remake

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 […]

“You seek revenge?” “I seek righteousness… but I’ll take revenge.” — Sam Chisolm (Denzel Washington) and Emma Cullen (Haley Bennett) With those words, so begins one of the most bloody and violent Westerns I have ever seen. More violent than Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, in which the violence was not only handled well, but startling in […]