Yearly Archives: 2013

With all the idiotic new-to-releasing posturing by FilmDistrict over Spike Lee’s “Oldboy,” forcing critics to sign embargo agreements, etc., you knew that old boy had botched it. And sure enough, reviews for the remake of Chan-wook Park’s Korean mystery-thriller have … Continue reading →

So many movies about “The Beat Generation,” so few that have the rhythm. “Kill Your Darlings” joins “Howl” and “On the Road” and “Big Sur” in the recent run of offbeat and off-the-beat indie films taking aim at that post-World … Continue reading →

The problem with remakes is that you can’t “un-see” the original film. And that’s especially true of Chan-Wook Park’s searing 2003 hit, “Oldboy.”The new Spike Lee/Hollywood version deviates in a lot of minor and a few important ways. But try … Continue reading →

Forget the eight forgettable tunes and Disney’s “Frozen” finds a pleasant home in the ranks of Disney’s animated “princess” musicals. The tunes may place it closer to “Tangled” than “The Little Mermaid,” but there’s wit and whimsy in this 53rd … Continue reading →

The Jason Statham vehicle “Homefront” is such a generic tough-guy-against-the-odds ’80s style actioner that you’d swear Sly Stallone starred in it. He did, back in the day. Or versions of it.This one, Stallone just scripted. From the set-up — ex … Continue reading →

“Black Nativity” is a musical updating of Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes’ play, based loosely — very loosely — on the way Jesus of Nazareth entered the world in a manger in Bethlehem. And once it finds its footing, this … Continue reading →

Homer’s “The Odyssey” was the inspiration behind the Coen brothers’ “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou.” And that ancient epic provides the loose structure and coded, contemplative essence of their latest, “Inside Llewyn Davis,” a brooding folk-music-on-the-brink-of Dylan period piece built … Continue reading →