Ben Stiller’s third directorial feature, Zoolander (2001), makes an even larger shift towards straight-up comedy. His cynical touches of social commentary remain, but the core narrative is much more exaggerated and deliberately silly than anything undertaken in The Cable Guy (1996). The … Continue reading REVIEW: Zoolander (2001)
Really, Hollywood has two kinds of disaster movies. The first kind puts a group of characters in mortal peril as the result of some devastating natural phenomena: a ship capsising in The Poseidon Adventure (1972) or a volcanic eruption in Dante’s … Continue reading REVIEW: Ultraviolet (2006)
In Gary Ross’ 1998 comic fantasy Pleasantville, two squabbling siblings are thrown into a 1950s television series where they are trapped with an array of old-fashioned parents, schoolmates, and other residents. While attempting to find a way back out to the … Continue reading REVIEW: Pleasantville (1998)
Noel Coward remains one of the 20th century’s most acclaimed playwrights, even if his light comedies have by-and-large fallen out of popular favour. His 1941 play Blithe Spirit is probably his most famous work, and was adapted into a film by director … Continue reading REVIEW: Blithe Spirit (2020)
Be careful what you wish for, I guess. 1999’s The World is not Enough was a James Bond film that seemed oddly unenthused and lazy, relying on old franchise traditions without any real sense of spark or effort. The next Bond feature, … Continue reading REVIEW: Die Another Day (2002)
1999 saw the release of Pierce Brosnan’s third film as British secret agent James Bond – and the 19th film in the franchise overall. The World is not Enough captures the EON production team at a high point of comfort: GoldenEye (1995) brought … Continue reading REVIEW: The World is not Enough (1999)
You have to be careful with the English titles with Chinese language films. Take Hong Kong’s The Calling of a Bus Driver (2020), written and directed by Patrick Kong. With a title like that one would expect to see some … Continue reading REVIEW: The Calling of a Bus Driver (2020)
In Ben Stiller’s second feature as director, Matthew Broderick plays an architect who moves into a new apartment – only to find himself tormented by the man (Jim Carrey) who comes to install his cable television. The Cable Guy made history at … Continue reading REVIEW: The Cable Guy (1996)
Legendary Pictures’ valiant attempt to establish a shared universe of giant monster movies hits its fourth instalment with Adam Wingard’s colourful and destructive Godzilla vs Kong, a film that seems guaranteed to please existing fans without really capturing a new audience. … Continue reading REVIEW: Godzilla vs Kong (2021)
In the 1990s the Hollywood studios made tentatives steps towards making the ultimate “Generation X” film; something that could capture the zeitgeist of disaffected Americans in the 20s in a way that John Hughes’ popular teen dramas had captured their … Continue reading REVIEW: Reality Bites (1994)
