remake

Author’s note: I have not seen Le Convoyeur, the film upon which Wrath of Man is based. With the exception of maybe one or three films in his 23-year career, I dig on Guy Ritchie movies. There’s nothing else like them. The way he moves his characters through seedy underworlds, his jukebox-style use of music, […]

God, I’m a sucker for caper movies. From Charade to the last four Fast and Furious spectacles, there’s something devilishly delightful about hoodwinking and double-dealing. Maybe it’s because I saw the Marlon Brando and David Niven-starring Bedtime Story as a kid; however, I never saw its remake, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Thus, The Hustle – a […]

(PLEASE NOTE: A significant plot detail is discussed in this review as a means of showing how this film differentiates itself from both the novel and its 1989 adaptation. Spoiler notices at the beginning and end of the paragraphs are included.) We each owe a death, there are no exceptions. — Stephen King, “The Green […]

I’m gonna be straight up here: I like watching Nancy Meyers’ What Women Want from time to time. A pre-meltdown Mel Gibson and an absolutely delightful Helen Hunt aided and abetted by a supporting cast which includes the likes of Ashley Johnson, Alan Alda, Judy Greer, and Bette Midler? What couldn’t you like about it? […]

In the collected essays titled Suspiria de Profundis (translated: Sighs of the Depths), author Thomas De Quincey writes of three companions for Levana, the Roman goddess of childbirth. Of one of the three, he writes: “The second sister is called Mater Suspiriorum—Our Lady of Sighs… (she) never clamours, never defies, dreams not of rebellious aspirations. […]

A Star Is Born, remade yet again. Its fourth incarnation since 1937. What possible good could come of yet another manifestation of this story of stardom and love gained, lost, and championed? The short answer: almost every possible kind of good. Director/co-writer/star Bradley Cooper brings a no-nonsense sensibility to this 81-year-old story, infusing it with […]