Dream With the Fishes
A buddy/road movie fueled by desperation, Dream With the Fishes begins as an hallucinatory fever dream. In quick strokes, writer-director Finn Taylor establishes the growing desperation of Terry (David Arquette), a nervous and twitchy, prim-looking young man who moves like a somnambulist around a once-orderly apartment filled with photographs of a single woman. Terry, whose…
Ulysses’ Gaze
Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos is practically unknown in this country, although he has, at 61, more than a dozen features to his credit and is considered by some cineastes to be one of the great living directors. That he remains obscure outside of film buff circles is no mystery. Like those of Tarkovsky and Antonioni,…
When the Cat’s Away
Although the title of French filmmaker Cédric Klapisch’s new feature may suggest Continental frou-frou, if not flat-out ooh-la-la, it’s actually a sly and satisfying low-key look at mundane alienation and dubious connections made in a modern (i.e., rapidly changing) Parisian neighborhood. Chloé (Garance Clavel) is a young makeup artist who longs to get away from…
Teach right, do wrong
As dramatic entertainment, Kevin Reynolds’ 187 is easily worth three stars, with a serviceable script, capable directing, fine performances (particularly from Samuel L. Jackson as an embattled teacher and Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez who plays his homeboy nemesis), and a plot line that mostly avoids “Welcome Back, Kotter” clichés. But that’s only half the story –…
Hijacking Hollywood
First-time filmmaker (and Detroiter) Neil Mandt’s Hijacking Hollywood is a lot like TV. That’s the good news and the bad news. The film is ingratiating, paced for prime time and funny. Just like TV. Hijacking is trying hard to be likable, beginning with its scale, which is small. The shoestring production values show, along with…
Andiamo Italia West
The sunflower yellow and purple color scheme and huge tilted mirrors that allow patrons to glimpse those sitting behind them have given the space a slickly contemporary look. The food is in contrast: it’s the solid Italian fare of old master Aldo Ottaviani interpreted by a crew of young chefs in the open kitchen. Lively…
Air Force One
The biggest fantasy element in Air Force One isn’t the massive special effects that director Wolfgang Petersen (In the Line of Fire) utilizes so well, but the film’s central character, a straight-talking, straight-shooter of a president played by Harrison Ford. At 55, Ford’s screen persona has evolved into a Gary Cooperish action hero: a basic…
Fighting Crime With Design
How architects can create a sense of safety, from the Renaissance Center to the neighborhoods….
Vulnerable and Volatile
Songwriter Mark Eitzel’s gift for bent lyricism allows listeners in just long enough to change their lives.
The talking heads version
When it comes to illustrating the inherent difficulty of transforming a play into a film, the failures demonstrate it best. Plays like Wallace Shawn’s The Designated Mourner ask the audience to take words and weave them into images, to see not just three characters on a bare stage talking into the void, but a complex…
