Word: escapist
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...message that dovetails nicely with the film’s in-your-face easygoingness, but one that seems distastefully simpleminded near the start of an election year that is likely to be one of America’s most ugliest and most bitter. The formula has an obvious escapist appeal—one which may propel Romano to movie stardom—but should he ever want my vote for mayor, he’s going to have to do better than this...
...Sims may be the most popular PC game of all time, but there are plenty of players who don't find it escapist enough. So what if you're supposed to manage willful little people through their eating, sleeping and bathroom habits? Isn't that their parents' job? Space Colony (PC, $40, Gathering) takes the Sims concept and runs with it for about a billion miles. You're still managing an unruly bunch of little people, but now they're trying to build industries--ranging from tourism to chicken farming--on alien worlds, and are beset all the while...
Most horror films are escapist larks: they scare you, but are removed enough to be fun. This uncomfortable thriller, however, doesn’t let audiences off the hook. Mark Lewis (Boehm) is a psychopath, who thrives on killing women with a knife attached to a camera tripod so he can film their expressions as they die. Although Psycho is similarly themed—psychotic killer motivated by childhood humiliations—the killings are viewed through the killer’s camera, making the audience (or at least me) feel like the pleasure of watching horror movies isn?...
...earnest and enjoyable, could use more of Christie's even-handed objectivity. For instance, the documentary praises Easy Rider (actually a 1969 film) for drawing in a new audience that had been staying away from the movies. But when Star Wars does the same thing, it's pandering to escapist sheep easily led by movie marketers. And the scope is both comprehensive and frustratingly limited, focusing on critics' darlings while Rocky, Superman and the like get barely a sneer...
...crazy trying to find them all, from the venerable Will Eisner (who was previewing his latest book "Fagin the Jew") to Harvey Pekar (stumping for the "American Splendor" movie) to Alex Ross (previewing the new hardcover of his painted superhero art) to Michael Chabon (previewing his comic "The Escapist," based on the character in "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.") The number of creators easily reached several thousand. Marvel Comics, perhaps demonstrating just how much their comics have become a loss leader for the movie franchises, and how little they care for comicbook fans, was the only glaring absence...