Like Lynch’s Mulholland Dr., Christopher Nolan’s Inception, or Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York, Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch invites the viewer to deconstruct a narrative puzzle – nested realities, stories embedded within stories – that in Snyder’s case allows him to present a series of meticulously rendered alternate worlds. As anybody who has seen or read ... read more »

The Avatar hype continues.  There was a front-page (!) piece in the L.A. Times today, whining – for lack of a better word – about how “unlike the great majority of best picture nominees, the ‘Avatar’ actors have not nabbed a single major critic’s award, or guild prize. The snubs reflect the apparent ambivalence of the ... read more »

http://www.movieweb.com/tv/TEJ16QNNEsLpNM/HUC6THCINZxpGL “I couldn’t help but say to [Mr. Gorbachev], just think how easy his task and mine might be in these meetings that we held if suddenly there was a threat to this world from another planet. [We'd] find out once and for all that we really are all human beings here on this earth ... read more »

Disney’s Race to Witch Mountain was the highest grossing film of the weekend. It starred Carla Gugino, among others. The second highest grossing film of the weekend was Zach Snyder’s Watchmen, also starring Gugino. And it couldn’t happen to a nicer gal. (At least, she seems that way on camera.) I first noticed Gugino in ... read more »

A 5-hour epic film in two parts about a bride who swears vengeance on the conspirators who killed her husband. That’s Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill. It’s also an accurate description of Fritz Lang’s 1924 fantasy classic, Die Nibelungen, Part 1: Siegfrieds Tod (Siegfried’s Death), and Part 2: Kriemhilds Rache (Kriemhild’s Revenge). Unlike Tarantino’s Bride, Lang’s ... read more »

“Go tell the Spartans, indeed. Tell them to go fuck themselves.” – L.A. City Beat’s Andy Klein reviews 300.