Recent reviews

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  Moulin Rouge! 2001

  Watched 01 Feb 2001

  Though I still like John Huston’s 1952 movie with the same title a bit more, this steamroller by Baz Luhrmann about 1899 Paris and 2001 pop TV, a definite improvement over the repulsive STRICTLY BALLROOM, is diverting, energetic, and even reasonably satisfying, so long as you aren’t looking for a real musical to take its place. What it mainly reminded me of were some of Ken Russell’s better romps in the 70s (THE DEVILS, THE MUSIC LOVERS, and, best of…

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  Lara Croft: Tomb Raider 2001

  Watched 01 Mar 2001

  Angelina Jolie stars as a superwoman, in a 2001 movie based on a video game that’s unafraid to look absurd but lacks the self-conviction needed to come off as camp. This bears most of the earmarks of Indiana Jones movies but few of the thrills, apart from some nifty set design. It’s refreshing that the title adventuress isn’t saddled with a romantic interest, but the character has so little personality of any kind that the gains are limited. (And the…

Popular reviews

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  Barbie 2023

  Watched 23 Jul 2023

  I have no current plans to see OPPENHEIMER and I’m already looking forward to seeing BARBIE a second time. What’s infuriating about the usual press shorthand for this duo — including The Economist‘s — is the assumption that the former is “realist” and “adult” whereas the latter must be “escapist” and “childish”. But what if the reverse is true?

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  Crimes and Misdemeanors 1989

  Watched 01 Jun 1990

  Notes Toward the Devaluation of Woody Allen

  “Why are the French so crazy about Jerry Lewis?” is a recurring question posed by film buffs in the United States, but, sad to say, it is almost invariably asked rhetorically. When Dick Cavett tried it out several years ago on Jean-Luc Godard, one of Lewis’s biggest defenders, it quickly became apparent that Cavett had no interest in hearing an answer, and he immediately changed the subject as soon as Godard began to…

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