This is surprising, given that the Japanese horror feature was directed by Takashi Shimizu, the guy who birthed The Grudge franchise. Not that he’s an infallible filmmaker by any stretch of the imagination, but Labyrinth finds him revisiting those reliable themes, with the added dimension — literally — of playing in 3-D. (Well Go USA’s […]
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Strip Strip Hooray!
If you’ve seen one of these black-and-white oddities, you’ve seen them all, whether or not they’re included here. I challenge even the most patient among you to sit through all half-dozen. Even with breaks, I’m not certain it can be done without cracking. Title notwithstanding, striptease is just a part of the proceedings, with pure-vanilla […]
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Haywire
Similarly, he’s now built a movie around MMA fighter Gina Carano. The difference is that Haywire is no throwaway, for-the-fun-of-it flick, but a legitimate art film and literate espionage vehicle. Double-crossed in a Barcelona job, “company” agent Mallory Kane (Carano) finds herself set up — by her boss and lover, no less (Ewan McGregor, Beginners) […]
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The Avengers
During its two hours and 22 minutes, plenty of time existed for it to grab my attention. That moment never arrived. The major problems, as I see them: • It’s clearly overstuffed. Everyone complained when Batman and Spider-Man sequels stacked three villains against a single superhero. The Avengers gives us one main bad guy (albeit […]
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The Story of Rock ’n’ Roll Comics
The comics were “unauthorized and proud of it” biographies of famous bands, from KISS to New Kids on the Block, all printed by Todd Loren. They had their followers (Alice Cooper, Mojo Nixon, Cynthia Plaster Caster) and their detractors, resulting in plenty of legal issues (no pun intended). Was Loren, the film asks, a First […]
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The House Across the Street / Homicide
House is the better of the two, opening on the suburbian utopia of Hopkins Street on the morning of April 20. It’s a placid existence, complete with home delivery from the milkman. But when a phony postal worker knocks off a would-be trial witness on the watch of a rookie cop, there goes the neighborhood. […]
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Madison County
• “What are the chances … we take it, then get completely lost?”• “You kids best be gettin’ out of here.”• “Hello? Anybody home?”• “Maybe we should just go back.” They don’t go back. But at least in this indie effort, they’re off to meet an author. In other slasher films, the main goal is […]
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Damsels in Distress
It’s a near-perfect work, but I recall being fazed by the biggest laugh it got in that night’s Lawrence, Kan., audience: a punch line hinging on the word “pejoratively.” Who uses $2 words to tell jokes? Even Stillman’s Oscar-nominated debut of four years prior, Metropolitan, didn’t strike me as so … well, Harvardissue thesaurus. Some […]
Posted inMusic
Admirals — Admirals
Seconds into “Sirens,” one can tell that Radiohead and Muse register high on the band’s radar, yet more bound by convention than either. If that reads as a dig, it’s not necessarily meant to be; as much as Admirals obviously lust after that huge, space-rock sound, it also strives to be catchy and accessible. It’s […]
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Anger management
Mike Ness has been guilty of many things — more than he’d like to remember, or even can remember — but holding back on his emotions isn’t one of them. As the singer, guitarist and all-around force behind the three-decades-strong punk band Social Distortion, the man has summoned plenty of personal demons in hard-charging, college-radio […]