Out of the Blue
A strange movie from the Antipodes that tries to make a real-life act of mass murder into an object of beauty
Entry from October 18, 2007
Last week’s debate, sponsored by the Ethics and Public Policy Center, between Christopher Hitchens and Professor Alister McGrath on the existence of God was rather a disappointment to me. I thought that Mr Hitchens clearly had the better of it, but only because Professor McGrath chose to fight on his opponent’s ground. The Hitchens argument in…
3:10 to Yuma
After 50 years, the re-make of a classic western provides us with a pretty accurate gauge of the degree to which the culture has been debased since 1957
Brave One, The
Jodie Foster is mad and she isn’t going to take it anymore. Fortunately for her, she can kill people and still be the victim herself
Good Night, The
Occasionally witty writing and good acting are not enough to save a movie whose high concept is just silly
The Hero Vanishes
Farewell to two giants of the post-war cinema as well as the American movie hero, whom they helped to kill — From The American Spectator of September, 2007
Gotta Get a Gimmick. . .
. . . and The New York Times’s smug sense of its own superiority doesn’t count — From The New Criterion of September, 2007
Lust, Caution
A great film and a heartening demonstration that romance on the grand scale, as Hollywood used to do it, is still possible
Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, The
A very slow-moving, atmospheric appreciation of the 19th century outlaw — or at least of his celebrity, which it seems a shame his assassin did not inherit
Entry from September 17, 2007
“Let’s face it, if the mothers ruled the world, there would be no goddamned wars in the first place,” said Sally Field at the Emmy Awards on Sunday. Mixing up its categories of taboos, The New York Times calls “goddamned” (which it forbears to repeat) “a vulgarity” rather than a profanity, but it doesn’t reflect…
December Boys
A rather busy and overstuffed coming-of-age drama with a distinctively Australian touch to it