The Last of Heath

Posted August 1, 2009

When Heath Ledger died a year and a half ago from an accidental mix of prescription drugs, he was deep into filming The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus with his friend and mentor, director Terry Gilliam. From Gilliam, the crew, and other insiders, the author gets an exclusive account of Ledger’s final months—a pressure cooker of arduous filmmaking, personal turmoil, and chronic insomnia—and of how the 28-year-old star’s last movie was rescued by a trio of friends: Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a wildly ambitious movie, stuffed as it is with political satire, […]

The Proposal

The Proposal

Posted July 18, 2009

You may have noticed that Romantic Comedy is not my particular genre, so I don’t know that I’m the best person to review this. Still, I’ve seen it; I have thoughts. Perhaps that’s enough.

Johnny Depp’s Great Escape

Johnny Depp’s Great Escape

Posted July 1, 2009

Plunging deep into his roles—from the self-created to the painstakingly re-created —Johnny Depp can drive himself to the edge of the psyche. His decompression is as extreme: a 45-acre private Bahamian island, where he can snorkel among the barracuda. The author joins the 46-year-old star and friends on Depp’s 156-foot yacht, which flies the Jolly Roger, for a stay in this singular paradise. The notoriously private actor invited Vanity Fair along on a sailing trip to his Caribbean isle. “You’ve got all-access,” Johnny Depp declared. “Ask me about anything you want.” Photograph by François-Marie Banier. A few feet away, the […]

The Missing

The Missing

Posted June 29, 2009

I’m not gonna lie, I don’t remember a thing about this movie. I remember being curious to see it. I know that I like Cate Blanchett a lot. And then when I go back to move all of my reviews over to my new blog, there’s The Missing in my list with a 2 star rating no review.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Posted June 25, 2009

I had high hopes for Transformers 2, I’ll admit. The trailer promised sharp, breath taking action, a little humor, robot fights, guy and girl running hand in hand, a bit of a deeper mythology and the expectation of a happy ending.

I think it was probably too much to expect any sort of deeper mythology, but with a good writer it could have

A Nice Quiet Chat with Christian Bale

Posted June 1, 2009

He slips into the room without fanfare. He walks slowly, on his heels, toward the terrace. When I stand, he points at me, or my table, or my general area still without turning to look at me, his eyes fixed on the terrace in front of him – and in his low English accent asks, “We doin’ this here or what?” Christian Bale detests interviews, on the predictable grounds that his offscreen life is nobody’s business, but also because he thinks the whole enterprise of movie-star “journalism” is corrosive to acting and storytelling.  This opener “here or what?” is less […]

Terminator Salvation

Terminator Salvation

Posted May 23, 2009

The interesting thing about Terminator Salvation is that it really wasn’t John Connor’s movie. Christian Bale was a great John Connor. He was strong and focused and interesting. There was

Star Trek

Star Trek

Posted May 10, 2009

I saw Star Trek this weekend. Loved it. I actually haven’t liked a movie that much in a long time. I just walked out of it feeling happy and whole and refreshed. Probably didn’t hurt that I

X-Men Origins – Wolverine

X-Men Origins – Wolverine

Posted May 2, 2009

I admit I went into Wolverine without a lot of expectations. Despite Hugh Jackman’s interviews about how they chose the director because Gavin Hood would handle the characterization well. I haven’t seen any of Hood’s other work so I don’t know if is inability to actually live up to all the talk because he really doesn’t handle