« December 2005 | Main | February 2006 »
January 27, 2006
Loggerheads
(out of four)
"Brokeback Mountain has ruined the cowboy image," a disgruntled moviegoer said to me the other day. The way I see it, the Golden Globe-winning tale of two perfectly unremarkable cowboys and their sorrowful lifelong love affair expands, rather than limits, the cowboy image. The only reason anyone could even make such a claim is that Ang Lee's film has transcended the narrow "gay movie" ghetto and crossed over to legitimate "mainstream" movie territory, where audiences of all kinds must confront material they're not accustomed to dealing with on screen.
Continue reading "Loggerheads"
Posted by Peter Debruge at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)
Nanny McPhee
(out of four)
Who wouldn't want Mary Poppins for a nanny? Drifting in by floating umbrella, the ever-chipper Brit is any child's dream caregiver. Nanny McPhee, by contrast, has a big bulbous nose, hairy warts and wiry steel-wool hair. She carries a gnarled wooden walking stick and looks like a witch.
In short, Nanny McPhee is an exasperated father's last resort -- which is precisely what weary widower Cedric Brown (Colin Firth) needs after his seven little ruffians have scared away their 17th nanny. The local nanny placement agency won't have anything more to do with him, and if he doesn't find a replacement fast, his out-of-control kids (who have ignored their father's edict and invaded the kitchen) are likely to explode the cook and roast the baby.
Continue reading "Nanny McPhee"
Posted by Peter Debruge at 09:30 AM | Comments (0)
January 13, 2006
Hoodwinked
(out of four)
Like most fairy tales, Hoodwinked begins with "once upon a time" and ends with "happily ever after," but everything else is up for grabs. In that way, this irreverent computer-animated lark follows in the footsteps of everybody's favorite ogre, right down to its wisecracking forest critters and karate-savvy heroine. But instead of Shrek's feel-good antics, the movie serves up a most unlikely whodunit. And instead of eye-popping CGI, it delivers its visuals on the cheap.
Posted by Peter Debruge at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)
January 01, 2006
Best of 2005
It's been a week and a half since I've been to the movies. That's astonishing in a year packed with nearly 250 in-theater screenings. To pick the 10 best films from that group is to single out a meager 4%, ignoring the dozens of other movies I loved. Here are the 10 films this critic couldn't live without in '05:
Top 10 of 2005
1. Me and You and Everyone We Know
))<>(( That symbol, like Miranda July's splendid daydream of a movie, reimagines the mystery of human connection from a child's point of view. Where other films (Crash, Munich) shake their fist at the world and tell audiences what to think, July invites us to share her precocious sense of curiosity, finding magic in things as mundane as old photographs, a new pair of shoes, even the sunrise. In a series of whimsically observed little moments, July captures all that is scary, fresh and right with the world.
Continue reading "Best of 2005"
Posted by Peter Debruge at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)
Worst of 2005
Rather than tear into the worst movies of the year (a rather boring prospect with under-achievers like Stealth, Elektra, Pretty Persuasion and the Deuce Bigalow sequel to contend with), I though I might tackle 2005's biggest letdowns instead. After all, it's far more interesting to consider the films that actually had a shot at greatness, but devastated me instead.
5 Biggest Disappointments of 2005
1. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Narnia is to Christians what Battlefield Earth was for Scientologists — a pseudo-religious allegory artlessly adapted to the big screen. The box office may have worked out in Narnia's favor, but this clunky, shamefully mismanaged version of the C.S. Lewis classic misses the point entirely, spending all of its energy on a Lord of the Rings-style battle sequence. With four dull British brats as our guide, the film plods through what should have been a magical passage into a parallel universe.
Continue reading "Worst of 2005"
Posted by Peter Debruge at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)