Is it a joke? Is it real street art made by an important new artist? Either way, “Exit Through the Gift Shop,’ the new documentary by artist Banksy is damn interesting. “Gift Shop” tells the story of Thierry Guetta a French-born, LA-based clothing boutique owner. Years ago, Thierry became obsessed with video cameras. He started [...]
The world of Jean-Pierre Jeunet has gotten a little big larger. After the original closing night film for the 2010 IFFB was pulled, organizers scrambled to find a replacement. And with Jeunet’s latest offering, it was the perfect and quirky choice. As the movie opens, a young boy named Bazil finds himself without a father [...]
In 2008, as the Democratic party assembled in Denver, Colorado to nominate Barack Obama as their candidate, everything seemed to run smoothly. Or did it? AJ Schnack’s “Convention,” is the behind-the-scenes look at the convention, offering viewpoints as varied as the mayor’s office, a newly christened reporter on the political beat and a couple of [...]
Sometimes people ask me why I watch so many movies, why I spend so much time reading about, studying and looking for hard-to-find old movies. Now, as a response, I can just present them with a copy of “Make Way For Tomorrow.” This is why I search through old movies. This is something special. Never [...]
If you’ve seen every episode of “The Cosby Show,” and are disappointed that you haven’t seen Dr. Cliff Huxtable shoot anyone down in cold blood, have I got a movie for you. 1972’s “Hickey & Boggs,” re-teams Bill Cosby with former “I, Spy,” co-star Robert Culp. (Culp also directed the film.) “Boggs,” is a typical 1970s [...]
Reviewing a filmmaker’s swing at the children’s genre is usually pretty difficult and on par with reviewing a musician’s Christmas record and trying to make sense of it with the rest of their catalogue. However, Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” is not like most children’s films. “Fox,” is based on the children’s book by Roald [...]
Ryan Bingham likes to keep things simple. A constant traveler for work, he lives his life with his frequent flyer cards, his hotel reward programs, everywhere he goes, he is greeted with a chorus of, “it’s great to see you again, Mr. Bingham.” Ryan Bingham is a professional down-sizer.When companies need to trim their staff [...]
Early in LA Tuesday morning, a good deal of people were up to hear the 2010 nominations for the Academy Award. This is the first year of the Academy’s new ’10 best picture’ nominee concept. There is a lot of things to be excited about with this list of nominees, but a few things that [...]
Rumors are flying around on-line about Sam Mendes signing on to direct Daniel Craig in the next James Bond movie. Some sites have Mendes directing, others have him coming on to consult while MGM pleads with him to consider directing. Either way, I think this is excellent news. What worked best about “Casino Royale,” (“Quantum [...]
These ‘best of’ lists are always a bit of a pain to write and to read. You usually start out scanning the list for stuff you’ve seen and loved, and then you probably count the number of movies you’ve seen. Sometimes you finish the list feeling like you’ve seen the right things, and sometimes you [...]
Todd Phillips’ latest movie is the perfect one-sentence summary: three guys wake up in Las Vegas after a bachelor party, not knowing what happened the night before and find the future groom missing. What happens next is the plot of the movie. I’ll start off simply: “The Hangover,” is an incredibly fun night out at [...]
In a feat of determination that I don’t know if I possess, You Tube editor Kees van Dijkhuizen has put together “The Year in Movies.” He claims this clip features nearly every movie that was released this year. Even if he’s missing a few, it’s still an impressive clip. And it makes me feel like [...]