DVD Playhouse: January 2011
By
Allen Gardner
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (20th Century Fox) Sequel to the seminal 1980s film catches up with a weathered, but still determined Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas, who seems to savor every syllable of Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff’s screenplay) just out of jail and back on the comeback trail. In attempting to repair his relationship with his estranged daughter (Carey Mulligan), Gekko forges a reluctant alliance with her fiancé (Shia Labeouf), himself an ambitious young turk who finds himself seduced by Gekko’s silver tongue and promise of riches. Lifeless film is further evidence of director Oliver Stone’s decline. Once America’s most exciting filmmaker, Stone hasn’t delivered a film with any teeth since 1995’s Nixon. Labeouf and Mulligan generate no sparks on-screen, and the story feels forced from the protracted opening to the final, Disney-esque denouement. Only a brief cameo by Charlie Sheen,...
By
Allen Gardner
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (20th Century Fox) Sequel to the seminal 1980s film catches up with a weathered, but still determined Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas, who seems to savor every syllable of Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff’s screenplay) just out of jail and back on the comeback trail. In attempting to repair his relationship with his estranged daughter (Carey Mulligan), Gekko forges a reluctant alliance with her fiancé (Shia Labeouf), himself an ambitious young turk who finds himself seduced by Gekko’s silver tongue and promise of riches. Lifeless film is further evidence of director Oliver Stone’s decline. Once America’s most exciting filmmaker, Stone hasn’t delivered a film with any teeth since 1995’s Nixon. Labeouf and Mulligan generate no sparks on-screen, and the story feels forced from the protracted opening to the final, Disney-esque denouement. Only a brief cameo by Charlie Sheen,...
- 1/21/2011
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
The rest of this month has some exciting genre output on display at the wonderful Egyptian and Aero Theatres, hosted by the American Cinematheque.
Currently running, the Egyptian’s Lust and Larceny: Noir City, the 12th Annual Festival of Film Noir will wrap up on April 18. Friday, April 16 beginning at 7:30pm will be a double feature of 1955’s thriller Crashout, followed by 1954’s brutal revenge melodrama Cry Vengeance. Neither of these films are currently available on DVD. Saturday will see a double feature of horror director Lew Landers’ The Power of the Whistler from 1945 and starring Richard Dix (Val Lewton’s The Ghost Ship), as well as its follow up of the same year, Voice of the Whistler, directed by horror legend William Castle! In attendence will be Robert Dix, son of star Richard Dix.
Running from April 29 through May 2, the Egyptian presents A Wrinkle in Time: The Best of Time Travel Films.
Currently running, the Egyptian’s Lust and Larceny: Noir City, the 12th Annual Festival of Film Noir will wrap up on April 18. Friday, April 16 beginning at 7:30pm will be a double feature of 1955’s thriller Crashout, followed by 1954’s brutal revenge melodrama Cry Vengeance. Neither of these films are currently available on DVD. Saturday will see a double feature of horror director Lew Landers’ The Power of the Whistler from 1945 and starring Richard Dix (Val Lewton’s The Ghost Ship), as well as its follow up of the same year, Voice of the Whistler, directed by horror legend William Castle! In attendence will be Robert Dix, son of star Richard Dix.
Running from April 29 through May 2, the Egyptian presents A Wrinkle in Time: The Best of Time Travel Films.
- 4/16/2010
- by Jesse
- FamousMonsters of Filmland
(1955-59, PG/U/PG, Optimum)
Michael Balcon, the film-maker synonymous with Ealing Studios and its special ethos, produced 95 films for the studio between 1938 and 1959, a good number of them classics. Optimum has brought out the vast majority and these three are part of a mopping-up operation. The Siege of Pinchgut (1959), the last picture under the Ealing banner, is a fairly good thriller directed by former documentarist Harry Watt (who made Night Mail and Ealing's first Australian picture, The Overlanders) and stars American tough guy Aldo Ray as an escaped convict taking over an island in Sydney Harbour and holding the city to ransom.
The Man in the Sky (1957) is a stiff-upper-lip, victory-in-defeat tale starring Jack Hawkins as an aircraft designer desperately trying to save his ailing company.
The best film is The Night My Number Came Up (1955), a tale of the occult in the style of Ealing's Dead of Night...
Michael Balcon, the film-maker synonymous with Ealing Studios and its special ethos, produced 95 films for the studio between 1938 and 1959, a good number of them classics. Optimum has brought out the vast majority and these three are part of a mopping-up operation. The Siege of Pinchgut (1959), the last picture under the Ealing banner, is a fairly good thriller directed by former documentarist Harry Watt (who made Night Mail and Ealing's first Australian picture, The Overlanders) and stars American tough guy Aldo Ray as an escaped convict taking over an island in Sydney Harbour and holding the city to ransom.
The Man in the Sky (1957) is a stiff-upper-lip, victory-in-defeat tale starring Jack Hawkins as an aircraft designer desperately trying to save his ailing company.
The best film is The Night My Number Came Up (1955), a tale of the occult in the style of Ealing's Dead of Night...
- 4/3/2010
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
You probably already know that The Invention of Lying takes place in a world where deception doesn't exist. Mankind never developed the ability. Everyone is 100 percent truthful all the time -- not because they feel obligated to, but because the concept of lying has literally never occurred to them. If someone came along who could lie, well, his power would be almost limitless. Everyone would believe everything he said. The skill of lying would be what scientists call an evolutionary advantage.
In a strange way, that's sort of what The Invention of Lying is about: the forward progression of the human species. Co-written and directed by Ricky Gervais and newcomer Matthew Robinson, the film has its wacky moments reveling in the absurdity of a world where no one lies, some of which feel like a Saturday Night Live sketch or an improv show. ("Your suggestion is: 'a world where no one lies'!
In a strange way, that's sort of what The Invention of Lying is about: the forward progression of the human species. Co-written and directed by Ricky Gervais and newcomer Matthew Robinson, the film has its wacky moments reveling in the absurdity of a world where no one lies, some of which feel like a Saturday Night Live sketch or an improv show. ("Your suggestion is: 'a world where no one lies'!
- 10/3/2009
- by Eric D. Snider
- Cinematical
I’m not going to lie—when I heard about the premise for The Invention Of Lying, I couldn’t believe that Ricky Gervais, not Jim Carrey, was starring it. The set-up seemed formulaic. The story predictable romantic comedy fodder. The chubby guy gets the good-looking girl love story inevitable. To be brutally honest, as a huge fan of Gervais’ The Office (one of the best TV series ever) and an admirer of Extras, The Invention Of Lying showed every sign of the very talented Gervais trying to make a mainstream, commercial, feel-good romantic comedy. There’s nothing wrong with that. And, truth be told, The Invention Of Lying is a mainstream, commercial, feel-good romantic comedy. But it’s also a little more than that. And it’s also very funny.
So why the hell is Starlog reviewing a romantic comedy? Well, The Invention Of Lying is a romantic comedy Fantasy.
So why the hell is Starlog reviewing a romantic comedy? Well, The Invention Of Lying is a romantic comedy Fantasy.
- 10/2/2009
- by no-reply@starlog.com (Allan Dart)
- Starlog
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