‘The Book of Eli’: An eternity of sepia

The Hughes brothers’ latest film, The Book of Eli, stars the second most successful black actor in America, Denzel Washington, and cost an astounding $80 million. The film is set in a world that was decimated by some massive object that probably came from the mysterious Oort Cloud. [...]

John Travolta’s lost his cussing mojo

John Travolta can’t say “fuck” anymore. When Quentin Tarantino pulled Travolta out of the old actors junkyard, dusted him off, and tossed him on the big screen in 1994’s Pulp Fiction, his usage of the fuck-word seemed bold and fresh. But 15 years later, now that Travolta’s become everybody’s least [...]

‘Great Debaters’ never seems remotely real
The Great Debaters has the ingredients for a great motion picture: starched collars, a sweaty speakeasy, a teacher who will become a serious poet, rousing rhetoric, dog-eared Bibles, ferocious battles of wits. But there are two influences at work on this story, weighing it down like damp laundry on a [...]

Ridley Scott and cast coast along in American Gangster

A multitude of cinematic sins can be laid at Sir Ridley Scott’s feet, ranging from his creation of the MTV blue-light flash style of filmmaking, to how his early success in commercials paved the way for the ascent of the Great Satan Michael Bay, or even that [...]