That would be bad, however, because Marvel has saved the best for last. It’s miles better than that Norse god with the magic hammer, and just a hair below the greatness of Robert Downey Jr.’s first go-round in his iron armor, both of whom will team with Cap in next summer’s guaranteed nerdgasm, “The Avengers.” […]
Rod Lott
Posted inArts & Culture
Poetry
It’s ironic that “Poetry” would open with the image of a dead body floating near the film’s superimposed title, but the best of world cinema subverts viewers’ expectations. Director Lee Chang-dong (“Secret Sunshine”) does that through the entirety of this Cannes-blessed work from South Korea, even before it begins: Doesn’t a drama about a woman […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Brother’s Justice
The veteran of MTV’s celebrity prank series “Punk’d” makes that move in “Brother’s Justice,” but alas, it’s only a mockumentary. Shepard gets this not-so-great idea to transform himself into a martial-arts star, and this faux film follows him trying to make that faux film, from wheeling in his producer pal Nate Tuck, to taking meetings […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Turbulent Skies
While the disaster-movie craze of the 1970s and its rebirth in the late 1990s are long behind us, you wouldn’t know it with writer/director Fred Olen Ray’s take, which may as well as have been titled “Turbulence 4.” (Yes, two sequels to “Turbulence” actually got made.) Consider this: An airplane’s maiden flight controlled by new […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Cracks
While she’s attracting attention on Starz’s hit series “Camelot,” the public should also follow her to this low-key thriller. She plays Miss G, a teacher at an out-of-the-way British boarding school for girls in the 1930s. Amid an otherwise old-maid faculty, her youth and beauty make her popular among the students. On the surface, she’s […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The King of Fighters
In “Fighters,” three ancient artifacts — a sword, a shield and a chain-metal necklace that looks like Red Sonja’s thong — combine to unleash energy that opens a gateway to another dimension where characters compete in underground fighting tournaments to become the King of Fighters. There, logic and physics are on hold, tunnels are awash […]
Posted inArts & Culture
13 Assassins
And this is the same man who made “Audition”? Yes, but don’t worry: He just saves most of it for the second half. Rest assured, heads will roll, literally. See the film for its visuals, not for its story. Martial arts films rarely are imbued with much in the way of plot, and this one […]
Posted inNews
Woody wagon
Instead, Mr. Lott appears to have phoned in a meta-review, a review of a review. Less of an examination of the film itself, Mr. Lott chose to devote much of his column for lobbing thinly veiled barbs in the form of unsourced reviews, generalizations and his own insecurities about Mr. Allen, his reputation and his […]