With its graffiti-sprayed credits, circa 1994 hip hop on the soundtrack and drug-dealing protagonist, this rites-of-passage affair comes on like a whole barrel of fun. Odd really, when its subject matter is adolescent anxiety, middle-aged depression and unsettling questions of self-worth, shot in a very murky colour palette.
Its Day-Glo marketing campaign notwithstanding, writer-director Jonathan Levine's debut is at heart an introspective character study, as Upper East Side teenager Josh Peck, a geeky wannabe merely tolerated by his cool former classmates because he sold them dope, spends the summer between high school and college wondering whether he'll ever find acceptance. Since he also supplies weed to frazzled shrink Ben Kingsley (above), a listening ear is part of the exchange, and the good doc's disintegrating marriage has him searching for renewed youth; an unlikely friendship takes shape – complicated by Peck's crush on the latter's daughter (Olivia Thirlby).
In time-capsule dialogue she berates her suitor as a glass-half-empty kind of guy – 'I look at the dopeness, you look at the wackness' – thus signposting the revivifying influence of then-breaking hip hop culture on white youth. Whether this line of inquiry squares coherently with the film's sedulous pacing and studiedly washed-out visuals is questionable, as if it's playing hang-loose and uptight simultaneously. Still, Kingsley's shamelessly zingy performance adds welcome pep, and a delicate, achingly sincere summertime idyll on Fire Island offers notice of Levine's evident promise, when he's not leaning too hard on pixie-chick clichés and being down with the kids.
Monday, 1 September 2008
Saturday, 30 August 2008
REVIEW OF STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS
"Confusion surrounds a reported 'embargo' placed on reviews of George Lucas' latest epic. Has someone got the wrong end of the lightsabre?
The last three years has seen a huge rise in the number of films not screened in advance to critics, presumably with the aim of ensuring that poor movies are not further hindered at the box office by tepid reviews. However, even worse, to my mind, is the practice of screening a film to the critics - and then telling them they can't publish their review until the thing is already in cinemas.
I'm still utterly confounded at this modern habit of film studios and PR companies, and was amazed to see that said embargo had apparently been placed on the new Star Wars animated film, The Clone Wars.
Aintitcool.com reported earlier this week that it had pulled its review following requests from Warner Bros, in the process berating Empire (who give it a pretty decent write-up) and the Hollywood Reporter (not so good) for continuing to break the embargo. But I spoke to a PR on this side of the pond today, and they weren't aware of any ban on reviews."
The last three years has seen a huge rise in the number of films not screened in advance to critics, presumably with the aim of ensuring that poor movies are not further hindered at the box office by tepid reviews. However, even worse, to my mind, is the practice of screening a film to the critics - and then telling them they can't publish their review until the thing is already in cinemas.
I'm still utterly confounded at this modern habit of film studios and PR companies, and was amazed to see that said embargo had apparently been placed on the new Star Wars animated film, The Clone Wars.
Aintitcool.com reported earlier this week that it had pulled its review following requests from Warner Bros, in the process berating Empire (who give it a pretty decent write-up) and the Hollywood Reporter (not so good) for continuing to break the embargo. But I spoke to a PR on this side of the pond today, and they weren't aware of any ban on reviews."
Monday, 11 August 2008
TOM CRUISE - A COMIC COMEBACK IN TROPIC THUNDER
Read More Here:: "This is hard to say. I am a Tom Cruise convert. Yes, this is the same Tom Cruise we recall talking up Scientology, dismissing Brooke Shields's postpartum use of antidepressants, and tsk-tsking Matt Lauer in a Today show interview punctuated by a strung-out appearance courtesy of black circles under his eyes.
But I just got back from a screening of Ben Stiller's very funny movie Tropic Thunder, in which Tom Terrific is the funniest thing. Playing a swaggering, bald movie executive with a razor-quick temper and a four-letter-word vocabulary—you know, the perfect Hollywood suit—Cruise steals the movie from Stiller and co-stars Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black. By the end of the movie, when Cruise is doing what we'll charitably call a dance, his shirt unbuttoned to reveal a forest of hair and gold chains, all has been forgiven. At least for me."
But I just got back from a screening of Ben Stiller's very funny movie Tropic Thunder, in which Tom Terrific is the funniest thing. Playing a swaggering, bald movie executive with a razor-quick temper and a four-letter-word vocabulary—you know, the perfect Hollywood suit—Cruise steals the movie from Stiller and co-stars Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black. By the end of the movie, when Cruise is doing what we'll charitably call a dance, his shirt unbuttoned to reveal a forest of hair and gold chains, all has been forgiven. At least for me."
REVIEW OF ELEGY
Read More Here:: "What might attract a beautiful young woman, of too romantic a character to be lured by mere money, to a man some 30 years her senior?
It could be his air of worldly knowledge, certainly, but more likely the human wisdom and kindness that accrue with age. The latter two qualities, however, are not ones easily associated with David Kepesh (Ben Kingsley), a divorced, womanising professor who is forcefully attracted to a student, the Cuba-born Consuela Castillo (Pen�lope Cruz).
When he finally gets close enough to talk to her at a party, she begins to tell him about her family and her interests, and he muses to himself that he is only enduring the chat because he wants to 'f--- her'.
Since Elegy (15) is based on Philip Roth's short novel The Dying Animal, it comes as little surprise to find ourselves in the unabashed territory of male sexual desire."
It could be his air of worldly knowledge, certainly, but more likely the human wisdom and kindness that accrue with age. The latter two qualities, however, are not ones easily associated with David Kepesh (Ben Kingsley), a divorced, womanising professor who is forcefully attracted to a student, the Cuba-born Consuela Castillo (Pen�lope Cruz).
When he finally gets close enough to talk to her at a party, she begins to tell him about her family and her interests, and he muses to himself that he is only enduring the chat because he wants to 'f--- her'.
Since Elegy (15) is based on Philip Roth's short novel The Dying Animal, it comes as little surprise to find ourselves in the unabashed territory of male sexual desire."
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
REVIEW OF FRONTLINE
REVIEW OF FRONTLINE: "t's a new play by Ch�Walker, an actor and playwright who's already experienced the massive stage at this venue - he had a part in last year's production of Othello. Imagine Bartholomew Fair translated to the precincts of say Camden Town tube station on a Saturday night and you get some idea of his work's topographical vigour.
'The Frontline' doesn't have a traditional kind of plot, though there's a thread of a story line running through it. In a way, the play is more a series of snapshots of life as it takes place around a tube station somewhere in London. 'Somewhere', because the kind of activities that go on there could happen in many different parts of London. However, Ch�Walker did much of his research in Camden where he lives, and some of the scenes can reminded you of the eclectic atmosphere - what estate agents often call a 'vibrant atmosphere' - that flourishes in Camden and the environs of its teaming tube station."
Read more here REVIEW OF FRONTLINE
'The Frontline' doesn't have a traditional kind of plot, though there's a thread of a story line running through it. In a way, the play is more a series of snapshots of life as it takes place around a tube station somewhere in London. 'Somewhere', because the kind of activities that go on there could happen in many different parts of London. However, Ch�Walker did much of his research in Camden where he lives, and some of the scenes can reminded you of the eclectic atmosphere - what estate agents often call a 'vibrant atmosphere' - that flourishes in Camden and the environs of its teaming tube station."
Read more here REVIEW OF FRONTLINE
Friday, 18 July 2008
REVIEW OF JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
Here is a great film review of The Jouney To The Center Of The Earth
Click the above link to see full article.
Click the above link to see full article.
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