Reviews THE WAY WAY BACK. The title refers to the backward-facing third-row seat in a station wagon, which is where our protagonist, 14-year-old Duncan (Liam James), sits sullenly in the movie’s opening scene. It’s a clever, not overly precious metaphor, and a neat encapsulation of this story’s tone and intelligence. Writer-directors Nat Faxon and Jim […]
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Gimme the Creeps
Reviews THE CONJURING. James Wan and I have come a long way. In 2004 he came to prominence as writer-director of the vastly successful Saw. That movie (and the franchise it spawned) did more for torture-porn than any other single project. Reactionary as I am (I’d put torture-porn right up there with found-footage in the […]
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Not Ready For Our Close-Up
By now you’ve seen After Earth, or you’ve heard the epithets tossed its way: boring, turgid, narcissistic, M. Night Shyamalan. About the only nice thing anyone can say about the Will Smith vanity project (currently sitting at a cool 11 percent positive rating on meta-critic site RottenTomatoes.com) is that it co-stars some purty redwoods. Of […]
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The Idiocracy is Upon Us
Reviews GROWN UPS 2. Two years ago, when I watched Jack and Jill, it occurred to me that Adam Sandler movies are kind of unassailable. They don’t break any new ground and they’re not consistently funny, but he and his buddies seem to have fun making them, and they seem generally good-hearted. But this new […]
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Fish Story
When a great white shark bit Scott Stephens in the waters near the North Jetty last October, he punched the beastie to get away (“Details Emerge about Gruesome Shark Attack,” Oct. 30, 2012). Maybe you heard about it? It was like a movie. And now it is a movie. Local Filmmakers Night presents Great White […]
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What Happened to You, Johnny Depp?
Reviews THE LONE RANGER. Johnny Depp used to be one of the most charming and versatile actors in Hollywood. Nowadays he’ll occasionally show up in something interesting (Public Enemies, The Rum Diary). But even these late-period highlights demanded little more than his rakish charm and tried-and-true oddball swagger. Instead of stretching his range he’s tied […]
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Movies Night at the Library
“Have you seen the movie?” “The book was better.” Book lovers and film buffs: Let’s not fight. Lay down your arms, climb out of the trenches and hail one another as equals. On July 9, the Eureka branch of the Humboldt County Library kicks off its free Blu Tuesdays film series with a month of […]
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Hot Cops
THE HEAT. I’m sorry I doubted you, Paul Feig. During every preview for The Heat, the Bridesmaids director’s sophomore feature, I moaned and groaned, complaining about Sandra Bullock playing yet another character who balances her femininity with her professionalism, as she’s done in nearly every movie since Miss Congeniality. “It could be OK; it is […]
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Stonerpocalypse
Reviews THIS IS THE END. I feel somehow out of line for not liking this movie all that much. For years now I’ve been tracking the careers of the principal actors, who all play tweaked versions of themselves here. And as a writing team on movies such as Superbad and Pineapple Express, Evan Goldberg and […]
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The Joy of Frances Ha
Reviews FRANCES HA. The quirky, hipster ingénue is a trope that will probably last forever. From the flapper girls of the silent era through Annie Hall and Amélie, leading men have been tripping over themselves to win the hearts of girls with that certain je ne sais quoi. Frances Ha, the latest from writer/director Noah […]
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Hey Look, It’s Us!
Previews AFTER EARTH. Friends who attended last Thursday’s premiere warned me that this might be the worst movie of the year. I didn’t find it quite that bad — not really any damn good, either, but certainly not the worst. Having missed last week’s gala event at the Broadway Cinema, I was able to meet […]
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Ready For Our Close-Up
If you’re looking for an unparalleled thrill at the movies, you can forget summer’s special effects bonanzas. Superman stunts and Star Trek warps can’t match the exhilaration of recognizing someone or something from your own life up there on the silver screen. Case-in-point: In 2008, a sizable crowd turned out at the Eureka Theater for […]