Planet Terror — A balls to the wall zombie flick, complete with tongue pustules and lots of hypodermic needles — my preferred of the two films, and I dare say its Robert Rodriguez’s best film as well. Perhaps the OTT factor here works because Grindhouse in general announces itself as something not to be taken […]
Archive for April, 2007
Wildly over-hyped Western set in the Down Undah. The script, written by singer Nick Cave, is actually pretty solid. The standard western framework is given the full grimy revisionist treatment — Ray Winstone’s captain (a performance that is probably the best reason to see this) is nicely shaded, by turns sadistic and honorable (if a […]
Baffling and mesmerizing in equal parts. Throwing all narrative conventions out the door, director Claire Denis makes her most audacious concoction yet — blending reality, memories, and fantasy to create an overbearing meditation on life (broad yes, but this film tackles it admirably). I pretty much despised it after I watched it, infuriated that Denis […]
Penelope must smell good.
Had a hard time assessing this one — I couldn’t tell if its relative slightness is Almodovar maturing or phoning it in. Its every bit a woman’s picture, all men are either protrayed as oblivious or sexually ravenous. Almodavar continues his campy genre-blending, Volver plays out like a Tennessee Williams play seen […]
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