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 […]
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 Sometimes you just need to see a well-deserved butt kicking. On that basis, the Die Hard series generally satisfies because all of the movies are intended to simply deliver what they excel at […]
The Smackdown Real violence trumps reel violence, although maybe not when selling tickets. “A Mighty Heart” opened small over the weekend ($4 million) and may not grow much. Michael Winterbottom directed this real life horrorshow […]
The Smackdown If early audience response counts for anything, bet big on “Ocean’s 13” this summer. Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh (“Sex, Lies and Videotape,” “Erin Brockovich,” “Traffic”) created a popular series combining snappy storytelling and bankable […]
The Smackdown Even though “Knocked Up” is a major summer movie (maybe even the summer comedy), the same could easily have been said about “The 40 Year Old Virgin” in 2005. Both have similar strengths, […]
The Smackdown Apples and oranges. Comparing films, or people — even apples and oranges — forces tough judgment calls. That’s why it feels safer to key our comparisons on hard, irreducible nuggets of experience. Our […]
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