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March 31, 2006
Ice Age: The Meltdown
(out of four)
Like the world really needs another Ice Age. The first one was charming in its own vaguely prehistoric way -- recognizing that CG wasn't far enough along to make the movie look realistic, director Chris Wedge instead decided to populate the story with stylized characters.
Now that technology has evolved to create virtually photorealistic environments, the Ice Age sequel team is sticking to the principles of the original. The fur is more detailed and the backdrops more stunning, but the characters are still their lovable, angular selves.
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Posted by Peter Debruge at 04:42 PM | Comments (0)
Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School
(out of four)
Life never turns out the way you expect. That's the message of Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School, and you can bet when writer-director Randall Miller made the 35-minute short of the same name at the American Film Institute back in 1990, he never imagined that he'd spend the next 15 years directing movies like Class Act (with Kid 'n Play) and Houseguest (with Sinbad).
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Posted by Peter Debruge at 04:19 PM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2006
Ask the Dust
(out of four)
As a book, John Fante's Ask the Dust works perfectly, collecting the insecurities of a talented young writer too modest to realize that his scattered semi-autobiographical musings actually qualify as literature. It's basically the opposite of Capote, in which a pompous New York demi-celebrity sets out to reinvent the novel. Fante does so almost by accident, at the encouragement of an unseen editor he worships as God.
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Posted by Peter Debruge at 03:40 PM | Comments (1)
March 14, 2006
The Art of 'Cars'
It's easy enough with toys, monsters, even fish, but how do you assign a personality to a car? That's a challenge that faces not only Pixar, but the designers who work for the auto industry as well, says Ford chief creative officer J Mays, who headed up the redesign of two classic automotive icons: the Volkswagen Beetle and the Ford Mustang.
When Cars director John Lasseter first approached Ford about helping him prepare for his upcoming film, it was Mays who led the Pixar exec into the automaker's inner sanctum. In Lasseter, Mays found a kindred spirit who brings creativity to what sometimes seems like a very technical field.
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Posted by Peter Debruge at 10:52 AM | Comments (1)
March 13, 2006
Mixed Blood
Paul Morrissey's Mixed Blood remembers New York City at its roughest, depicting an underage drug war every bit as brutal (if not necessarily as stylish) as City of God. Gothamites who bemoan the city's ongoing gentrification need only revisit this 1985 indie for a change of heart. Conceived as comic satire, pic's graphic depiction of violence and addiction may not faze viewers today, but as a historical snapshot, it's staggering — especially as time has blurred the line between Morrissey's sense of dramatic exaggeration and his verité style. On DVD, the effect is enhanced by a 25-minute slideshow narrated by Morrissey.
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Posted by Peter Debruge at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2006
Shaggy Dog
(out of four)
In Tim Allen, Disney just may have found the 21st century equivalent of the studio's perennial Everydad and original Shaggy D.A. star Dean Jones. There's something wonderfully old-fashioned about Allen's father-figure instincts, and considering the spottiness in the actor's non-Disney projects of late (Christmas with the Kranks, anybody?), perhaps the best thing Allen could hope for right now might be landing a steady gig remaking so-so family classics from the Disney vault.
Posted by Peter Debruge at 11:27 AM | Comments (0)
The Libertine
(out of four)
It's difficult not to like Johnny Depp, but in The Libertine, the actor insists. ''You will not like me,'' Depp instructs his audience outright in the film's opening monologue, delivered to camera in what feels like a 17th century precursor to the reality-show confession booth.
Such gutsy self-consciousness might feel right at home on stage, where The Libertine all too obviously originated. But first-time director Laurence Dunmore might have done better to take a more conservative approach with his debut, rather than so carelessly forsaking his audience's goodwill from the outset.
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Posted by Peter Debruge at 11:15 AM | Comments (0)
March 03, 2006
Kinky Boots
(out of four)
At a humble little shoe factory in Northampton, the Price family has been making ''sensible'' men's footwear for more than 100 years. That's four generations of craftsmanship out the window when the sole surviving Price (mild-mannered son Charlie, played with bumbling oblivion by Joel Edgerton) decides he'd rather not follow in his father's footsteps.
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Posted by Peter Debruge at 01:24 PM | Comments (0)