Word: writer-director
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Gene Hackman is the thief, Danny DeVito is his financier, and for two hours they engage in an insanely complicated effort to rob a shipment of gold bullion and double-cross each other. Writer-director David Mamet has so many obligations to his plot that he has neither time nor energy to develop these or any other characters (played by the likes of Delroy Lindo and Ricky Jay) beyond the bounds of genre cliche. Or to dole out more than a few lines of his usually smart dialogue. The result is a well-tooled machine chugging coldly along a twisting...
...laid-back and un-Marilyn Mansony. And besides, if Jolie is going to continue to serve as the goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and Thornton is really going to have a shot at winning the best-actor Oscar in addition to being a respected indie writer-director who makes moody alt-country albums, they need to make sure people know they don't have a dungeon in their basement and he doesn't eat only orange-colored food and doesn't think he's the reincarnation of Benjamin Franklin. This is going to take...
With his new film, The Heist, writer-director David Mamet attempts to recapture the success of his last crime thriller, the elegant and captivating Spanish Prisoner. But in spite of a stellar cast and some exciting set pieces, the movie drags on for too long and ultimately succeeds in stealing little more than the audience’s time...
...there is a main element to the plot, it is that Aunt Julia is nearing death. The skillful adaptation of Joyce’s text by writer-director Richard Nelson indicates that reality, but does not go for mere empathy, instead communicating a hope that transcends death. At the same time that Julia’s health is failing, Gabriel is doubting the love borne for him by his wife, played by a lovely but somewhat grating Kate Kearney-Patch, who possesses a radiant voice but whose speaking voice requires more reining-in than was given by the director...
...movie that begins with Queen's We Will Rock You underscoring a 14th century jousting tournament can't be all bad. Unfortunately, writer-director Helgeland's story of a peasant lad (Heath Ledger, The Patriot's young hunk) who uses knightly skills to attempt a rise above his station is not all good either: it can't decide whether to go all out for anachronistic humor or stick to its historical onions. The result is half Python, half Ivanhoe--and not as much fun as either...