While 2005’s “Gurozuka” isn’t a carbon copy of “The Ring,” I doubt there will be many American reviews that fail to drop the name. Uh, including this one. The females-only film follows two high school groups — the do-gooder, two-member Movie Club and the snooty, three-member Drama Club — as they venture deep into the […]
Rod Lott
Posted inArts & Culture
The Expendables: Extended Director’s Cut
Running 11 minutes longer, it’s superior, Sly says, to what we saw in theaters. I’ve gotta be honest: This is my third viewing of “The Expendables,” and other than the awful power ballad that now hangs atop the opening credits, I can’t say I noticed marked differences. (Then again, I’m not a movie memorizer. I […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Expendables: Extended Director’s Cut
Running 11 minutes longer, it’s superior, Sly says, to what we saw in theaters. I’ve gotta be honest: This is my third viewing of “The Expendables,” and other than the awful power ballad that now hangs atop the opening credits, I can’t say I noticed marked differences. (Then again, I’m not a movie memorizer. I […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Reel good
Rod Lott’s picks With even fewer great movies in 2011 than 2010, I was unsure whether I’d be able to find enough to fill the standard 10 slots. (Oddly, Tom Cruise to the rescue!) I’m also unsure what it says about me that I know general audiences would not be able to handle four of […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Hunters / Removal
Looks fairly cool, no? At least I thought so. Turns out, however, that the trailer is hardly representative of the film that “The Hunters“ really is. For starters, it doesn’t even show its leading man! That is Chris Briant, a Frenchman whose grasp of the English language is sub-Schwarzeneggerian. He plays an idealistic investigator fresh […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Hunters / Removal
Looks fairly cool, no? At least I thought so. Turns out, however, that the trailer is hardly representative of the film that “The Hunters“ really is. For starters, it doesn’t even show its leading man! That is Chris Briant, a Frenchman whose grasp of the English language is sub-Schwarzeneggerian. He plays an idealistic investigator fresh […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Mildred Pierce
In a way, Todd Haynes’ adaptation of “Mildred Pierce” for HBO is as subversive as the “Superstar” of 1988 — the difference being the manner of millions and a legal release. A more-faithful remake of the 1945 Oscar winner, “Mildred Pierce” adheres tightly to the time, place and dialogue of James M. Cain’s 1941 novel, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Mildred Pierce
In a way, Todd Haynes’ adaptation of “Mildred Pierce” for HBO is as subversive as the “Superstar” of 1988 — the difference being the manner of millions and a legal release. A more-faithful remake of the 1945 Oscar winner, “Mildred Pierce” adheres tightly to the time, place and dialogue of James M. Cain’s 1941 novel, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Oklahoma film critics group names ‘The Artist’ best film of 2011
It also earned two additional wins for Michel Hazanavicius in the categories of Best Director and Best Screenplay, Original. Set in the early days of Hollywood’s motion picture industry, “The Artist” celebrates the wonders of film as it explores the hazards of celebrity in the structure of a charming love story. Like another of the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Portlandia: Season One / The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret: Series One
The short answer is yes, and not really, in that order. I didn’t think I’d like “Portlandia” much, because Fred Armisen never has done much for me in his time on “Saturday Night Live.” But now I totally understand what “SNL” godfather Lorne Michaels ever saw in him. The free-reign work he does here with […]