The Fall (2006) Movie Review

Best known for directing commercials and music videos (‘Losing My Religion’ for R.E.M. is perhaps his most famous effort), director Tarsem Singh (just Tarsem to you and me) applies his photographer’s eye and considerable imagination to his latest project, “The Fall.” A film of audacious visual...

June 29th, 2008 | Read More

Wanted (2008) Movie Review #2

At the rate that Hollywood is cranking through comic books to fill up its studios, film worthy comics may soon become as scarce as crude oil. The latest entry is “Wanted,” helmed by Russian action golden boy du juor, Timur Bekmambetov (director of the currently in progress “Night Watch” vampire...

June 29th, 2008 | Read More

Kite Liberator (2008) Movie Review

The original “Kite” was a controversial, yet fascinating exercise in style and mood. Thematically similar to Luc Besson’s near-classic “Le Femme Nikita,” which was, at its core, a remake of the classic tale ‘Pygmalion,’ “Kite” explored the dark and seedy subjects of child abuse, emotional...

May 5th, 2008 | Read More

Iron Man (2008) Movie Review

Hollywood has been mining the comic book shelves for quite some time, but has been hitting it particularly heavily over the last decade. Everything from the classics to the new-age stuff has been tapped at one time or another (several times, even), but they’ve met with mixed results. For every “Batman...

May 3rd, 2008 | Read More

Doomsday (2008) Movie Review

The end of the world has been a popular topic in Science Fiction and Fantasy films for as long as we can remember. But while the topic is well worn, the subject has been kept relatively fresh as the causes of our demise have evolved with popular politics – nuclear holocaust, alien invaders/Communists,...

March 16th, 2008 | Read More

Rambo (2008) Movie Review

Sylvester Stallone’s latest attempt at career resuscitation comes to us in the form of “Rambo,” the fourth installment of the action series. The last time we saw John Rambo, he was busy helping the Taliban overthrow the Soviets. That sure worked out great. This time, Stallone takes us to the...

January 28th, 2008 | Read More

Cloverfield (2008) Movie Review

Shrouded in secrecy and a pervasive viral marketing campaign, prolific television producer J.J. Abrams’ (‘Alias,’ ‘Lost’) latest film, “Cloverfield,” lands in US theaters at a rather curious time. Mid-January is typically when movie studios flush the crap out of their...

January 20th, 2008 | Read More

No Country for Old Men (2007) Movie Review

They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. In the case of Anton Chigurh, those windows open upon nothingness. In fact, his faded blue eyes seem to suck the very souls from those unfortunate enough to fall under their gaze. He is a psychopathic hit man who kills his victims with a compressed...

November 18th, 2007 | Read More

Elite Squad aka Tropa de Elite (2007) Movie Review

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil has long been known as a city precariously balanced on the edge of chaos. A city of vibrant culture and life, it is also one of the most dangerous cities in the world. The majority of its population lives in one of 70 slums, known as favelas, which are ruled by violent drug gangs....

October 29th, 2007 | Read More

Karas: The Revelation (2007) Movie Review

When I previously reviewed “Karas: The Prophecy,” I noted that it was a visually spectacular film that suffered from a criminally underdeveloped plot and slap-dash execution. There were so many good parts to what made up the first film: the brilliant conceptualization of near-future Tokyo,...

October 27th, 2007 | Read More

30 Days of Night (2007) Movie Review

“30 Days of Night” has been billed as a new take on the Vampire movie. After watching it, the only ‘new’ element I can identify is that the vampires are full-on bad guys this time around. None of that tortured soul, conflicted motivations, touchy-feely nonsense. Just hard core,...

October 21st, 2007 | Read More

The Kingdom (2007) Movie Review

In my review of “Syriana” last year, I noted that many viewers who were apparently befuddled by that film were probably expecting an action movie since there was an explosion in the film’s trailer. “The Kingdom” would have been that film. Not to be confused with Lars von...

September 30th, 2007 | Read More

Eastern Promises (2007) Movie Review

Given that “Eastern Promises” is a David Cronenberg film, one shouldn’t be entirely surprised that it opens with a vicious throat slashing and a fourteen year old girl hemorrhaging in a drug store. The girl in question dies soon after while giving birth to a baby girl under the care...

September 16th, 2007 | Read More

3:10 to Yuma (2007) Movie Review

From the outset, director James Mangold’s (”Walk the Line”) latest film, “3:10 to Yuma,” has two strikes against it: it is a Western, a genre that has been dying a slow death over the past 25 years, and it is a remake. That it succeeds is a testament to the performances...

September 16th, 2007 | Read More

Live Free or Die Hard (2007) Movie Review

The original “Die Hard” was a blast of superheated fresh air when it descended upon unprepared moviegoers in the summer of 1988. That film introduced us to wisecracking, gun-toting southpaw NYPD Detective John McClane, who has become an American institution. It not only established TV heartthrob...

July 1st, 2007 | Read More

The Night of the Sunflowers (2006) Movie Review

One of the residents of a declining little village in northern Spain comes across an ancient cave in the nearby hills. Hoping to revitalize the town through the potential touristic possibilities of a prehistoric cave, the locals call upon Speleologist Esteban (Carmello Gomez), who arrives in the region...

July 1st, 2007 | Read More

Grindhouse (2007) Movie Review

The Grindhouse was a sub-genre of exploitation films that were generally deemed too extreme and cheap for the mainstream, and there wasn’t much genre segregation with regards to what got heaped into this pile. The only qualifications were that it had to be strange, violent and of poor quality....

April 6th, 2007 | Read More

300 (2007) Movie Review

In a blurb I wrote in my ‘Best of 2005′ list, I declared “A Bittersweet Life” to be “one of the slickest pieces of stone-cold machismo to slide across the silver screen since ‘Scarface.”‘ Well, I think we have a strong challenger for that title in Zach...

March 10th, 2007 | Read More

Black Snake Moan (2006) Movie Review

“God put you in my path, and I aim to cure you of your wickedness.” There are only a handful of actors who can utter that phrase and make us believe it, and Samuel L. Jackson is on the top of that list. In “Black Snake Moan,” the latest offering from “Hustle and Flow”...

March 2nd, 2007 | Read More

Gopal’s Top 10 Movies of 2006

After several outstanding films rolled out of 2005, 2006 has been a bit of a downer. With a few notable exceptions, I didn’t come across any films that really stood out as exceptional. There were certainly some good and entertaining movies, but even they were of the deeply flawed variety. Still,...

January 6th, 2007 | Read More