Film Reviews : By Tony Macklin at tonymacklin.net

Film Reviews : Pre-2005

	Tears in the Astroturf: Friday Night Lights November 1, 2004 This feel-good movie doesn't A lot of reviewers have gotten the pom-poms out for Friday Night Lights. The ads use Larry King, who bleats, "One of the Greatest Sports Movies Ever Made." Richard Roeper waves his thumb and ... more
	Come Back, Jack! Why Schmidt Is Shit February 1, 2003 Payne capsized an actor and a novel in this misfire About Schmidt drives another nail in the coffin of irony. About Schmidt is as lacking in irony as its blatant crayon drawing ending. It's a synthetic antidote to a ... more
	Things change December 17, 2001 David Mamet tones it down a second time in the relaxed State and Main When one has proven himself, he has earned his right to go his own way -- even if its less adventuresome than his past route. Director/screenwriter David Mamet has ... more
	Vegas-born buzz May 17, 2001 Lady in the Box debuted at CineVegas last December, then became a hit on the festival circuit When a film has its world premiere in Las Vegas, what then happens to it? If the film is the independent Lady in the Box, it goes from Las ... more
	DVD: The catcher in the lie May 3, 2001 Was Barry Levinson right in Hollywood-izing The Natural? When J.D. Salinger was asked why he turned down huge money to make The Catcher in the Rye into a movie, he answered simply, "Holden wouldn't like it." On the other hand, Roy H ... more
	DVD: Bring it on, Joan April 5, 2001 Oscar nominee Joan Allen waves her cheerleader's pompoms for Rod Lurie's contrived political drama The Contender At their best, DVDs allow us to know films better and to consider provocative issues. At their worst, DVDs essentially are ... more
	Rolling along March 29, 2001 The zipper, the apple pie -- and now, Tomcats' runaway testicle Tomcats is a raunchy, rambunctious, crowd-pleasing film. It has a scene with our hero chasing after a bouncing, runaway testicle through a hospital that will define the ... more
	DVD: Let's do the time warp again March 8, 2001 It's a nostalgia trip with the new, special edition DVD of Dr. Strangelove In the 1960s, as a fledgling writer seeking my first magazine publication, I kept sending out an article on the philosophy of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. It ... more
	Turkeybone March 1, 2001 The already flopping Monkeybone deserves its fate The film Monkeybone is a raucous mess. Director Henry Selick mixes animation and live action to the noisy, clumsy detriment of both. It's the strident story of cartoonist Stu Miley ( ... more
	Grounded February 22, 2001 Chris Rocks plays it safe and clean in Down to Earth It had all the signs of being a disaster -- two directors, four writers, a duration of under 90 minutes and negative pre-release buzz. But despite the warning signs, Down to Earth is ... more
	DVD: Restored integrity February 8, 2001 Robert Altman's satirical Nashville is presented the way it should be The DVD of Nashville is a godsend, the first time it has been available on home video in its original widescreen aspect ratio. The VHS and laserdisc were not widescre ... more
	Hollow man February 1, 2001 Giuseppe Tornatore's Malena lacks emotional resonance For those of us who love Cinema Paradiso, the news that its Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore and his musical soulmate Ennio Morricone were getting back together to do another ... more
	Teenybopper flatulence January 25, 2001 Sugar and Spice is more like snips and snails and puppy dog tails Director Francine McDougall thinks of her film Sugar and Spice as "a sophisticated black comedy." Yeah, right. Its as sophisticated as a Twinkie, and as black as a marshm ... more
	You can bunk on it December 14, 2000 The unconvincing Proof of Life is a missed opportunity There is something major missing in Proof of Life. When Director Taylor Hackford decided to cut a steamy sex scene out of the film, he emasculated it. What is left of the romantic r ... more
	Understanding Kubrick: The Shining June 1, 1981 The Shining met the fate of several other Stanley Kubrick films when it came out; most viewers did not like it, so they rejected it. Most importantly, they did not understand it in any way which allowed them to deal with it constructively. ... more
	Brian De Palma's Coming of Age: Blow Out February 1, 1981 Brian De Palma has often seemed the bastard son of Alfred Hitchcock and Lizzie Borden. His work has suffered from being overly derivative and ridiculously gory. If De Palma had a personal vision, it was subsumed by tricks and a sensibility that tu ... more
	Vertigo: The End of Eden February 1, 1980 Vertigo is one of the most pessimistic popular films ever made. It is ironic that Alfred Hitchcock usually is not appreciated for the thematic values in his films. Hitchcock, who is interested in and marvelous at creating effects, is often ... more
	From troubled to terrific July 3, 1976 Robert Altman and crew have done the necessary reorganizing and reediting on Buffalo Bill and the Indians and have created a terrific movie out of the troubled dust of what was. The first time I saw the movie in New York, it was explicit, c ... more
	Fantastic voyage into fantasy April 26, 1976 Use of images, imagination stunning in The Man Who Fell to Earth The Man Who Fell to Earth, at the Dabel, is the most beautiful, jagged, freakish film of the year. Startling and displacing, it is also tender and mournf ... more
	Plot good Hitchcock April 16, 1976 The delight of a good Hitchcock film is watching the master at work. His style, tone, and touch have the surety of time and experience. He can take a mediocre plot and make it dance and throb with the perennial Hitchcock spirit. Family ... more
	Images rare, beautiful film defying logic May 7, 1973 It is a rare film that can entice me to surrender my logic, but Images does just that. It is pretentious, contrived, and melodramatic. Why then does it cause this generally suspicious viewer to plunge into its chilling pools? Ima ... more
	Avanti's incongruities give pleasure February 12, 1973 Director Billy Wilder, on of the old pros if American movie-making, is sixty-seven years old. His career has been productive, uneven, and creative. His films have sharp edges and soft centers, often teetering on the borders of the maudlin. ... more
	The Last Picture Show March 22, 1972 The Last Picture Show predictable, almost trite The Last Picture Show, at Loew's Ames, has received generally enthusiastic reviews and eight Academy Award nominations but it is commonplace and borders on triteness. < ... more
	The Comic Sense of 2001 October 1, 1969 2001 is a film of surprising subtlety that has caused many serious critics to miss its tones. Pauline Kael (Harpers), John Simon (The New Leader), and Stanley Kauffmann (The New Republic) have all misgauged the film ... more
	Darling April 1, 1966 John Schlesinger's Darling is a film of excessive and self-defeating brilliance. Schlesinger is intelligent, but his approach is one-dimensional. His characters are fashionable types, his symbols are too often gimmicks; and Darling b ... more
	Sex and Dr. Strangelove June 1, 1965 The most provocative commercial motion picture produced in the United States in 1964 was Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Much has been made of the question of whether or not the film i ... more