The second of last year’s two big costume dramas (the first being Shakespeare in Love), Elizabeth tells the story of Queen Elizabeth’s rise to power and her initial troubles in retaining the throne. It’s a tale of back-stabbing, love with ulterior motives, politics and misguided religious fervor gone wrong. It’sContinue Reading
I’m not quite sure how to classify Velvet Goldmine. It’s a fictional bio-pic. It’s a musical of sorts. It’s pretty to look at. It’s fairly tedious to sit through. The story centers around 70’s glam rocker, Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), who fakes his own death and disappears in 1974. InContinue Reading
Even if I didn’t know better, I’d have finished watching 54 and wondered, “What happened to the rest of the movie?” Alas, I do know that 54‘s director, Matt Christopher, wanted to make a different picture than the one we can now rent at the local Blockbuster. It shows. TheContinue Reading
What if you realized that everything in your life had been carefully selected and molded by a TV producer for a show about your life? That’s what happens to Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) in The Truman Show. Burbank has a relatively comfortable life as an insurance salesman. He’s married toContinue Reading
Roberto Benigni co-wrote, directed and stars in this comedy-drama about the horrors of World War II. It’s an unusual film that begins as a light-hearted romantic comedy and ends with a descent into the hell of WWII labor camps. The film begins with Guido Orefice (Benigni) and his friend arrvingContinue Reading
For those of you that immediately flinch when the name Shakespeare is mentioned, and who have all but put seeing this movie out of your mind as a result, let me assure you that this movie is not a drab, dull march down the musty halls of a literary tortureContinue Reading
This coming-of-age film follows the misadventures of Dawn Wiener (Heather Matarazzo), a somewhat unattractive girl, as she fumbles her way through 7th grade. Her parents favor their younger, more attractive daughter, Missy (Daria Kalinina). Her classmates call her “Wienerdog”, and her attempts to fight back when persecuted get her inContinue Reading