Have you ever run into those crazy Internet reviews that talk about that wonderful film experience known as "Porky’s"? How it was the horny teen movie that really had a heart of gold? No? You never read that one? Well, good. I have. I’m still itching from the exposure. That said, I don’t want to seem too enthusiastic about "Fired Up." But I would say it’s not the disaster I expected. The ... more >
Archives for February 2009
ARCHIVES
Fired up
THE INTERNATIONAL
(By Ali Naderzad) Tom Twyker's "The International" is a winner of a film, but with a slightly shallow premise. IBBC is the high-profile financial outfit with rather questionable business interests, ie., to supply arms to third-world armed conflicts in order to create, and therefore control, debt. I heard an economist explaining that such a premise does not hold water but who cares, really? The ... more >

Confessions of a Shopaholic
Obsessive fashion flower Rebecca Brownwood makes two quick admissions that let us know "Confessions of a Shopaholic" will be a disaster movie. The first is that she has a fashion fetish. The second is that she’s a journalist. As a longtime journalist, I can safely say these two things are oil and water. Or oil and fire. I’ve known plenty of knockout female reporters. All the better to flirt ... more >
Coraline
With an eye to innovation, "Coraline" impressively stitches together the old and the new in a three-dimensional doll house of animation. The film bravely combines modern stereoscopic filming techniques with old -fashioned figurines and stop-gap animation, creating a smooth CG-like veneer. The effect creates dark, brilliant other worlds, and it never once occurs to you that these characters are ... more >