Movie Reviews
Indigènes
This movie was released in America under the perfectly awful title of Days of Glory. Unless you take that as supremely ironic, it’s hard to think of a worse title, as there is nothing of glory in it, not for France, and not for the ever-suffering infantry, which in this case is North Africans from Algeria and Tunisia and Morocco, ... Read more »
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Movie series usually follow a predictable pattern. The first one wows you, the second may capture some of the thrill of the first, and subsequent numbers are usually … by the numbers. It’s the peril of sequels. The power of sequels seems to be that most people don’t notice too much, or don’t care. Why else would people flock to The Mummy: Tomb ... Read more »
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Not a lot more to say about this one. Spielberg and Lucas came to bat three times, and they hit three homers. Who cares if two of them went into the stands and one went clear out of the park? The intro action scene with River Phoenix as the young Indy was great, and explained the hat, the jacket, the whip, and his fear of snakes. Sean Connery was excellent as Jones Sr. No need to explain ... Read more »
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
What is all this negativism? Why are some people trashing this? As far as I’m concerned, it’s a little better than Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and maybe not quite as good as Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, but close.
Could Indy survive being hurled a mile inside a refrigerator? Hell, no … ... Read more »
An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth (2006) Lee tells me this film was offered free of charge to a school district or districts, and was turned down. Let something like this in the door, was the reasoning, and we’ll have to start showing all kinds of other stuff, and you may not like that stuff. Sadly, I have to agree, though the content of the film is something that ... Read more »
Incident at Oglala
Michael Apted has a serious bee in his bonnet over the Leonard Peltier case. First he made Thunderheart, which wasn’t about the shootout on the reservation where two FBI agents were killed, but mentioned it, and explored the tensions between two tribal factions and the government, and now this, a documentary that explores the facts of the case. And does a damn good job of it. All the ... Read more »
Koyaanisqatsi
The Hopi word for “Life out of balance.” The first of a mini-genre that has no plot, no dialogue, nothing but images that wash over you like a hurricane. It has music by Philip Glass, which fits it perfectly. Much of it is stop-action scenes of nature and cities. I suppose it has a message about the destruction of the environment, but I prefer to see it as pure eye candy. See ... Read more »
Kontroll
Odd little film. It’s filmed entirely in the subway system of Budapest, and begins with a stiff guy reading a disclaimer on a clipboard, saying he had been criticized for allowing the filming to go on because it didn’t reflect well on transit workers. Who is this guy? Is it a put-on? Maybe Jodie Foster could have had a flight attendant deliver a similar statement before Read more »
Incident at Loch Ness
Think This Is Spinal Tap meets The Blair Witch Project meets The Art of the Fart. Only you don’t understand it’s a joke at first, unless you’ve read about it. For the first half hour it all seems reasonable enough. The great Werner Herzog is planning to make a documentary, not about Nessie, but about the ... Read more »
Knockaround Guys
An overlooked gem. Lowlife gangsters, most of them dumb as dirt, try to recover some money in a small town in Montana. Vin Diesel and Tom Noonan are very good.