this. And then I would have written an angry review full piss and vinegar. Read the rest of this entry »
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I Run, Therefore I Justify Subsequent Tomfoolery
By bukkhead | September 28, 2007
BOOK REVIEW: ‘I RUN, THEREFORE I AM… NUTS’
by Bob Schwartz
244 pages
Published by Human Kinetics.
Bob Schwartz is the so-called “Dave Barry of Running.” Anyone who writes non-fiction columns in a humorous vein is the “Dave Barry” of that thing. I think it would be great if someone reviewed all of these Dave Barrys, and did so in a humorous vein, and then he could be the Dave Barry of Dave Barry writers. And then Russell would ask: does the Dave Barry of Dave Barry writers write about himself? What about the Barber of Paradox? Read the rest of this entry »
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“Man is Free to Attempt to Survive by Any Random Means”
By bukkhead | September 27, 2007
VIDEO GAME REVIEW: ‘BIOSHOCK’
Developed by 2K
Distributed by Take-Two Interactive
Platforms: Xbox 360, pc
Genre: First Person Shooter
Immersive. This is the word that comes to mind again and again when considering Bioshock. Here is a world so complete in detail and execution that you really do find yourself just wandering around in it. Good graphics are no longer what make a game great; they’re an expectation. It’s not enough to make the leaves, water, and lighting look realistic. We don’t want to see how accurately mother nature can be mimicked in HD. We want to see what can be designed, how the game can bring to life a particular imagination. Good games now have to have art direction. Read the rest of this entry »
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