http://www.grouchoreviews.com/ Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:28:46 GMT Film/DVD reviews, interviews and features. http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3131 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3131 The show remains on solid footing, with a writing staff still spinning crafty mysteries and inventing scenarios to get under the skin of Tony Shalhoub‘s obsessive-compulsive police consultant Adrian Monk. Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:50:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3129 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3129 The second half gets so worked up over itself that Hancock becomes nearly unrecognizable as the movie we were all enjoying twenty minutes earlier. Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:02:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3130 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3130 Wilson proves again that he‘s a quick-witted comedic treasure…he‘s the sort of actor who gets hired to make mediocre movies almost good by his sheer force of comic will. Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:14:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3133 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3133 May not be the definitive doc for which Thompson‘s fans may be hoping, but it is a worthy contribution to the ongoing popular legend of a distinctive American personality. Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:47:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/interviews/252 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/interviews/252 It‘s splitting Q into two parts. Bruce and Lloyd make up one gadget guy, in reality. They‘re just two different parts of one person... Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:59:13 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/2991 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/2991 Asks us to believe the terrorists would, after slaughtering countless people, risk their entire plan…and their very lives…on...well, I won‘t say. But from my vantage point, it was ridiculous. Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:09:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3127 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3127 Consistently stylish, dumb, and entertaining. Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:42:14 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3112 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3112 You have a rendezvous with Dirty Harry‘s 62-year-old ass! And if you don‘t know what that means, you‘d better figure it out! Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:04:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3118 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3118 The impact is all in the broad strokes of Scorsese‘s design: the corresponding coming-of-age stories of three confused and violent adolescents: Amsterdam Vallon, New York City, and America. Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:01:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3126 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3126 After the wayward kids‘ stuff of [Kids‘ WB‘s] The Batman, Batman: Gotham Knight‘s adult tone and visual wonderment are like (Bat-)manna from heaven. Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:46:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/239 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/239 The definitive book on the Adam West Batman. Mon, 30 Jun 2008 09:32:35 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/238 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/238 Brilliant...essential reading on the modern myth of Batman, its meaning, and its enduring hold on the American imagination. Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:16:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3121 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3121 It‘s best not to ask too many questions...Take the film‘s outstretched hand and go with it. That‘s the best way to enjoy a film that‘s as charming as a tale of two robots falling in love can be. Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:07:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3125 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3125 Doesn‘t have a nuance in it, but it‘s pretty consistently amusing in its latter-day Woody Allen way. For most of the way, its morals are happily, believably wrong, but all bad things must come to an end. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:56:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3120 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3120 A Discovery Channel production about Antarctica that breaks the mold with Herzog‘s eccentric musings and auteur‘s eye. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:32:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3124 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3124 Disturbing in the extreme, Savage Grace gives a guided history tour of a family as dysfunctional as they come. Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:23:36 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3122 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3122 Delivers slam-bang action entertainment, and does it while putting a surprising twist on the archetypal heroic journey. Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:19:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3117 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3117 Profane, hallucinogenic, and wickedly satirical, Oliver Stone‘s Natural Born Killers mainlined a message from hell (a.k.a. modern America, as seen by Stone) into mall theatres and multiplexes. Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:36:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/interviews/225 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/interviews/225 All the actors stayed in one house together, with some of the key crew members and Joe, the director...I decided not to--partly because I‘d been to drama school, and I couldn‘t be bothered with it...I‘ve lived in a madhouse. Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/interviews/251 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/interviews/251 The big myth…I’ve been asked this for fifteen years. And we’ll give it the same answer fifteen years from now. We never think of who our audience is. We always just made the movies we want to see. Mon, 23 Jun 2008 07:41:59 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/2961 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/2961 Persepolis is so satisfying because it works on a few complimentary levels: as a coming-of-age story tracking innocence to experience, as an accounting of revolutionary and feminist struggles, and as an artful visual experience in cartoon form. Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:18:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3119 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3119 As for Squires‘ outlandish behavior and Kingsley‘s theatrical performance, they‘re entertaining, but very hard to believe. The film lives more comfortably in the milieu of ‘90s youth culture... Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:48:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3088 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3088 Thomas Wolfe wrote, “You can‘t go home again,“ but the new film from Fatih Akin explores a number of ways one can. Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:21:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3111 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3111 For a movie about magical beasts, The Spiderwick Chronicles does an awfully good job of pegging childhood emotional realities, particularly in a context of divorce. Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:58:14 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3107 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3107 It‘s engrossing one minute and stupefying the next, off and on, off and on, for ninety minutes. Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:37:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3115 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3115 Hello, police? I‘d like to report a mugging. Oh, it was horrible, horrible! Yes, I‘m safe now. The mugging took place in a movie theatre, but I fear the mugger will strike again! Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:59:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3076 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3076 Harold Prince‘s original staging remains the gold standard, but John Doyle offers an intriguing alternative on Sondheim‘s ode to commitment anxiety. Mon, 02 Jun 2008 09:12:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/interviews/249 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/interviews/249 I’ve never been much of a car guy myself. And I’ve been known to crash a few. I think I crashed the Batmobile when we were filming...the cars, the costumes, the set dressing…that really helps us, as actors, to get into character. Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:19:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3073 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3073 For the summer months, it‘ll do nicely, and we can all thank our lucky stars that we get Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart. Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:03:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3110 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3110 In a Barbie world, American Girl Kit Kittredge is a hero, and Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is heroic. Wed, 18 Jun 2008 18:40:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3114 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3114 Every time you see a comedic eye-gouging or an errant board swinging around and catching someone in the face, it‘s a passed torch that was held for decades by the Three Stooges. Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:13:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/163 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/163 Among the best of the summer movie blockbusters, Men in Black comes on like gangbusters and never lets up. Sun, 15 Jun 2008 05:35:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/2976 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/2976 Harmless but seriously wit-deficient. Tue, 10 Jun 2008 07:01:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3113 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3113 Like his wee alter ego, ten-year-old Huey Freeman, McGruder sees himself as hopefully out of step with society…radical, in fact…self-confident, and determined to effect change by any means necessary. Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:34:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3106 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3106 The Promotion skates out onto that thin ice of comedic subtlety. Like its characters, it‘s not terribly successful, but it‘s an admirable effort all the same. Fri, 13 Jun 2008 16:25:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3105 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3105 Tucker delivers a stroke of casting so perfect it might seem obvious: Oscar winner Jim Broadbent as the father and Colin Firth as the son. Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:21:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3108 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3108 The Incredible Hulk gets ‘er done, but while  “Hulk smash!“ is essential, it‘s also undeniably uninteresting when handed over to a computer. Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:19:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/2125 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/2125 The delirious idiosyncracies of the ‘60s Batman are all on display...a pleasant-enough romp that‘s just a little too-distracted with its new toys. Sun, 08 Jun 2008 07:09:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3102 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3102 Methinks the kids to whom this superhero movie will most appeal won‘t be able to separate the stereotypes from the political wishful thinking. Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:58:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3101 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3101 Veteran director Stuart Gordon guts us with dark satire and twists the knife...[this] horror fable is enough to make weary gorehounds sit up at attention. Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:40:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3100 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3100 If Jumper too often feels like a special-effects demo reel in search of a story, at least the eye candy is pretty darn sweet. Sat, 07 Jun 2008 03:28:04 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3075 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3075 The movie‘s crackpot message…‘To make something special, you just have to believe it‘s special‘…may best be proven by the existence of this funny, unpretentious crowd-pleaser. Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:20:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3089 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3089 May be the most entertaining and provocative hybrid of personal essay and American social-satiric documentary since Roger & Me. Fri, 06 Jun 2008 07:55:35 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3093 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3093 A bio-epic on the order of Lawrence of Arabia, Patton is a smart, fully realized historical film. Tue, 03 Jun 2008 11:13:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3098 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3098 By crafting a serious-minded character study, the filmmakers bring us closer to understanding the enigmatic artist‘s inspiration and desperation: a life that spun out of control. Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:27:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3099 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3099 The ad copy for Grant Gee‘s 2007 Joy Division calls it “the definitive documentary on Joy Division,“ and given the roster of participants, it seems a reasonable claim. Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:59:21 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/2959 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/2959 Anderson‘s most mature and ambitious film yet...[though his] growth as a filmmaker remains hindered by an obsession with effect and a disinterest in depth. Tue, 03 Jun 2008 21:31:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3079 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3079 The visions, the menagerie of women and the horrid behavior of Tommy Gavin suggest a lewd FDNY variation on 8 1/2, and one that‘s still going plenty strong after four thirteen-episode seasons. Mon, 02 Jun 2008 09:11:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/88 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/88 Batman in the 1970s took the lead of writer Dennis O‘Neil and artist Neal Adams, who collectively drew the character back into complexity and strength... Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:09:40 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/87 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/87 When Batman premiered on ABC in January 1966, everything changed for the Caped Crusader; the runaway hit sparked the first wave of Batman hysteria and…to many in the general public…branded Batman as a figure of camp for decades. Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:09:05 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/89 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/features/89 Frank Miller revolutionized Batman (and arguably the comic-book industry) with the hugely successful graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns (1986), about an aged Batman. Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:10:10 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3091 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3091 Two years after Match Point, Allen delivers another London-set murder melodrama, with diminishing returns. Mon, 02 Jun 2008 09:12:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3095 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3095 A fine old-school picture...elevated further by its progressive themes. Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:13:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3094 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3094 Though the film makes a few egregious historical changes for dramatic effect, The Longest Day pretty much lives and dies by its scale.   Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:55:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3096 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3096 Attenborough consistently reinforces the horrors of war by depicting not only the disasterous military engagements and their toll on heroes, but also the witless political decisions that led to needless, excessive loss of life. Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:30:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/2965 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/2965 The mysteriously titled project might just as well have been called “9/11: The Thrill Ride,“ so thoroughly does it trade on our emotions of that disaster. Sun, 01 Jun 2008 08:12:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/671 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/671 Watchable only for its star power and scarce caffeine kicks...awfully predictable. Sun, 01 Jun 2008 16:24:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3097 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3097 Succeeds in giving the general impression of a pivotal historical moment, and excels in crafting some of the most astonishing aerial-warfare sequences ever put on film. Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:18:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/365 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/365 An anti-Independence Day, a cousin of Close Encounters, but most of all, a well-modulated, dread-laden, faith-based mystery. Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:32:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/interviews/246 http://www.grouchoreviews.com/interviews/246 Probably the riskiest thing I did was being pulled behind a moving SUV down train tracks. Um, that was a little scary. Mon, 19 May 2008 00:42:00 GMT Peter Canavese