Convict Steven Russell (Jim Carrey) puts the moves on fellow convict Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor) in the fact-based “I Love You Phillip Morris.” The extent that Jim Carrey’s con man character in “I Love You Phillip Morris” connects with its audience ultimately determines how much we are drawn into this peculiar and edgy story of […]
Monthly Archives: December 2010
Romantic thriller ‘Tourist’ nice to look at, but sparks fizzle
Ordinary guy Frank Tupelo (Johnny Depp) has his life turned upside down by the fetching Elise Clifton-Ward (Angelina Jolie) in “The Tourist.” Call it “The Tourist” claptrap. Here we have a romantic thriller that should have evoked comparisons with a classic Alfred Hitchcock film starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint or Grace Kelly. It […]
‘Grease’ co-creator: No one got the ending
“Grease” co-creator Jim Jacobs We’re sorry, Sandy. All this time, we were completely wrong about you and the ending of your musical movie “Grease.” We thought that when you doffed your sweet Sandra Dee persona, donned that black leather number and sucked down a cigarette, you transformed into a sweet tart for John Travolta. “That […]
Portman mesmerizing as ballerina in ‘Black Swan’
Ballerina Nina (Natalie Portman) suffers a slow emotional and mental deterioration when she auditions for “Swan Lake” in “Black Swan.” Darren Aronofsky’s disturbing “Black Swan” chronicles in exquisite, excruciating detail how a control-freak ballerina pirouettes off into the abyss of madness and obsession. This psychological drama is part Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” Roman Polanski’s “Repulsion” and Herbert […]