Author Archive

Metaphors for Extinction: Disney’s Digital Dinosaur

Written by Godfrey Cheshire on . Posted in Arts & Film, Posts

Film Going Digital A ways into Disney’s new animated feature Dinosaur, just after we’re fully acquainted with our scaly hero and his furry friends, a meteor strikes the Earth. You will recall this episode from the science lore of our own era. Sixty-five million years ago, it is said, a meteor’s impact wiped out the
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Ethan Hawke as a Manhattan Hipster Hamlet

Written by Godfrey Cheshire on . Posted in Arts & Film, Posts

Hamlet Directed by Michael Almereyda That dual feat, I would submit, is not only an extraordinary achievement, it’s also a source of mysteries to rival the play’s own. Why is this rendition of an almost too-well-known play so haunting finally? Are its cerebral fascinations and its affective punch intrinsically connected, or merely coincidental? Having seen
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Gladiator Tries to Resuscitate the Sword-and-Sandals Picture

Written by Godfrey Cheshire on . Posted in Arts & Film, Posts

Made at the crest of Hollywood’s infatuation with togas and tridents, the 1960 Spartacus almost didn’t get off the ground because of competition from a planned picture titled The Gladiators, which was to be directed by Martin Ritt and star Yul Brynner. Spartacus producer-star Kirk Douglas, though, rushed his movie into production with Anthony Mann,
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The Virgin Suicides, Sofia Coppola’s Extraordinary Debut Feature; A Good War Film

Written by Godfrey Cheshire on . Posted in Arts & Film, Posts

The Virgin Suicides Directed by Sofia Coppola The Virgin Suicides, Sofia Coppola’s extraordinary debut feature, reminded me of a film to which it bears little outward resemblance, Terrence Malick’s Badlands. No doubt some will find that comparison a little strange. Malick’s masterpiece is largely identified with its subject and story, which effectively launched a whole
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Is Rules of Engagement the Most Repellent Movie Ever Made?

Written by Godfrey Cheshire on . Posted in Arts & Film, Posts

And appalling. And depressing. I thought that the film’s stealing the title of the most important documentary of recent years, William Gazecki’s Waco: The Rules of Engagement, would be its worst sin. But no; the sins multiply from there. Friedkin’s last movie, Jade, was the cinematic equivalent of dog puke. Compared to this new film,
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The Color of Paradise The Color of Paradise directed …

Written by Godfrey Cheshire on . Posted in Arts & Film, Posts

While I’m not in the camp of the Majidi detractors, I understand where their animus comes from. If you’ve seen a fair number of Iranian films, it’s easy to view Majidi’s as transparently derivative and calculatedly commercial, offering simplistic pieties on subjects that others have probed with real subtlety and sophistication. Where late-80s, child-centered masterpieces
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Erin Brockovich Erin Brockovich Directed by …

Written by Godfrey Cheshire on . Posted in Arts & Film, Posts

Personally, I hadn’t realized how little interest I had in experiencing another Julia Roberts vehicle until I sat through this one, which is why I should stress that the movie is no subversion, deconstruction or reinvention of what its ads will present it as. It is, pure and simple, a Julia Roberts vehicle. In practice,
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Don’t Blame Don’t Blame Le Messager …

Written by Godfrey Cheshire on . Posted in Arts & Film, Posts

Don’t Blame Le Messager "Cannes sez no debate on French film failures" was the headline on a short Variety item of Feb. 25 that offered a small but drolly revealing peek into France’s current cinema wars. Datelined Paris, the piece began, "Organizers of the Cannes Film Festival reacted angrily Wednesday to a French press report
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