“If grown men living out their every adolescent fantasy constitutes a happy ending, then Old School is an absolute fairy tale.” School Dazed In Old School, laughs come at the expense of taste Perhaps the reason Saturday Night Live alum Will Ferrell has found more success in Hollywood than most of his fellow SNL graduates is that … Continue reading →

It seems just about every British film washing up on American shores these days is heralded by somebody (usually an overly enthusiastic P.R. flack) as “The Next ‘Full Monty’!!!” So it should come as no surprise that people are saying precisely that about Once Upon A Time In The Midlands, especially since this latest English … Continue reading →

“Without giving us a glimpse at what lay underneath the garish costumes, this Party never even gets started.” Monster’s Ball Club Kid pic has style to spare but no substance From the beginning, Party Monster has faced an unenviable challenge here in New York. True, giddy glamsters have created a mildly feverish pre-opening buzz around this dramatized … Continue reading →

It’s hard to believe the grungy goth chick with the tattoos and combat boots at the center of Pieces of April is actually former Dawson’s Creek cutie-pie Katie Holmes. Made over here as a very credible East Village hipster, Holmes delivers a fantastic performance that all but erases any lingering memories of her girl-next-door TV … Continue reading →

“Porn Theatre is an erotically charged film, but also a thoughtful one. The sex within it is not sensationalized; if anything, it’s downright dismal. Are gay audiences really so single-minded that they’ll only go to a movie if it offers the possibility of full-frontal nudity? Apparently, Strand is counting on it.” Much twittering has occurred … Continue reading →

Pleased to Eat You Hannibal the Cannibal returns Director Michael Mann’s 1986 film Manhunter marked the first screen appearance by cannibalizing serial killer Hannibal Lecter (played then by actor Brian Cox). It’s an exceedingly intense thriller, but like Mann’s other hit of the era, TV’s Miami Vice, it suffers in retrospect from terribly dated art … Continue reading →

Based on the memoir of the same name by Beverly Donofrio, Riding in Cars With Boys is a genuinely compelling story fashioned into a merely competent film.  With her first movie in five years, director Penny Marshall pushes all the usual buttons, deftly triggering both laughter and tears, a testament to her technical ability, if … Continue reading →

A Bad Trip Comic look at an epic drug binge is a real downer It’s very telling that the director of Spun, Jonas Akerlund, claims he finds true satisfaction as a filmmaker only during the editing stage. Akerlund, best known for directing the controversial Prodigy video for “Smack My Bitch Up” and Madonna’s “Ray of … Continue reading →