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October 13, 2006
The Grudge 2
(out of four)
The curse never dies, so unless The Grudge 2 bombs at the box office (and there's no reason to think that it would), expect theaters to be visited by still more nonsensical installments in this intermittently scary series. Pic already marks the sixth time director Takashi Shimizu has exploited same gimmick of ghostly mother and child who hunt down anyone foolish enough to trespass inside their Tokyo house, except this time, Sarah Michelle Gellar (who helped drive the 2004 remake to a $39 million opening) appears just long enough to ensure she won't be back.
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Posted by Peter Debruge at 01:47 PM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2006
The Departed
(out of four)
Critics have a soft spot for directors such as Scorsese, which renders reviews for movies like The Departed virtually meaningless to the rest of us. Does a rave mean anything to the casual film fan, or is it just another example of critics reading too much into a so-so action movie? The truth is, from the outset there was nothing certain about Scorsese's latest — everyone attached had at least two strikes against him going in — so when I say The Departed is the best film of the year, rest assured there is no favoritism at play here.
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Posted by Peter Debruge at 04:05 PM | Comments (0)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
(out of four)
Don't get too attached to any of the nubile young twentysomethings in horror prequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. Expectedly grisly pic provides the origin story for Thomas Hewitt, aka "Leatherface" — which means these kids are little more than chainsaw fodder for the Ed Gein-inspired cannibalistic killer. Whereas the three Star Wars prequels set up key events foreshadowing young Anakin's turn to the dark side, implication here is that Hewitt was always evil. In light of the 2003 Michael Bay-produced remake's $80 million box office take, expect this entry from Rings helmer Jonathan Liebesman to scare up healthy numbers.
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Posted by Peter Debruge at 11:32 AM | Comments (0)
Employee of the Month
(out of four)
Remember the good old days, when Hollywood was a place of fantasy? "The Dream Factory," they called it. For better or worse, we have entered a new, more democratic age of cinema, in which fairy-tale love stories designed for the likes of Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant have given way to blue-collar comedies about everyday Americans.
In the same spirit that Office Space skewered cubicle life and Clerks conveyed the doldrums of convenience store work, Employee of the Month empathizes with the little guys who keep megastores like Costco and Sam's Club in business.
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Posted by Peter Debruge at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)