Archive for October, 2006

emFlushed Awayem is the new film from the emChicken RunememWallace Gromitem geniuses over at Aardman. So wheres the claymation? Missing from the film are their usual characters made of mud, but present is every bit of the creativity and cuteness weve grown to expect from Aardman. By using computers instead of stop-motion models, bringing the stuff inside their heads to life has just gotten a lot easier.

Keir Moreano’s muted yet moving documentary traces his father’s experience as a volunteer doctor in Vietnam.

Two Sarah Michelle Gellar thrillerhorror films in the same year? Im really finding it hard to get excited about a sequel to iThe Grudgei. Tack this on and it would seem theres a glut of Gellar fear factor flowing. On the other hand, this is Focus Features, and while theyve had a few mediocre films, by and large they can be counted on for something inventive and enjoyable, if not completely original. Still, I cant help but look at that synopsis and wonder if this is nothing more than fodder for iScary Movie 5i.

One of the forces behind “Animal House” reveals that the movie was truer to life than you might have guessed.

Starring: Melinda Paige Hamilton, Bryce Johnson, Geoff Pierson, Colby Frenc... Review: Once upon a time, when pretty Amy (the delightful Melinda Page Hamilton) was in college, she found herself alone with her horny dog. Why not, she thought,... Rating: 2 Stars

Starring: The Dixie Chicks Review: Life in Bush America gets a blunt, honest telling in this documentary that makes you want to stand up and cheer without ever begging for tears or glib sympathy.... Rating: 3 Stars

Starring: Annette Bening, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jill Clayburgh, Brian Cox, Josep... Review: In theory, Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy seems like the ideal writer-director to bring Augusten Burroughs' 1970s-era memoir to the screen with all its delicious nuttiness... Rating: 2 Stars

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine, ... Review: There are nifty tricks galore up the sumptuous sleeve of this offbeat and wildly entertaining thriller. But I won't spoil them. You can safely know this: Hugh Jackman... Rating: 3 Stars

Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Daniel Castro, Pamela Anderson, Ken Davitian, ... Review: As Borat Sagdiyev, a visitor from Kazakhstan, Sacha Baron Cohen is a balls-out comic revolutionary, right up there with Lenny Bruce, Andy Kaufman, Dr. Strangelove, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Cartman at exposing the ignorant, racist, misogynist, gay-bashing, Jew-hating, gun-loving, warmongering heart of America. Borat will make you laugh till it hurts, and you'll still beg for more. Borat, subtitled Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, sneaks up on you. Or it will if you're not part of the cult spawned when HBO premiered Cohen's Da Ali G Show in 2003, and Americans first encountered the inspired British comic who hid behind a series of alter egos. His gangsta journalist Ali G tricked politicians (Newt Gingrich, Boutros Boutros-Ghali) and pundits (Gore Vidal, Andy Rooney) into embarrassing and revealing interviews. His Bruno, a gay fashion commentator with a Nazi fetish, claimed to be the voice of Austrian youth. And then there's Borat, the smiling, shamelessly offensive TV reporter from Kazakhstan who takes pride that his sister is "the number-four... Rating: 4 Stars

Starring: Hend Ayoub, Brian Boland, Becky Ann Baker, Robert Mangiardi, Jay ... Review: This is the fake documentary you've been hearing about. The one in which British filmmaker Gabriel Range gooses his computer to make it look like George... Rating: 1 Stars