From the start, Come Undone illustrates the differences in sexual attitudes between European and American films. In an early scene, after an afternoon of cruising on the beach, a boy retires to his room to masturbate.  Where an American film might imply the act, French director Sébastien Lifshitz instead presents close-ups of the boy’s penis … Continue reading →

Is it just me, or is Chris Kattan kind of cute?  Okay, it’s just me.  Okay, he’s not really cute… at all.  But, hey, he sure is funny.  Which is a good thing, because if he weren’t, there would be absolutely nothing positive to say about  his new flick, Corky Romano. Despite Kattan’s comic abilities, … Continue reading →

Say what you will about Britney, but she’s no dumb blonde.  Unlike fellow pop diva Mariah Carey, whose acting debut was a wooden performance in a melodramatic vanity project of epic proportions, Britney has chosen a cheery road-trip flick in which to launch her film career.  It’s a smart move; Crossroads is silly and exuberant … Continue reading →

With its dazzling opening credit sequence, Daredevil begins on an unquestionably promising note. Stylized drawings of a gigantic metropolis give way to a CGI cityscape suitably grim for a crime-fighting crusader. But then, a terrible thing happens. With no warning, the first voiceover narration begins, delivered in Ben Affleck’s distinctly inflection-free monotone. And just like … Continue reading →

I’ve never been a big fan of war movies.  Somehow, seeing John Wayne or Kirk Douglas hunkering down in a muddy bunker, smoking Camels and reminiscing about the girls back home never held any appeal to me. I don’t necessarily hate the genre, but for every Schindler’s List, there’s an In Love and War, for … Continue reading →

With Enough, Jennifer Lopez – Ms. Lo to you and me – continues steadily on her journey from respected actress to camp icon. Now, I love a good wife-on-the-run-in-disguise movie as much as the next guy, and since there hasn’t been a decent one since the Ashley Judd wig-a-thon Double Jeopardy, I was really looking … Continue reading →

Oh, the misfortune of living in a Puritanical society. We can’t buy liquor on Sundays. Topless dancers can’t dance topless. And never in this Bible-thumping, God-fearing country would you have a government-funded television network sponsoring an erotic film contest. Germany, however, is more progressive. There, a state-run network did sponsor such a competition, broadcasting the … Continue reading →

Say what you will about writer-director Todd Haynes, but there’s no denying the man has a flair for the visual. His Safe, about a woman suffering from an environmental illness, unfolded against a perfectly drawn, clinically sterile background. And in Velvet Goldmine, Haynes recreated, with startling accuracy, the look, feel and sound of the Glam … Continue reading →

Festival in Cannes is built upon a wickedly clever idea:  shoot a movie about the business of moviemaking using the world’s most glamorous film festival as a backdrop.  With a never-ending parade of haut monde cavorting on the gorgeous beaches of one of the most beautiful seaside villages in the world, the Cannes Film Festival … Continue reading →

Ghost World begins with the high school graduation of best friends Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johansson).  Life (including a graduation ceremony sponsored by Tropicana and Dunkin’ Donuts) has left the girls decidedly cynical.  Much too cool for school, they’ve decided to forego college in favor of finding jobs and moving in together. Ghost … Continue reading →