Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006) Movie Review

True story: a week or so ago I am walking through my apartment complex when the obligatory early stage Alzheimer’s victim/tenant, a nice elderly woman who is constantly asking for someone named Richard, stops me and says to me, “You know, you look just like that actor.” Bewildered,...

November 18th, 2006 | Read More

Thank You for Smoking (2005) Movie Review

Personally, I am an enthusiast of satirical films which don’t necessarily condemn the subject of the satire. Of course, it’s all up to the subjective perceptions of the viewer, but a film like “Thank You for Smoking”, with its superficially audible overtones of “everyone...

November 7th, 2006 | Read More

The Departed (2006) Movie Review

“The departed…what was their name?” asks Sergeant Collin Sullivan (Matt Damon) about a gruesome photo of a recently deceased mobster. That’s what “The Departed”, Martin Scorsese’s interminable bloodbath of a film, is all about: dead people. Or, more specifically,...

October 17th, 2006 | Read More

Bukowski: Born Into This (2003) Movie Review

Unlike documentaries on musicians and even visual artists, docs focused on major literary figures are far and few in between. Of course, there are the obligatory A&E spotlights on Mark Twain and Shakespeare, but when I am scouring my online movie provider of choice and can’t find anything...

October 2nd, 2006 | Read More

LoveCracked: The Movie (2006) Movie Review

Sometimes, ideas are birthed that are sound, insightful, and even mature, but when implemented in the physical world they deflate like a sulky blow-up doll. Asking your girlfriend to have a threesome, for instance. Homer Simpson once put Communism into this category; I will add to it, “LoveCracked!...

September 12th, 2006 | Read More

Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic (2005) Movie Review

It really pays to be born a woman with a genotype predestined for phenotypic cuteness; that is, if you are misfortunate enough to have to be born at all. What can’t they get away with saying? Who is going to persecute them? Men? An attractive woman could call almost any man by his racial slur-name...

August 25th, 2006 | Read More

Footsteps (2006) Movie Review

I am not certain about the cultural prevalence of snuff films in countries outside the U.S. , but I am rather certain that, even in this debauched land, snuff remains a seedy underground taboo which rarely, if ever, pokes its horrific organs through a hernia in the mainstream. Sure, you and your...

August 1st, 2006 | Read More

The Da Vinci Code (2006) Movie Review

If you look at the sheer numbers of it, you might think to yourself, “Why would anyone need to write a review about a movie which is about a book which sold over 40 million copies?” Yea, I’m reviewing the film version of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”, but we’ll...

July 16th, 2006 | Read More

Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man (2005) Movie Review

Nothing gets me more hype than finding out that a musician I am a fan of is really as fucking weird as I imagined them to be. For instance, Prince. Now, if you’re a rabid Prince enthusiast like myself, you will have watched posted interviews and all of his videos on launch.com at every party you...

July 2nd, 2006 | Read More

Brothers of the Head (2005) Movie Review

In no way do I wish to encourage film makers, or film goers, to indulge in any more “mockumentaries”. “Spinal Tap” is an inanely brilliant comedy, but beyond that, all the fake interviews where people act serious but say stupid shit and the humor is dryer than the deserts of the...

June 22nd, 2006 | Read More

Munich (2005) Movie Review

On the heels of the international Tom Cruise cash cow “War of the Worlds”, uber director Steven Spielberg blessed the world with ” Munich “, a film of the quality and depth one would expect from an industry force with more platinum hits than Elvis. “Munich” encompasses...

June 11th, 2006 | Read More

Brokeback Mountain (2005) Movie Review

So yea, this one was a little late coming, but its coming was inevitable. For me personally, buying into the media/word of mouth propaganda barrage surrounding the release of last year’s ” Brokeback Mountain ” was not worth a ten spot when I computed the cost/benefit analysis....

May 24th, 2006 | Read More

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) Movie Review

It is a rare and triumphant occurrence when a film, especially one categorized into the genre of Action/Comedy, makes you say, “That is one of the best movies I’ve seen this year”. Or last year, for that matter, as I mouthed a phrase similar to that when I left an opulent theatre in...

May 16th, 2006 | Read More

Coming Attractions: The Movie (2006) Movie Review

Only in Hollywood would you see gorgeous women, aspiring to be something, showing off their slinky bulimic figures at a screening for a film the likes of “Coming Attractions”. Ah, the sycophants never miss an opportunity to self aggrandize and network in this rundown promise land, no...

April 26th, 2006 | Read More

Family (2006) Movie Review

The straight to DVD genre of films has never appealed much to my appetite for cinematic intake. Not like every film that makes it to theatres is a masterpiece, but most of the time I am just never satisfied or nourished by movies of this nature, unless they star famous hip hop artists whose music I enjoy...

April 19th, 2006 | Read More

Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt (2004) Movie Review

As a musician, I truly savor films which are made in effigy, in historical retrospect or just in plain celebration of the lives and artwork of other, considerably better known musicians. And the musician or band in question does not play into this fascination; it is becoming acquainted with small pieces...

April 9th, 2006 | Read More

The Future of Food (2004) Movie Review

Besides all of the generous plants who give us oxygen, photosynthesis which makes that possible, and the 99.5% reliability of the TV turning on everyday if our cable bills have been paid, there is nothing we over-nourished Americans take advantage of more than food. Most of us eat with our eyes; we choose...

April 2nd, 2006 | Read More

The Libertine (2004) Movie Review

When I first saw commercials for “The Libertine”, not only the title, but the way Johnny Depp looked made me think of a cheesy metal band that I secretly enjoy called Cradle of Filth, and by the end of the film, the overall likeness between Depp and ghoulish Cradle of Filth lead singer Dani...

March 23rd, 2006 | Read More

Hostel (2005) Movie Review

Creative advances in the use of gore, a plethora of perky breasts and entrepreneurial spirit gone horribly wrong all intermesh to form “Hostel”, the backpacking sophomore effort from writer/director Eli Roth (”Cabin Fever”). In an attempt to nudge ticket sales in the upward direction,...

March 17th, 2006 | Read More