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07/02/2009

‘Public Enemies’ lacks pulse

Universal Studios
Johnny Depp stars as legendary Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger, whose lightning raids made him the No. 1 target of J. Edgar Hoover’s fledgling FBI, in Public Enemies.

It’s tough to watch Johnny Depp these days when he’s not wearing eyeliner, a do-rag and a monkey on his shoulder. After gooping up Finding Neverland, glowering vacantly through Sweeney Todd and annihilating every sprinkle of dignity in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, how can he be trusted with another larger-than-life character defined by a complicated past?


Movies

06/27/2009

Director makes debut with indie space saga ‘Moon’
AUSTIN — Duncan Jones has grown up around science fiction. He lists some of his greatest cinematic influences as Alien, Blade Runner, Silent Running and Outland. That doesn’t even include The Man Who Fell to Earth, the 1976 cult classic that starred Jones’ father, David Bowie. So it comes as little surprise that the British filmmaker wanted Moon, a small-scale outer space saga, to become his film debut. Being able to pull off such an ambitious feat, however, was no easy matter.

Still right after 20 years
We always try to: Do the Right Thing — 20th Anniversary Edition Rated R, 120 minutes Coming Tuesday to DVD.

06/25/2009

Vehicle needs a tune-up

Paramount Pictures
Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf make a run for it in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Machines have feelings too. In Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the follow-up to the lucrative original, which grossed nearly $800 million worldwide, director Michael Bay gives us the soft side of those delicate Autobots, the giant heaps of bolts who came to Earth only to have their rear-ends kicked and sent back to their home planet Cybertron in shame and tears.


Movies

06/21/2009

Yoga juxtaposition poses challenge for filmmaker

Courtesy photo/Jonathon Hexner
Nick Rosen, 29, was the skeptic chosen to be front and center in Kate Churchill’s documentary Enlighten Up, an examination of yoga.

It was all supposed to be fairly simple for filmmaker and yoga enthusiast Kate Churchill. The idea for her documentary, Enlighten Up, was to take an average yoga skeptic and put him through a six-month experiment during which they would travel the world meeting yogis and yoga practitioners, and gain an understanding and an appreciation.


From bewildering to beloved
I’m sorry, but have we met? The challenging yet inexplicable Last Year at Marienbad probably most often provoked the question “what does it mean?” from art-house film audiences during the 1960s and perhaps in the history of cinema. Moviegoers of all generations still find this 1961 French classic enigmatic as well as frustrating.

Lucinda Breeding: The ugly side of pretty fixation
The buzz among movie fans this week has been the pending remake of the 1935 monster movie Bride of Frankenstein. There’s no hard release date yet, but a 2011 release has been mentioned more than once, with Neil Burger (The Illusionist) writing and directing.

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