REVIEW: Book Club [2018]

Sex must not be taken off the table. Besides the numerous raunchy one-liners spoken by the central quartet of aging stars for easy laughs, there’s one short passage from Fifty Shades of Grey that’s actually read onscreen. It comes courtesy of Candice Bergen‘s Sharon and deals with the inexplicable decision to arouse Anastasia Steele with the “friction” of Christian Grey’s zipper. The line is a perfect barometer for whether you’re the target audience of E.L. James‘ trilogy or Bill Holderman and Erin Simms‘ romantic comedy utilizing it as a catalyst…

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REVIEW: The Pink Panther 2 [2009]

“An odd, sexy brother in a dress” Hmmm. Does America really hate itself this much? I guess it does. I’ll start off by saying how I’m not much of a fan of Peter Sellers’ Pink Panther let alone watching Steve Martin laugh himself to the bank with a couple of remakes, (I did not see the first). But alas, I found myself in a theatre full of elderly people laughing and younger people walking out, (it was a free screening, I don’t much blame them), and I envied my two…

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REVIEW: The Air I Breathe [2008]

“Happiness, Pleasure, Sorrow, Love” First-time director Jieho Lee has brought us the next installment of the multiple stories genre threaded together as though fate and coincidence are the name of the game. This type of narrative has been around for a long time, most definitely before Robert Altman’s Short Cuts, but at least there is an example from 15 years ago, and I can’t rack the brains for an earlier one at this time. The most well known to those out there today is of course Oscar-winner Crash. Lee’s The…

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REVIEW: Smokin’ Aces [2007]

“Call the florist” The 2007 film lineup has finally begun for me. Sure I have seen many movies thus far, but they have all been holdovers from last year. Joe Carnahan’s Smokin’ Aces is definitely a fantastic opener and a hopeful sign of things to come. A mixture of high octane action with some very surprising, emotional moments and true dramatic worth, this all-star cast has some fun and allows the audience to just ride the wave with them. Something like this has a big tendency to taper off, yet…

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