Thompson on Hollywood

Inception Early Review: Nolan Delivers Kubrickian Masterpiece with Heart

No movie this year comes freighted with greater expectations than Inception, Chris Nolan's follow-up to the global blockbuster The Dark Knight. Happily, the movie delivers and then some--thanks to clever original screenwriting and exhilarating mise-en-scene--in 2D.

By Anne Thompson
|
July 5, 2010 9:55 AM
|
31 Comments

More:

Kehr on Keaton

A required read for any self-respecting cinephile is critic Dave Kehr's weekly DVD column in the NYT. At a time when most new movies don't offer much to digest for the sophisticated film critic, Kehr has the best beat in town: DVDs. Every week, Kehr shares his erudite knowledge and elegant prose style. And he outdoes himself with this week's essay on the greatest silent comedian, Buster Keaton, who like his rival Charlie Chaplin, directed his own films--but for too short a time. (A new DVD of Steamboat Bill, Jr. is hitting stores, as well as Lost Keaton, which includes sixteen Educational Pictures shorts he made in the 30s.)

By Anne Thompson
|
July 4, 2010 10:32 AM
|
1 Comment

More:

The Greatest Ears In Town: The Arif Mardin Story Premieres

Amy Dawes caught the L.A. premiere of The Greatest Ears In Town, based on the life and footage of music luminary, Arif Mardin. She also stuck around for an inspired Q&A:

By Amy Dawes
|
June 30, 2010 8:06 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Love Ranch: Early Reviews

So far, Taylor Hackford's Love Ranch, which the director rescued from David Bergstein limbo, is not faring too well with early reviewers. They tend to like Helen Mirren (who is married to Hackford) more than her co-stars or the film. The movie will need more ardent love before it opens June 30.

By Anne Thompson
|
June 29, 2010 7:41 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

Entourage Season 7: Give it a Chance

Entourage Season 7 is upon us. Is it worth watching? Don't judge the show by the first episode, warns TOH reviewer Tim Appelo: "the season is still promising and could turn out a winner."

By Tim Appelo
|
June 29, 2010 3:46 AM
|
0 Comments

More:

HBO's Entourage Season Seven Debuts Sunday, Behind-the-Scenes Video

Jeremy Piven once bit my head off at a Toronto Fest party when I wanted to talk about Entourage instead of whatever forgettable movie he was in that year. Well, I'm still interested in the HBO series about Hollywood, even after six seasons. Accept it Piven: you were born to play Ari Emanuel--um, Gold. Season Seven starts Sunday night. Welcome back guys. Here's an advance a review and a preview (below). Tim Appelo will post a review tomorrow.

By Anne Thompson
|
June 27, 2010 12:52 PM
|
0 Comments

More:

Raavan's Bachchan and Rai Do The Ramayana: Badly

Big-budget Bollywood adventure Raavan, starring the golden couple Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai--from writer-director Mani Ratnam, director of Guru, with a rousing score by Slumdog Millionaire Oscar-winner A.R. Rahman--is a big overwrought dud. It's one of those dead-serious over-scale extravaganzas that boasts lavish resources--visual effects, swirling cameras, stunning scenery and lavish musical numbers--and comes up short. It's basically India's Robin Hood in more ways than one--all that money can buy in the way of production value and star power, but a big so-what? In some ways, Bachchan is playing chest-beating primitive King Kong to Rai's lovely Fay Wray.

By Anne Thompson
|
June 21, 2010 5:02 AM
|
6 Comments

More:

Knight and Day: Early Reviews Are Mixed

I find myself rooting for James Mangold's Knight and Day, which functions better as a breezy summer popcorn rom-com than an action-packed chase movie, as Justin Chang of Variety points out:

By Anne Thompson
|
June 19, 2010 6:12 AM
|
6 Comments

More:

Knight and Day: Cruise/Diaz Original Action Comedy Works

No question that everyone gets that audiences are suffering sequel and remake overload. But Vulture's Claude Brodesser-Akner overstates the case that Hollywood is back to chasing originals when he cites a few anecdotal examples of recent studio buys.

By Anne Thompson
|
June 17, 2010 3:00 AM
|
6 Comments

More:

Film Scholar Brunette Dies at Taormina

Film academic and critic Peter Brunette died of a sudden heart attack at age 66 Wednesday morning at the Taormina Film Festival. I knew him well. We'd do round tables together at Cannes, share post-screening takes standing by our mail boxes at the Palais, or hang in line at Telluride. He was an infectious film enthusiast, and a canny film writer. He paid for his festival jaunts with freelance income. During the year he was a full-time professor at Wake Forest University, where he was director of their film studies program and published several film books, on Michael Haneke and Wong Kar Wai, among others. I will sorely miss him.