Movies of late have been… loud. From the bombastic rocket-launch of Iron Man 2, to the sting of swords and arrows in Robin Hood, to the kinetic furor of the latest Shrek installment. Then the sandy, shrieky inanity of the Sex and the City gals and a certain Prince of Persia, and just last weekend, […]
Movie Reviews: We Live in Public; Young @ Heart; Lord, Save Us From Your Followers
By Mark Special to the Dagger Note on the ratings: The rating system is based on four points, or stars if you prefer. The overall rating is subdivided into four categories, acting, character, structure, and writing. Each of these categories receives a four point rating and in most cases the average will be the overall […]
Movie Review: ‘Please Give’
Please Give (Sony Classics) There’s nothing so extraordinary about Please Give, the latest from female-centric filmmaker Nicole Holofcener, and that’s precisely the point. The film is a reflection of real women working through real issues in our real world—really. Holofcener crafts intensely believable characters in an atmosphere imbued with authenticity, and she does so with […]
Weekend Movie Review: ‘Sex and the City 2,’ ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’
Sex and the City 2 (New Line/Warner Bros.) I’m sorry. Am I missing something here? Are any of these women supposed to be remotely relatable? Are any of them supposed to be women at all? There’s Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), the whiny, self-absorbed, unbearably wistful alleged fashionista (a claim I more than once felt quick […]
‘Shrek’ Finale Lands Near the Middle
Shrek Forever After (Dreamworks/Paramount) What is this movie called exactly? Shrek Forever After? Shrek: The Final Chapter? Shrek in 3D? Shrek Trek IV: The Voyage Home? Technically, it’s the first of those listed, but glancing over the promotional materials for the film, and even sitting through both the opening and closing credits, you could still […]
‘Robin Hood,’ Hero and Patriot
Robin Hood (Universal) Apparently, we’ve had it wrong all along. To take from the rich and give to the poor, as a classic understanding of the Robin Hood tale might suggest, was not an attempt by the benevolent marksman to redistribute the wealth of his land. In Ridley Scott’s eponymous origin fable, working from a […]
‘Iron Man 2’ is Shiny and Hollow (Review)
Iron Man 2 (Paramount) “I have successfully privatized world peace,” gloats Tony Stark, the man inside the metal suit—the man who is Iron Man. Through dogged pride and sheer mechanical machismo, Iron Man has singlehandedly rid the world of conflict. What, then, is a superhero to do when the fate of the world is secure, […]
Movie Review: A Nightmare on Elm Street
A Nightmare on Elm Street (Warner Bros.) “One, two, Freddy’s coming for you.” This might have been a chilling proposition back in 1984, when Wes Craven introduced the world to that mutated, razor-fingered menace Freddy Kruger in the original Nightmare on Elm Street. In 2010, Freddy Kruger licks his lips and rubs his knife-nails together, […]
