Movie Review – The Book of Eli (2010)
by NIR SHALEV
The Hughes Brothers are not household names, and probably never will be but in the artsy section of our minds we remember the movies Menace II Society (1993), Dead Presidents (1995), and the grossly underrated From Hell (2001). Now they bring us a vision that is reminiscent of the more recent graphic novel adaptations, movies like Sin City and 300. But this film contains what the others lack and that is, a certain degree of intellectuality. There are many parallels apparent, many ironic gestures, and overall it’s a gorgeous looking film. Read more 
Thinking Outside the Multiplex
by MIKE MACCOLLUM
Imports from Norway, Britain and India open in Indiana theaters this weekend, but aren’t likely to appeal to most art house patrons – the first two films (Hidden and The Reeds) are part of Horrorfest, and the third, Goa, apparently lacks English subtitles. A limited-release film from the US, Preacher’s Kid, also starts Friday in Indiana – and while there is no new art film at the Keystone Art Cinema this week, several of them are holding over there…. and next week brings yet another possible appearance of the American version of John Woo’s Red Cliff at the Keystone Art Cinema. Read on below for more on these films, and this week’s complete listing of films opening in limited release around the country. Read more
DVD of the Week – Review of Bright Star (2009)
by HELEN GEIB
Writer-director Jane Campion’s complex, fascinating Bright Star is a joint biopic of the great Romantic poetic John Keats and his fiancee Fanny Brawne. The film is a feminist rehabilitation of Brawne, the victim of character assassination by the Great Man’s fevered admirers who regarded her as at best unworthy of their idol’s passion and at worst directly responsible for his untimely death at 25 from tuberculosis. In humanizing both lovers, the film does a service to the poet as well. Read more
Movie Review – Drunken Monkey (2002)
by HELEN GEIB
Director-choreographer Lau Kar-Leung also stars in Drunken Monkey as Man Biu, a master of Monkeyish Fist (I’m quoting the subtitles here) a/k/a Drunken Monkey Fist. Man is operations head for a security service and an honorable man. When he discovers his brother-in-arms and chief subordinate Pao is conniving with their boss Yui in opium smuggling, he is treacherously betrayed by Pao, set upon by Yui and the service’s foot soldiers, and barely escapes with his life. Read more
Movie Review – A Single Man (2009)
by HELEN GEIB
I haven’t been able to decide exactly what I think of A Single Man. It’s not often I get to this point- having given it quite a bit of thought, and about to write a review- and still feel uncertain about a movie. This time I’m working through my thoughts on the film as I write. Read more
Thinking Outside the Multiplex
by MIKE MACCOLLUM
It’s another week of mixed blessings here, but the good (we finally get Crazy Heart and the Indian epic Veer opens as well) outweighs the bad (both Broken Embraces and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus are down to two shows per day at the Keystone Art Cinema, and the latter film is vanishing from most other theaters around the state as well). And even more good news is in store next week, which promises a very special screening of Touch of Evil, with… – well, I won’t spoil it in the intro. Just read on below for more – and this week’s complete listing of limited release films opening around the country. Read more
DVD of the Week – Review of In the Loop (2009)
by TOM NIXON
The only sitcom over the last decade I liked more than Armando Iannucci’s The Thick of It was Arrested Development, which says a lot about how high my expectations were for this feature-length version. It’s not a The Thick of It movie, exactly, as there are only a handful of recurring characters and most have different names, plus the setting is rather more sprawling, concerned as it is with the lead-up to the war (in Iraq, no doubt, though that’s never made specific) on both sides of the Atlantic. But it’s made out of the same stuff; a razor-sharp satire revolving around a host of fast-talking higher-ups as they spin their political webs, whilst worming their way out of problems created by their own ineptitude and egomania. A breakneck, modernized, large-scale Yes Minister, for those of you up to speed on your classic British sitcoms. Read more
Movie Review – Leap Year (2010)
by HELEN GEIB
Leap Year is an atrocious romantic comedy starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode as two unlikable people who dislike each other right up to the point the plot requires them to realize they’re madly in love. Read more
Movie Review – The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
by NIR SHALEV
You either love him or hate him, he’s either a genius auteur or clinically insane. He has fantastic ups and grossly unsatisfactory downs. But say what you will about writer/director Terry Gilliam, his focused mind can mesmerize audiences. Read more
Anime Feature Film Review – Porco Rosso (1992)
by HELEN GEIB
Porco Rosso is an anime feature film by writer-director Hayao Miyazaki with the unexpected setting of the Adriatic Sea c. 1930. The film’s hero Porco Rosso is a WWI Italian flying ace in self-imposed exile from his homeland. He lives in a tent on an idyllic secluded beach that he reaches in his seaplane; a generator-powered radio is his only contact with the outside world. He makes his living, such as it is, from apprehending seaplane-borne “air pirates” for the reward money. Most of the money goes toward supplies and repairs for the plane. Read more
