tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-247834552012-01-09T13:02:34.304-08:00A cyberspace journal about my experiences as an NYU film school grad student, reviews of current and classic films, film and TV news, and the rants and raves of an admitted (and unapologetic) film snob.Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.comBlogger3851100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-39279711471113583862007-12-06T05:13:00.000-08:002007-12-06T05:21:33.145-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, these may be the last words you ever read on The Film Snob. After today, I may be retiring it. I haven't yet made my decision.Whatever I decide, my film reviews will no longer be posted here. I have migrated every review I've ever written to www.brandonfibbs.com, a new, and more professional film criticism website. In the future, please go there for all your film review

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-19832060348525482132007-11-30T09:50:00.000-08:002007-11-30T04:59:04.218-08:00

The Savages is a very good film. And yet I found it disappointing on what I can only describe as a metaphysical level. It is the sort of film that, while ringing with laudable authenticity and an admirable lack of maudlin sentimentality, prefers wallowing in misery to reaching for transformation.The Savage siblings, Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Wendy (Laura Linney) thought they had left their

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-47512931988725507792007-11-29T06:17:00.000-08:002007-11-29T06:25:55.388-08:00

Repent sinners, for the Shopocalypse is at hand! So proclaims Rev. Billy, the head of the so-called “Church of Stop Shopping in What Would Jesus Buy?, a new documentary which is almost guaranteed to make you cringe for any number of reasons.When I first saw the documentary short Preacher with an Unknown God a few years ago, it was like a sudden splash of ice water to the face. Rev. Billy, clad in

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-49916475083188282232007-11-21T13:21:00.000-08:002007-11-20T20:39:39.906-08:00

More fable than film, there is no earthly reason why August Rush should work. But it does. August Rush is about a love triangle. 12 years ago, on a rooftop overlooking New York City’s Washington Square Park, Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), a charismatic young Irish guitarist and Lyla Novacek (Keri Russell), a sheltered cellist, shared a magical evening beneath a full moon. But their

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-84241304863288110302007-11-21T10:26:00.000-08:002007-11-20T20:39:26.830-08:00

Hitman is the oddest of action movies — a film that is all but devoid of action. Not satisfied with simply being another mindless video game adaptation, the film also forgets to be entertaining. Agent 47 (Timothy Olyphant) works for one of those shadowy trans-government organizations referred to, imaginatively enough as, “The Organization.” Trained since childhood as a ruthless gun for hire,

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-79628381357864429152007-11-20T13:18:00.000-08:002007-11-19T21:25:46.981-08:00

AMANDAYou don’t have much faith in humanity, do you?DANNone whatsoever.AMANDAI can’t accept that. People are basically good. Decent. My God, David, we’re a civilized society!DAVIDSure, as long as the machines are working and you can dial 911. You take those things away, toss people in the dark, scare the shit out of them — no more rules — and you’ll see how primitive they get.DANScare people bad

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-68443474544745590372007-11-19T13:15:00.000-08:002007-11-18T21:14:50.558-08:00

No Country for Old Men, adapted by the Coen brothers from Cormac McCarthy’s novel of the same name, is, quite simply, a flawless film. What is, perhaps, most amazing is that a film this terrifying, this violent, and this relentlessly nihilistic should also be this enthralling. If you see only one more movie this year, make sure it is this one.While hunting in Texas’ desolate backcountry,

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-38398978326280130652007-11-17T13:16:00.000-08:002007-11-16T21:46:18.792-08:00

This is an abridged version of a review I wrote for Christianity Today Movies. To read the rest of this review, click here.Written anonymously around AD700, “Beowulf” is the oldest and greatest epic in the English language. Despite the fact that its storyline encompasses Viking Scandinavia, the roughly 3000-line poem is the solitary major surviving work of Anglo-Saxon heroic poetry. The story,

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-24849548733125234162007-11-14T13:12:00.000-08:002007-11-14T08:34:40.466-08:00

Love in the Time of Cholera is based on the novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez who, in 1982, was awarded the Nobel Prize for his luxuriant body of work. After viewing this film adaptation of one of his most beloved works, you will be faced with one of two conclusions: either the Nobel committee has lost all credibility, or Marquez made a appalling blunder in allowing his book to be refashioned for

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-10928072453640721172007-11-13T07:47:00.000-08:002007-11-13T07:50:53.879-08:00

Lions for Lambs is peculiarly unique in my movie-going experience. I can’t remember the last time I saw film that I both disliked and want to see again as soon as possible.Lions for Lambs is three stories on parallel tracks. In the first, skeptical reporter Janine Roth (Meryl Streep) is granted an interview with neocon Senator Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise), a lawmaker with the president’s ear and

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-59732539394937474502007-11-09T18:09:00.000-08:002007-11-09T06:51:20.858-08:00

Now that we know who will be manning the starship Enterprise bridge, it's high time we find out who else will be popping up in the new Star Trek movie, directed by LOST's J.J. Abrams, which, incidentally, began principle photography this week, just ahead of the writer's strike.Earlier, it was announced that Eric Bana would appear as a bad guy named, Nero.Now, it's confirmed that Alias' Rachel

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-61239553830717928242007-11-09T13:47:00.000-08:002007-11-08T21:46:54.289-08:00

Am I allowed to say that I did not like Fred Claus? Does it make me a Scrooge to recommend that this is one piece of holiday coal you should leave in your stocking?Many years ago, in my first and only stand-up comedy routine, I complained about how difficult if would have been if you were one of Jesus Christ’s siblings. “What do you mean you know I did it?! Why don’t you ever blame Jesus? Oh sure

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-59160462424669373942007-11-06T13:49:00.001-08:002007-11-07T05:42:58.893-08:00

How exactly do you pitch a film like Lars and the Real Girl?“Picture this: a painfully shy young man orders a sex doll on the Internet and takes it with him everywhere he goes.”I’m sure studios were lining up with their wallets out. Well, if they weren’t, they should have been. Lars and the Real Girl is an incontestable delight (and not even remotely the risqué film some might assume it to be).

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-2818736613180573592007-11-06T13:49:00.000-08:002007-11-06T10:21:58.597-08:00

I write film and TV reviews for DVDFanatic. Here is a truncated version of one of those recent reviews.Just as Days of Heaven relies on its painterly images and jettisons every scrap of irrelevant dialogue to tell its story, so too is it difficult to capture in words a formal description befitting a film as wondrous as this.In a career spanning 40 years, director Terrence Malick has made only

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-33839953369489895322007-11-02T09:45:00.000-07:002007-11-02T04:06:17.099-07:00

Making a movie that kids will like does not, necessarily, make it a good movie. Case in point, Bee Movie.The thriving metropolis of New Hive City lies in the Sheep Meadow, just off Turtle Pond on the Upper West Side of New York City’s Central Park. Within its honeycombed walls, the latest class of youngsters are graduating from bee school and preparing to start work within the only career open to

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-38489329771582658902007-11-01T00:27:00.000-07:002007-10-31T20:22:37.837-07:00

Some filmmakers produce their greatest work in their youth and then fizzle with age. Others are consistently great, producing triumph after triumph until the end of their lives. Sidney Lumet belongs in the latter camp. The 83-year-old director of 12 Angry Men, Network and Dog Day Afternoon returns with Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, a sleeker, slimmer film than he’s done in some time, but

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-49296007428316254372007-10-31T04:27:00.000-07:002007-10-30T20:58:37.712-07:00

It isn’t that American Gangster is an empirically bad film or is even unenjoyable. While the lights are down and the screen is aglow, you’re sure to be perfectly entertained. But don’t be surprised if, when you walk out of the theater, you forget the film ever existed.American Gangster is based on a true story, and is set is the closing years of the 1960s and the first half of the 1970s, a time

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-25839828095136487662007-10-26T16:57:00.000-07:002007-10-25T18:32:42.220-07:00

Most love stories start at the beginning. Rails and Ties starts at the end.Tom and Megan Stark (Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden) always thought there would be time to take a trip or have kids or live out a dozen such dreams all couples yearn to fulfill when they first come together. But when Megan discovers she has inoperable cancer, she is forced to acknowledge that all her dreams are forever

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-40445345204158708572007-10-25T16:55:00.000-07:002007-10-25T05:29:55.802-07:00

When was the last time you watched a morality play — much less one that deals with people battling incapacitating disabilities — that was also unabashedly, side-splittingly hilarious? If nothing comes to mind, perhaps that is reason alone to check out Music Within, the new independent film based on the true story of one man’s quest to improve the lives of millions of marginalized

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-20028232699693681732007-10-24T16:50:00.000-07:002007-10-23T20:34:57.502-07:00

You might think that Dan in Real Life mines the familiar story of family dysfunction, a well that, let’s admit it, never runs dry. But you’d be wrong. Dan in Real Life goes boldly (and refreshingly) where few films have gone before — into the home of a normal, loving family dealing with an abnormal and unexpected trial.Dan Burns (Steve Carell) is a widower and father of three mutinous young

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-77700873149543762182007-10-23T20:06:00.000-07:002007-10-23T14:12:50.288-07:00

During an encore appearance on Bravo’s “Inside the Actor’s Studio” just two weeks ago, Sir Anthony Hopkins related to his erudite host James Lipton the advice the venerable Sir Lawrence Olivier gave him when he was just beginning his acting career:“Always risk. Go out onto the edge of the limb of the tree. Go out even further until you fall.”Well, with Slipstream, the new film Hopkins has written

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-13735391110640362072007-10-23T14:14:00.000-07:002007-10-23T08:50:22.682-07:00

Filmmaker Wes Anderson is something of a cinematic aberration — liking his films is not a prerequisite for admiring or even adoring his quirky talent.Anderson’s films appear technically simple, despite the fact that they are numbingly intricate and complex. His musical soundtracks, drawing on such British Invasion favorites as The Kinks and The Who, are some of the most whimsical and enjoyable

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-74117976755036153272007-10-22T09:04:00.000-07:002007-11-14T04:39:40.249-08:00

At last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Bella joined the likes of Chariots of Fire, American Beauty, Life is Beautiful, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hotel Rwanda as the winner of the coveted People’s Choice Award. While the award does not, by any means, clinch an Oscar nod, it worked for each of the aforementioned films. Regardless of future acclaim, Bella is an irrefutably

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-27849062472868518882007-10-20T04:23:00.000-07:002007-10-20T08:18:46.529-07:00

This is an abridged version of a review I wrote for Christianity Today Movies. To read the rest of this review, click here.This has been the year of the revenge picture. First came the abominable Death Sentence, then the extremely problematic yet far superior The Brave One. Now comes Reservation Road, a film that doesn’t look or feel like those aforementioned thrillers, but deals with the same

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-42105665561100500692007-10-18T09:41:00.000-07:002007-10-18T13:31:26.405-07:00

It’s scary to think that it’s already been 25 years since Poltergeist first haunted theater screens. Of course, as a child, I was never allowed to see it. Too demonic. Too frightening. It wasn’t until a dark Halloween night in my late 20s that I sat down to it and The Exorcist (another forbidden film from my youth). The Exorcist scared the living daylights out of me (still does), but Poltergeist

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-41022111931273783012007-10-18T06:36:00.000-07:002007-10-18T06:58:18.493-07:00

Well, that does it. Unless they also intend to fill some of the smaller parts belonging to Nurse Chapel (pictured above) or Yeoman Rand, the bridge roster is complete for the next Star Trek film, a prequel either examining how the crew met or expanding on their television voyages. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the crew of the USS Enterprise:Captain James Tiberius Kirk: Chris PineScience

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-72307884655657953292007-10-17T06:05:00.000-07:002007-10-18T10:05:34.888-07:00

Karl Urban, the Kiwi best known for his role as Eomer in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Kirill the assassin in The Bourne Supremacy has been confirmed as Leonard "Bones" McCoy for the new Star Trek film. This is getting weirder and weirder.

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-68414417633010937652007-10-16T04:17:00.000-07:002007-10-16T06:43:42.277-07:00

It has been dubbed “The 24 Scenario,” after the popular television drama. A massive bomb, for instance, is set to go off within a large American city and someone in U.S. custody knows where it is and how to disarm it, but is refusing to talk. Do the rights of the many trump the rights of the one? What if, by torture — an act legally and morally reprehensible to the government and its citizenry —

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-23758396113022844652007-10-15T06:07:00.000-07:002007-10-15T06:22:57.117-07:00

Shesh, I go out of town for one long wedding weekend and return to find not one, but two Trek casting decisions. And they aren't just any two casting decisions!Up to this point we've had pretty logical (no pun intended) picks, but on Friday, Paramount Pictures signed Simon Pegg (of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz fame) to play Scotty! I don't know whether to be delighted (I loved both of those

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-14568809280052186352007-10-10T00:58:00.000-07:002007-10-10T01:08:20.199-07:00

It seems that Mike Vogel doesn't have a lock on the role of Captain Kirk, after all. Chris Pine, according to "The Hollywood Reporter," is also liked for the part.While the rumors fly around the fabled Captain's chair, another appears to be set in stone. Munich's Eric Bana will play the film's villian!

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-2448206221369328792007-10-09T23:34:00.000-07:002007-10-09T23:41:26.961-07:00

I write film and TV reviews for DVDFanatic. Here is a truncated version of one of those recent reviews.On February 1, 2002, Daniel Pearl, the South Asia Bureau Chief for the Wall Street Journal who had been kidnapped nine days before in Karachi, Pakistan while investigating a story on the shoe bomber, Richard Reid, was beheaded by Al Qaeda operatives. His body was further dismembered into ten

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-2532474577407972752007-10-07T16:11:00.000-07:002007-10-07T16:35:26.071-07:00

The entertainment editor for the newspaper for which I write, The Colorado Springs Gazette, just posted the following on the paper's film blog:"I've been getting lots of letters praising our film critic, Brandon Fibbs. But we just received his first hate letter. (Hey, Brandon, it was bound to happen.) It's anonymous, of course.Dear Mr. Epstein,Is Brandon Fibbs your nephew of something? (He's not,

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-79329756453228869102007-10-06T10:00:00.000-07:002007-10-06T07:21:55.905-07:00

This is an abridged version of a review I wrote for Christianity Today Movies. To read the rest of this review, click here.There comes a point in everyone’s life — though for most of us, it is hardly a singular event — when we reach a crossroad and must make a decision as to which direction to proceed. Michael Clayton (George Clooney) is at such a place. What he decides will determine the course,

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-53237146594743871002007-10-03T18:30:00.000-07:002007-10-03T05:23:14.979-07:00

It remains to be seen whether audiences who enjoyed Indian director Shekhar Kapur’s 1998, seven-time Academy Award-nominated Elizabeth will take to the sequel, Elizabeth: The Golden Age. The first film, a Western period drama filtered though Eastern sensibilities, was lavish yet restrained—spartan, and staged with almost theatrical minimalism. And while there are elements of that film here, the

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-48919167808817132732007-10-01T07:49:00.000-07:002007-10-01T07:58:00.580-07:00

While Paramount is expected to make it official any day now, the most sought after position in J.J Abrams new Star Trek movie appears to have been filled.28-year-old Mike Vogel (Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poseidon, Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants) is apparently set to be legendary Captain James. T. Kirk. Abrams and Vogel met on the set of Abram's upcoming monster movie Cloverfield, or whatever

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-27450332947547072982007-09-28T18:15:00.000-07:002007-10-01T09:55:32.288-07:00

The premise of Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution is already quite familiar: a female spy attaches herself to a high-ranking enemy officer in order to learn his secrets and, ultimately, kill him. Usually, these sorts of films involve the Nazis (Paul Verhoeven’s recent Black Book comes to mind), and while Lee’s Venice Film Festival winner is indeed set during World War II, he trades the Nazis for Chinese

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-17808919461620703732007-09-27T10:24:00.000-07:002007-09-27T05:49:42.744-07:00

Rumor has it that Trade is being positioned for a tidy fall release so that the film will stick in Academy voter’s minds once the Oscars come around early next year. If that is the case, its producers are bound to be monumentally disappointed. Trade is a dreadfully hollow film, empty of everything except pretension and self-importance posturing posing as art. It’s not that the film’s heart isn’t

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-62496442691316446382007-09-26T09:46:00.000-07:002007-09-26T04:18:47.822-07:00

Following hard on Paul Haggis’ mournfully powerful In the Valley of Elah, The Kingdom represents another Hollywood entry into this fall’s post 9/11, Iraq-conscious line-up. Of the upcoming battery of films, The Kingdom may be the most unobjectionable, accessible and ultimately, most entertaining.Known as “the Kingdom,” Saudi Arabia, like Japan, is a country at once thoroughly modern and

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-73020356328033476402007-09-25T09:45:00.000-07:002007-09-25T05:35:37.153-07:00

A month or so ago, my favorite newsman, Scott Simon of NPR’s "Weekend Edition Saturday" interviewed Canadian actors Paul Gross and Martha Burns (Gross, who is married to Burns, is best known to American audiences as dreamy constable Benton Fraser from “Due South”) about their series “Slings and Arrows.”Simon compared "Slings and Arrows" to the "Sopranos" and told how critics have dubbed it "the

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-37566045999315330682007-09-24T06:45:00.000-07:002007-09-24T07:09:53.349-07:00

Enough film talk for a bit.Over the next two days, I intend to chat about two utterly captivating pieces of television. One of them you have undoubtedly heard of. The other is unquestionably unfamiliar.Today, the more recognizable of the two…I don’t know if the Discovery Channel advertised in movie theaters in your city, but here in New York, previews for ">Planet Earth ran amongst the film

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-8399545672191126662007-09-21T16:53:00.000-07:002007-09-21T14:28:50.137-07:00

In 1845, Henry David Thoreau “went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, to discover that I had not lived...” While the great Transcendentalist certainly lived austerely, his small cabin beside Walden Pond was not so separated from civilization that he could not

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-81028421778917464622007-09-19T15:16:00.000-07:002007-09-19T04:21:32.554-07:00

If it weren’t for the fact that The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford boasts such well-known, contemporary actors, one might be tempted to think that the film was accidentally locked in a studio vault sometime during the 1970s and only recently rediscovered. There is something splendidly musty and blessedly anachronistic about it. It is a throwback to another time when films

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-30584529945815088372007-09-18T15:13:00.000-07:002007-09-18T04:49:34.692-07:00

The Jane Austen Book Club is the sort of movie that had saccharine tummy ache written all over it. Thankfully, I realized early on that I had nothing to fear. The Jane Austen Book Club is both a testament to Austen’s continued relevance and a fine example of classroom particulars converted into entertaining banter without losing any of its oomph.Next to Shakespeare, Jane Austen is the most

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-43284010145659093612007-09-18T04:22:00.000-07:002007-09-18T04:27:24.526-07:00

Not certain if this image, snapped at a recent private party, excites or scares the hell out of me....In other Trek news, Zoe Saldana has been picked to be the new Uhura for the new Star Trek movie.

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-75237933915144391542007-09-15T14:15:00.000-07:002007-09-15T07:19:14.429-07:00

This is an abridged version of a review I wrote for Christianity Today Movies. To read the rest of this review, click here.Hollywood is not above misrepresenting a film in hopes of drawing an audience. It’s not that the trailer for Silk misrepresents the film, so much as it does not tell the whole story. (Trailers that don’t reveal every plot point of the film they are promoting — now there’s a

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-1489587872038737882007-09-14T14:14:00.000-07:002007-09-14T11:48:10.031-07:00

You cannot help but admire — even be in awe of — brilliant director Julie Taymor’s extraordinary vision. Her films (Titus, Frida) are those rare works of art that succeed in merging cinematic splendor with Broadway aesthetics (she got her start on the stage and directed the wildly successful “The Lion King” on Broadway) to create something wholly original and entirely imaginative. And although

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-56116796988664695812007-09-13T14:10:00.000-07:002007-09-12T22:37:24.114-07:00

The Brave One is being advertised as a revenge pic even though it is nothing of the sort. It has more in common with M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable or even the TV series Heroes than with Charles Bronson’s Death Wish. The Brave One feels like a superhero movie, charting the familiar origins story of an unsuspecting everywoman who discovers one day that a gun gives her special powers to right

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-54177947990819203662007-09-12T12:07:00.000-07:002007-09-11T20:57:00.661-07:00

You cannot walk out of David Cronenberg’s new masterpiece, Eastern Promises without thinking of Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather trilogy. Its gravity is that palpable. It is not that Eastern Promises is guilty of regicide or succeeds in actually usurping the throne. But the film effortlessly and majestically takes its place as a great crime epic in miniature, arguably more "Godfather" than

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-51926996425230684872007-09-12T02:59:00.000-07:002007-09-11T20:56:38.920-07:00

I've been silent in the high definition debate simply because I haven't had the opportunity to properly examine the technology in any sort of meaningful way. Which is to say, I've watched one Superbowl game in HD and that alone represents my exposure.It's not that I've doubted the pundits--many of them, my friends--when they've gushed about the technology. I just felt it was best to keep out of

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-64197506736749470532007-09-11T12:01:00.000-07:002007-09-11T05:45:20.032-07:00

In the Valley of Elah is not a war film, though at times it looks like one. In the Valley of Elah is not a murder mystery, though at times it sounds like one. In the Valley of Elah is a national requiem, a tortured dirge for the loss of American innocence and humanity, an anguished lament that we are destroying all that is pure and good and best in ourselves. And it is a film that you owe it to

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-38953109610015762882007-09-11T05:23:00.002-07:002007-09-11T05:32:08.725-07:00

Shia LaBeouf has revealed that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is the name beneath which Indy and team will ride once again into adventure.

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-39453525704691798192007-09-11T05:23:00.001-07:002007-09-11T05:45:09.656-07:00

Warner Bros. Pictures has picked up the rights to bring one of my favorite childhood shows, the anime classic Robotech to the big screen with Spider-Man franchise star Tobey Maguire producing and looking to star (grrrr).Robotech takes place on an Earth of the future in which an alien spaceship has crashed on a South Pacific isle giving humankind the technology to build gigantic robotic battlebots

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-3221728980493554422007-09-08T05:56:00.000-07:002007-09-10T09:13:00.752-07:00

This is an abridged version of a review I wrote for Christianity Today Movies. To read the rest of this review, click here.In the far-flung span of human history, only twelve men have ever stepped on the surface of another celestial body. And yet, somehow we have managed to convince ourselves that such acts of mind-boggling ingenuity and stunning heroism are now commonplace.The new documentary,

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-47296520683203711112007-09-03T13:01:00.000-07:002007-09-03T05:36:58.692-07:00

Once the quintessential American genre, the western has fallen on hard times the past few decades. But every once in a while a film comes along that reminds you why the western is our national epic and Hollywood’s greatest tradition of popular cinema.3:10 to Yuma is such a film.Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is a poor rancher trying to eke out a living for himself and his family on parched, barren

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-73822578204647375562007-08-31T13:20:00.000-07:002007-08-31T13:37:42.425-07:00

Sometimes I take too long to get to the meat of my reviews, forcing my readers to plow through several paragraphs until they discover my true feelings about a film. Let me save you the trouble this time around.Avoid Death Sentence like the plague.Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) is a mild-mannered everyman — an insurance executive who spends his days at work analyzing risk portfolios and his nights at

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-54098252248856090442007-08-28T10:42:00.000-07:002007-08-29T06:37:38.428-07:00

Say what you will about Shoot ‘Em Up, you have to give the madcap actioner points for truth in advertising. With a title like Shoot ‘Em Up, you don’t exactly expect an intricate plot or lavish character development. And it’s a good thing too. Shoot ‘Em Up couldn’t care less about such finer points. It’s one preposterous action sequence after another; a film in which the escalation of violence is

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-78083635065462787452007-08-25T12:12:00.000-07:002007-08-29T08:09:58.851-07:00

This is an abridged version of a review I wrote for Christianity Today Movies. To read the rest of this review, click here.Erik Kernan (Josh Hartnett) is a sports reporter for the Denver Times whose work, while solid, is uninspiring and tame — bland copy lacking the stimulation necessary to evolve into truly great journalism. When Erik confronts his boss Metz (Alan Alda) to ask him why he

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-55403622565085721382007-08-22T09:50:00.000-07:002007-08-23T13:07:41.836-07:00

I recently interviewed Rod Lurie, director of The Contender and the upcoming Resurrecting the Champ for Christianity Today Movies. The following is a transcript of that discussion. To read the original article, click here. My review of the film will follow in a few days:Rod Lurie graduated from West Point and served four years in the U.S. Army. Perfect background for a filmmaker, right?For Lurie,

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-7779899618133964592007-08-21T18:19:00.001-07:002007-08-21T18:20:30.939-07:00

Well it's over. I could have done without all the rehashes--I can find those online--but it was fun meeting all the actors.While the fake tension was obnoxious, I have to admit I was kind of surprised the winner was not Adam. While I completely agree with his third place finish, I thought he'd end higher--he picked the best films to re-screen.So, Will walks away with it all! Will was always my

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-52381254551536957852007-08-21T14:00:00.000-07:002007-08-20T20:18:49.460-07:00

The Nanny Diaries takes place in an urban fairy tale version of our own reality in which colors pop just a little bit brighter, men and women are just a little bit more beautiful, villains are just a little bit more repugnant, and a poor girl from New Jersey can fly around Manhattan on a red umbrella like Mary Poppins—at least in her imagination. Annie Braddock (Scarlett Johansson) is a recent

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-17288456165526062782007-08-20T20:15:00.000-07:002007-08-20T10:09:24.694-07:00

Alright, this question is for all the guys out there:Guys, this weekend, I watched The Bourne Ultimatum again, this time with my wife who hadn’t yet seen it. I was gleefully excited for the film to begin. When it was over, I offhandedly said something about wishing I was Jason Bourne. My wife was taken aback and insisted that I clarify my statement. “I wish I knew how to shoot like that,” I said.

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-501732768715874622007-08-20T08:59:00.000-07:002007-08-19T20:15:20.237-07:00

In 1953, French actor and director Jacques Tati invented the character of Monsieur Hulot, a nearly mute, good-hearted but clumsy man who is so flummoxed by the modern world that he causes accidents and misunderstandings everywhere he goes. The film was Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot (Mr. Hulot’s Holiday) about a visit to a seaside resort, and it would make Tati so famous that he would later

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-65063533936087408142007-08-14T20:24:00.000-07:002007-08-16T08:54:20.715-07:00

The virus strikes with blinding speed. During the onset of infection, it attacks the host with an almost unbelievable ferocity. It immediately sets to work obliterating all shreds of individuality and personality, replacing it with its own matrix. When the disease is done, only a shell of the former host remains. In its place is something new, revolting and nearly devoid of intelligence.Now,

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-17297557216413439782007-08-14T20:09:00.000-07:002007-08-14T20:24:00.653-07:00

Tonight's episode doesn't even deserve a mention. Taking a page from American Idol, the show simply replayed what the remaining candidates felt were their two strongest films of the season. We've seen all the creativity were going to see from On the Lot.Sam's departure came as no surprise, though I felt that Will's choice of films did not put his best foot forward, making way for a possible Adam

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-77457003879990907402007-08-10T13:05:00.000-07:002007-08-09T22:02:11.705-07:00

The trailer for Be Kind Rewind, Michel Gondry's (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep) new film, is up and it looks amazing, in terms of humor, craft and cinematic self-reflexivity. Check it out here.

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-58390176270876479662007-08-08T08:03:00.000-07:002007-08-08T08:07:59.661-07:00

IMDb ran a fascinating news story this morning. Instead of analyzing what top movie stars are paid, Forbes worked out which stars represent the best investment, dollar for dollar, of Hollywood's money. Not what their individual films have brought in, but an across the board return for their salaries.Matt Damon offers the best box office returns, at twice the value of Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks. He

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-79575439074033270222007-08-08T04:50:00.000-07:002007-08-08T05:36:16.924-07:00

Another Trek cast member is set and explains why the character of Chekov was not listed on the casting call sheet I posted earlier in the week. According to The Hollywood reporter, J.J. Abrams has cast Russian-born actor, Anton Yelchin (Alpha Dog, Charlie Bartlett) as navigator Pavel Chekov in the new film. While that news is confirmed, IGN Movies has revealed something more...grizzled...to chew

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-14974424722740328442007-08-08T04:48:00.000-07:002007-08-08T05:35:40.183-07:00

Zach is gone. Like Will, I thought he had it all sown up. Wow America, the last time you were this near-sighted you voted Melinda Dolittle off American Idol. The good news is that, like Melinda, Zach’s future is probably already set, despite losing the show.So, after getting through all the obnoxious filler last night, we had only four films to watch.Will’s Yes Men was outlandish and clever, with

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-72856510740330287462007-08-07T07:58:00.002-07:002007-08-07T11:25:44.311-07:00

Stardust has set itself up as the next The Princess Bride. It purports to be an enchanting tale full of dashing princes, evil witches, flying pirates, and mythical creatures. It wants you to believe that it is a rip-roaring thrill ride, a wondrous tale of romance, adventure and unrealized destiny. It has the audaciously to claim to be nothing short of pure magic. And so it is.Stardust is utterly

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-74547607443813949792007-08-07T07:58:00.001-07:002007-08-09T09:33:07.964-07:00

There is an old lynchpin of logic causality that states: just because you are capable of doing something, it does not necessarily follow that you must or should do that thing. Someone should have introduced that simple concept to Brett Ratner before he gathered up his team and traipsed halfway around the world to make yet one more tired retread in the Rush Hour franchise.Rush Hour 3 opens on a

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-65080579858435105912007-08-06T09:54:00.001-07:002007-08-06T10:02:07.603-07:00

Up till now, the speculation was that the hush-hush script of J.J. Abram's new Star Trek film was an early Kirk/Spock story dealing with their adventures at Starfleet Academy (an idea I've loathed from the start).But today, that idea was shot down with the posting of Paramount's actual casting breakdowns, including calls for almost every member of the original cast! It appears that the film isn't

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-6392331042009790662007-08-03T13:24:00.000-07:002007-08-03T07:28:33.089-07:00

Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) are best friends with a uniquely co-dependent relationship. But all that is about to end. In just three weeks, they graduate from high school and brainy Evan is heading off to Dartmouth while slacker Seth stays behind at a state school. Seth is foul-mouthed, selfish, volatile and sex-obsessed, while Evan is sweet, introverted, and sincerely cares about

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-30040243486058289892007-08-03T04:14:00.000-07:002007-08-03T14:48:19.311-07:00

Watch Colbert honor the late Ingmar Bergman in his own, unique way here.

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-42576034773449277492007-08-02T14:03:00.000-07:002007-08-02T07:53:39.560-07:00

Recently, one of my wife’s co-workers had us over to their apartment, along with several other couples, for a wine tasting party. It was a sumptuous affair, with numerous varieties of reds all from all across France’s rich Bordeaux region.We participated in three tastings (each with three vintages), the first of which was done blind to ensure our impartiality. The reason for the objectivity was

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-58037727690724584802007-08-02T12:26:00.000-07:002007-08-02T07:53:59.747-07:00

...and wrote me into Springfield, this is what I'd look like.To see what you'ed look like as a character on The Simpsons, click here.

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-39415382357845897342007-08-01T05:00:00.000-07:002007-08-01T07:26:50.886-07:00

Edith Piaf (Marion Cotillard) was born into pain. The daughter of a street performer and circus contortionist, the girl was bundled off to live with her grandmother, a brothel matron, while her father was sent to the trenches of World War I. There, ravaged by illness and even blinded for a time, Edith found some modicum of happiness among the prostitutes who became like surrogate mothers. But

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-3309878393876741192007-08-01T04:31:00.000-07:002007-08-02T14:09:32.621-07:00

This past weekend, one of my dearest friends since childhood traveled from Los Angeles to New York City with the rest of his superbly talented improv comedy troupe, The Great Adventure, to perform on the Upright Citizens Brigade’s stage. Aside from spending a few great days “ketching” up I got to check out a series of spec commercials the group has filmed for a contest that Heinz is putting on.

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-47502759867220931442007-07-31T09:16:00.000-07:002007-08-01T07:11:34.531-07:00

At this point in the game, I like everyone so no one’s departure is without pain. I was scared for Zach—his imperilment only goes to show that people vote according to the last film seen, not the totality of a filmmaker’s work. Can I just say, dopes!So the theme this week was the American car. Thankfully no one tried to remake American Graffiti as I assumed they might.Adam's Driving Under the

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-14808294784372499872007-07-31T04:49:00.000-07:002007-07-31T10:04:54.901-07:00

“Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” –St. John 8:32, inscribed at CIA headquartersThere is a misconception out there, among those who read film reviews, that those of us who write them do so with utter dispassion and cold, steely resolve. And while it is true that we feel the need to be analytical and methodical with even those films we find praiseworthy, we are not,

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-26751803387836062922007-07-31T04:34:00.000-07:002007-07-31T04:56:09.971-07:00

Yesterday the world learned that the superb Ingmar Bergman passed away. Today, the great Michelangelo Antonioni is dead. He was 94.The celebrated Italian director whose modernist style heavily influenced film aesthetics, was responsible for such classics as L'Avventura, in which Antonioni explored the emotional sterility of modern society, Blowup, in which a photographer inadvertently captures a

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-58828847637989298562007-07-30T21:39:00.000-07:002007-07-31T04:56:51.846-07:00

Ingmar Bergman has died. One of the towering masters of modern cinema and easily one of my favorites, Bergman died on his secluded island retreat Monday at the age of 89.Using the severe, claustrophobic gloom of his native Sweden’s unremitting winter nights as well as its soft summer evenings as a cinematic backdrop, Bergman confronted horrendous subjects such as marital disintegration, mortality

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-84173835606838987552007-07-29T16:28:00.000-07:002007-07-30T16:51:24.724-07:00

It's official! Check out the video here.

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-34301666778963600122007-07-28T09:37:00.000-07:002007-07-31T05:03:24.894-07:00

That’s it. I’m done. I finished my MA Comprehensive Examination on Friday (after pulling my first ever all-nighter), and now I have nothing more hanging over my head but the usual ins and outs of my final semester, just a month away. The test felt like a final’s week and I chose to address questions dealing with genre hybridity (Firefly anyone) and temporality within Groundhog Day. Hey, if you’re

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-52049408414943091052007-07-25T07:03:00.000-07:002007-07-25T07:07:17.143-07:00

Rough clip from Moxie documentary from Dan and Vimeo.This is a rough cut of the first few minutes from David Lowery's documentary about the Moxie, a small independent theater in Springfield, Missouri where one of my best friends works. The sound has yet to be mixed, the compression is low, the title is temporary, and there's still a long way to go, but this will give you an idea of how

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-23671547128808381312007-07-25T04:15:00.000-07:002007-07-25T04:39:34.313-07:00

Kenny. Is. Gone! It's the first time I've actually stood up and cheered at a filmmaker's departure.I didn't see Mateen going. Although, I complained last week that Shalini didn't deserve to go home based, not on her one stumble but on the body of her work. Logically, you could say the same for Mateen. If you are going by his body of work, then he was ripe to go. Now the entire "cast" of

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-76817420466099916582007-07-25T04:06:00.000-07:002007-07-25T04:15:14.174-07:00

There's some Star Trek casting news to share.Apparently J.J. Abrams wants someone younger than Matt Damon to play young Capt. Kirk, despite the fact that Damon has indicated he might be interested. Things are a bit more solid on the First Officer front--Heroes star Zachary Quinto (Sylar) is reported to be the new Spock. Story is he's been pushing himself hard for the role. Fascinating.So far as

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-73441316324995103822007-07-24T04:19:00.000-07:002007-07-24T04:26:11.842-07:00

If you’re a foodie, then this has been your summer. First Waitress served up a delectable confection of sugary delight, then Ratatouille arrived with an explosion of gastronomic enchantment, and now No Reservations appears to whet your appetite yet again. Although No Reservations serves up a menu of Franco-American fusion cuisine, the film actually has more in common with the well-known joke

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-8303512518836635662007-07-24T03:36:00.000-07:002007-07-24T05:45:59.339-07:00

I write film and TV reviews at DVDFanatic.com. Here are synopsis' and links to those reviews.For decades, James Bond was the unassailable gold standard for the spy movie genre. Then, in 2001, came a remake of a TV movie based on a decades old novel, The Bourne Identity. And nothing was ever the same again.It’s not just any film that can claim to have made such an impact in Hollywood that it sent

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-44868084046403601392007-07-23T04:09:00.000-07:002007-07-23T04:20:01.529-07:00

Christianity Today rarely runs movie reviews in the magazine unless it is for something along the lines of The Passion of the Christ. Instead, the reviews run on their online movie page. Occasionally, film reviews make it on paper for a special arts section. Such is this August's edition, and a condensed version of my review for Into Great Silence, a film which Rotten Tomatoes recently put forth

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-71870728901037084832007-07-20T14:36:00.000-07:002007-07-20T14:42:11.251-07:00

OK, so maybe I’m being a bit dramatic, but don't expect too much over the next week or so.This morning marked the beginning of my MA Comprehensive Examination--NYU's alternative to the master's thesis. It is a series of essay questions that we have one week to research and answer in the form of multiple essays.So that is where I'll be until I turn the Comp in next Friday. Until then, wish me luck

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-34615014392536103152007-07-19T05:33:00.000-07:002007-07-19T05:41:18.521-07:00

Several of you have been enquiring as to my safety after last night’s steam pipe explosion here in New York City. As many of you know, I work only three blocks from where the explosion occurred and use the subway at Grand Central Terminal to get to and from my office.I am fine. In fact, I passed right by the spot where the explosion occurred on my way into Grand Central mere minutes before the

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-67651681098478083812007-07-18T09:30:00.000-07:002007-07-18T09:34:43.480-07:00

NOTE: A few months back, I had a chance to see one of the best films of last year (I will update my Best Of 2006 list accordingly) though I am just now finding the time to write about it. While the film is no longer in theaters, it should arrive on DVD shortly and I highly encourage everyone to see it.Meta•mor•pho•sis, noun, from the Greek. 1a: change of physical form, structure, or substance; 1b

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-73935905748847723322007-07-18T08:27:00.001-07:002007-07-18T08:29:03.912-07:00

Yep, as predicted, both ladies went home. While they did have the least successful films last week, I am struck by how fickly the public votes on a week to week basis. No thought seems to go into the filmmaker’s overall body of work, only the last thing seen. It should, perhaps, come as no surprise to me that America has the attention span of a gnat. Sam’s Key Witness was a sloppy mess. When you

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-32662855911677055102007-07-17T23:42:00.000-07:002007-07-17T11:46:49.632-07:00

You know a movie is going to be bad when Rob Schneider shows up dressed as a Chinese wedding chapel minister. No, come to think of it, you know of movie is going to be bad when Rob Schneider shows up at all.I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is the story of Chuck Levine (Adam Sandler) and Larry Valentine (Kevin James), some of New York City’s finest firefighters and best friends since their days

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-59657692299851015722007-07-17T21:31:00.000-07:002007-07-16T18:04:15.834-07:00

I recently attended a screening of Sunshine at a small Tribeca theater for which director Danny Boyle had flown in from London to sit down with MTV’s Kurt Loder and answer questions of the press. He answered a barrage of querrys, both about Sunshine, his past and future projects, and his philosophy of filmmaking.I was particularly interested in the spirituality that resonates within all of his

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-49684550471573733552007-07-16T13:55:00.000-07:002007-07-16T18:03:29.775-07:00

Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) is something utterly unique in the movie business — a director who makes horror movies without ever intending to; a director who skirts the line of “the Hollywood ending” without ever crossing it; a director who creates fables of relentless despair and then, when all seems completely lost, inevitably infuses a flicker of hope. The year is 2057 and our

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-53100939504710720672007-07-15T16:47:00.000-07:002007-07-16T08:21:26.984-07:00

A few days ago, Turner Classic Movies ran “Spielberg on Spielberg,” an hour and a half long retrospective on the work of one of cinema’s greatest masters with no narration or back story — just Spielberg’s voiceover and interviews. I finally got the chance to watch it thanks to the generosity of a friend who burned me a copy after I discovered TCM was not part of my basic cable package.What a joy

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-52799483386973178982007-07-12T00:00:00.000-07:002007-07-11T22:06:03.476-07:00

Last week a friend told me of a recent encounter in Europe with a gentleman who has based his perceptions about the United States entirely on the films he’s watched. When she asked him for examples, he listed off what she considered to be a horrifyingly distorted and misrepresentative sampling. When he asked her which movies he should be watching in order to get a more accurate feel for American

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-26546929736713781652007-07-11T11:27:00.000-07:002007-07-11T09:03:59.601-07:00

They don't call it "the net" for nothing. It is beguiling to go trolling for your own name on the Internet and find the often dense and tangled intersections of couplings. I recently went looking for where my film reviews are linked and was amazed at the confluence.My reviews have been linked at IMDb for about a year, but now, thanks to Christianity Today, I’m also appearing on Rotten Tomatoes (I

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24783455.post-35289009087360232132007-07-10T08:21:00.000-07:002007-07-10T09:07:08.650-07:00

“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” is generally regarded as fans’ least favorite book, so it was a foregone conclusion that whomever was appointed to helm the film version was going to have an uphill battle before them, especially given the fact that the high water mark of the series had already been set by Alfonzo Cuarón’s magisterial The Prisoner of Azkaban. As if thumbing their noses

Brandonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00006626882906247453noreply@blogger.com1