The Smackdown Films — at the highest level of achievement — illuminate, entertain, even influence events. They usually don’t aim that high. Movies mostly reinforce our existing preferences for drama, romance, horror — or in […]
Nothing persists like a good idea. Its power and elegance hold up no matter how it is reinterpreted in movie sequels, prequels and remakes. “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” became a surprise science fiction hit in 1956 and remains a popular model for imitation. You can trace elements of the basic storyline on film and TV today: Bad things happen when you fall asleep. This sturdy premise spawned well-made remakes in 1978 and 1994. Now, a new version of Jack Finney’s tale of alien takeover steps up, “Invasion.” This remake arrives with plenty of drama behind the camera. It offers an otherworldly Smackdown: Does “Invasion” snatch a good idea from the original movie, or lose its identity?
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The Smackdown Listening in on other people’s private conversations and how that affects the listener as much as the people who are being spied upon — that’s what both these films share in common. In […]
The Smackdown How many authors could claim, or would even dare suppose, that they had single-handedly, through the power of their pen alone, influenced the development of an entire sex? Well, there was that guy […]
The Smackdown Stepping into the ring are, wait a minute, it’ll come to me, um, let me check I wrote it down somewhere, yeah, here it is… two films from writer/directors about people with memory […]
The Smackdown Do you want the security of being married or the fun of being single? Guess what? You have to choose! That “cognitive dissonance” is the foundation for both films. Each leading man, Chris […]
The Smackdown “Hairspray” sets up a Smackdown! as unsettling as meeting another person with your name: something is familiar, but the other elements don’t quite fit. Mark Twain anticipated this frustration when he said some […]
The Smackdown It must be some otherworldly spell that brings me back to the Harry Potter movies again and again, considering I’ve never completed one Harry Potter book. Warner Brothers’ prized franchise, the Harry Potter […]
The Smackdown A good secret agent can give lift to a film franchise and turn it into a multi-billion dollar industry. We have two inside-the-CIA runs going with Bourne and Mission: Impossible,and both have gone […]
The Smackdown Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy gets girl back. That’s generally how it works in Hollywood, but not with “Flannel Pajamas” and “Annie Hall,” two flicks that follow a relationship from its […]
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