Blogcritics Author: A.J. Hakari

Wayside Cinema: Coogan's Bluff

A.J. Hakari — Sat, 3 Jan 2009 15:59:20 EST

This early Clint Eastwood picture features the man at his grizzled best.
I guess you could call Coogan's Bluff a revamped cowboy movie. The setting may have been updated from Dodge's dusty streets to the asphalt jungle of New York City, but in terms of theme and style, the song remains the same. The film hearkens to a time when justice was simple, when bad guys were bad guys and needed to be caught, without...

Passport Cinema: Casque d'Or

A.J. Hakari — Sat, 3 Jan 2009 03:48:48 EST

A gun moll and a reformed crook fall for each other in this romantic French gem.
Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet may have set the standard for stories of star-crossed lovers, but by no means was it the first of its kind. It's a tale as old as time, surviving centuries of riffs and renditions thanks to the enduring quality of its core values. In 1952, filmmaker Jacques Becker (Le Trou) assumed the task of carrying on...

Movie Review: An American Carol

A.J. Hakari — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 09:55:20 EST

Even Michael Moore's detractors will find this insipid comedy insulting.
The worst thing about An American Carol is that it was made by people who should know better. The film's director, David Zucker, helped create Airplane!, arguably the mother of all spoofs. It took no prisoners, embraced no pretensions, and made mincemeat out of whatever targets appeared on its radar. But the years since have not been kind to...

Wayside Cinema: Room Service

A.J. Hakari — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 11:09:49 EST

The Marx Brothers stick it out in a hotel room in this terrific farce.
The Marx Brothers were true masters of the art of controlled chaos. No matter how wild their shenanigans got, there was always a method to their madness, indicating just how much intelligence went into their comedy. These guys didn't mess around when it came to making viewers laugh, which is as true for classics like A Night at the Opera as it...

Movie Review: The Spirit

A.J. Hakari — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 01:11:46 EST

Frank Miller's stab at superheroes is far from successful.
The Spirit is the reason why I hate hyping myself up for movies. This one is a combination I'd never turn down -- the marriage of a retro action film with comic book artist Frank Miller's distinctive visual style. Having grown up on the likes of Dick Tracy and The Shadow, it's only natural that I looked forward to The Spirit with a...

Passport Cinema: Heroic Duo

A.J. Hakari — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:14:29 EST

A wronged cop and a hypnotist team up for this mediocre action-thriller.
Heroic Duo manages to bring together both extremes of the action genre. To start, its overall style is pretty mundane and never really gets your blood pumping. On the other hand, its very premise is so utterly goofy, you're left kissing your disbelief goodbye. You'd think that the two styles might work in tandem with one another, creating a...

Movie Review: The Cheetah Girls - One World

A.J. Hakari — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:13:02 EST

Disney unleashes the least painful chapter of the "Cheetah Girls" trilogy.
I've railed on Disney for a lot of stuff in the past. Inferior sequels to animated classics. The juggernaut of mindless bubblegum pop that is High School Musical. The very existence of Hannah Montana. But nothing takes the mediocrity cake quite like The Cheetah Girls franchise. Having already spread the gospel of self-centered consumerism...

Movie Review: Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage

A.J. Hakari — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:17:51 EST

'Twas the crud before Christmas...
For some reason, Christmas movies can't seem to fathom their audiences being intelligent. They invest much time and effort in maintaining an ample supply of falsified emotions and hokey plot devices. But they always end on a condescending note, topping themselves off with a throwaway lesson about the True Meaning of Christmas ™. Thomas...

Wayside Cinema: Harper

A.J. Hakari — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 11:18:08 EST

Paul Newman headlines as a private eye in this uneven but offbeat mystery.
Even a cynical soul such as myself can't resist the allure of a good private eye flick. Throw in an actor like Paul Newman, and my viewership is pretty much a done deal. Such is the case with Harper, a picture that adapted the sort of hard-boiled antihero so commonplace in the 1940s for audiences in the turbulent 1960s. While not a completely...

Passport Cinema: A Story of Floating Weeds/Floating Weeds

A.J. Hakari — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 00:47:25 EST

The Criterion Collection provides two lovely versions of the same touching tale.
Rare is the occasion on which a director gets to remake one of his or her own films. Be it to put a different spin on the same premise (Alfred Hitchcock and The Man Who Knew Too Much) or out of Hollywood's typical moneymaking zeal (George Sluizer and The Vanishing), it's always interesting to see these filmmakers tackle their work a second...