Speed, the most thrilling police actioner ever, is an extended roller coaster ride. Moreover, two interlocking subtexts of Graham Yost’s savvy script help the film to engage some interesting aspects of reality and myth, lifting the result way, way above the gutter grade of such other summertime rushes as the Die Hards, The Fugitive and […]
Daily Archives: March 13, 2007
Stephen Daldrey’s immensely likeable Billy Elliot (2000) cannibalized itself beyond repair by its political silliness; there were other problems as well. The acting by Julie Walters and Jamie Bell, widely honored, of course elevated the musical-comedy-drama, and there was no dearth of passionate, heart-jumping scenes; but Daldrey’s first film left a good many of us […]
This is what Akira Kurosawa said about Satyajit Ray: “Not to have seen the cinema of Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon.” Since it has been trimmed of a quarter-hour for its U.S. incarnation, perhaps Ray’s The Chess Players (Shatranj Ke Khilari) isn’t due any legitimate criticism from […]
Despite winning a brace of best film prizes (in San Sebastian, Denmark, Santa Margarita Legure), despite being the first Mexican film to be nominated for an Oscar in the foreign-language division, despite excellent acting (the lead actor won at San Francisco), despite a crackerjack story (by B. Traven), and despite being gorgeously photographed in black […]
Dennis Grunes 