So, people told me Shaun of the Dead was good, but they kept describing it as something akin to Hot Fuzz and whatnot. It’s not a spoof of a zombie movie though. It’s a zombie movie with a couple losers discovering their skill sets make them good at surviving a zombie holocaust, if not excelling […]
Entries Tagged as 'Focus Features'
Shaun of the Dead (2004, Edgar Wright)
September 15th, 2009 · No Comments
Tagged: Bill Nighy· Edgar Wright· Focus Features· Simon Pegg· ★★★½
The Limits of Control (2009, Jim Jarmusch)
May 16th, 2009 · No Comments
Someone–Ebert maybe–is going to laud The Limits of Control. The nicest thing one can really say about it is it isn’t abjectly terrible. There aren’t many bad performances (Tilda Swinton’s lame and Bill Murray’s awful and Isaach De Bankolé is weak when he has more lines than the Terminator) and Jarmusch really does know how […]
Tagged: Bill Murray· Focus Features· Jim Jarmusch· John Hurt· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
Ash Wednesday (2002, Edward Burns)
March 8th, 2009 · No Comments
Burns must have cast Elijah Wood because of Lord of the Rings, figured his presence would boost Ash Wednesday’s salability. At some point during filming, as Burns watched Wood’s useless, laughable, whiny performance… he must have regretted it. It’s not like the film’s only problem is Wood–far from it–but he’s just so terrible, so incompetent, […]
Tagged: Edward Burns· Focus Features· Oliver Platt· Rosario Dawson· ⓏⒺⓇⓄ
Milk (2008, Gus Van Sant)
January 13th, 2009 · 1 Comment
As Milk’s opening titles ran, it occurred to me Danny Elfman scored it. It doesn’t sound anything like Elfman’s norm–you know, the modified Batman music–but it sounded like the kind of score Danny Elfman should be doing (and should have been doing for years). Milk’s a biopic–and always feels like one, thanks in great part […]
Tagged: Dustin Lance Black· Focus Features· Gus Van Sant· Sean Penn· ★★★★
Burn After Reading (2008, Joel and Ethan Coen)
December 8th, 2008 · 1 Comment
The Coens usually write tight scripts. Burn After Reading doesn’t have a particularly tight script. Instead, it’s got a bunch of great performances and funny scenes–astoundingly good dialogue (their use of curse words for humorous effect is noteworthy)–and some great details. But the film isn’t really much of a story. Literally speaking, it’s about what […]
Tagged: Brad Pitt· Ethan Coen· Focus Features· George Clooney· Joel Coen· Richard Jenkins· ★★★
Hollywoodland (2006, Allen Coulter)
May 28th, 2008 · No Comments
Hollywoodland is not a narrative mess. It’d be a far more interesting (and far less boring) two hours if it were. Instead, Paul Bernbaum’s plotting is intentional and considered. Neither Bernbaum nor director Allen Coulter seem to understand the problems with having two protagonists, not having anything to do with each other, juxtaposed for a […]
Tagged: Adrien Brody· Allen Coulter· Ben Affleck· Focus Features· Paul Bernbaum· ★
The Constant Gardener (2005, Fernando Meirelles)
October 9th, 2007 · 1 Comment
With two major exceptions, The Constant Gardener is defined by what it is not rather than what it is… It is not a thriller, it is not a mystery, it might not even be a narrative. It is a (justified) condemnation of Western pharmaceutical companies–with Western government’s express permission–treatment of sick African peoples. It’s also […]
Tagged: Bill Nighy· Danny Huston· Fernando Meirelles· Focus Features· Jeffrey Caine· John le Carré· Pete Postlethwaite· ★
