http://ptpopcorn.com Films, and the Artists Who Make Them Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:27:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1.2 en http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/planet-51/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/planet-51/#comments Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:27:23 +0000 Greg Wright http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/planet-51/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/planet-51/feed/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/capitalism-revisited/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/capitalism-revisited/#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:33:26 +0000 Greg Wright http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/capitalism-revisited/ Capitalism: A Love Story is classic Michael Moore... which is to say, this is not his best work. It is unevenly entertaining, hopelessly skewed, yell-at-the-screen infuriating (for a number of reasons), and yet still largely compelling, just like the vast majority of Moore’s films. As Jeff Walls noted in his review of the theatrical release, “there’s no denying [Moore] knows how to make his case in a strong and entertaining way.” The film is certainly worth seeing; but it only tells part of the story. If you like what you find here, take the next step. Get serious. And remember: Michael Moore is an entertainer at heart. And that, my dear friends, is why he (and the rest of us!) likes Wally Shawn.]]> http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/capitalism-revisited/feed/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/brooklyns-finest/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/brooklyns-finest/#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:10:32 +0000 Jeff Walls http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/brooklyns-finest/ Training Day. Now, the two are reuniting for Brooklyn’s Finest, another gritty cop drama, but this time with far poorer results. There is not a single original character or idea in Brooklyn’s Finest and the result had the preview audience complaining of those two-plus hours they will never get back.]]> http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/brooklyns-finest/feed/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/alice-in-wonderland/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/alice-in-wonderland/#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:05:18 +0000 Jeff Walls http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/alice-in-wonderland/ Alice in Wonderland, as they have Alice is returning to Wonderland years after her first visit. It’s like what Spielberg did in Hook, only with much better results.]]> http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/alice-in-wonderland/feed/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/the-informant-revisited/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/the-informant-revisited/#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:56:32 +0000 Greg Wright http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/the-informant-revisited/ The Informant! doesn’t offer much of, unfortunately, is any insight into the nature of truth, or truth-telling. Unless...]]> http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/the-informant-revisited/feed/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/mommo/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/mommo/#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:45:25 +0000 Greg Wright http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/mommo/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/mommo/feed/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/the-ghost-writer/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/the-ghost-writer/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:10:28 +0000 Jeff Walls http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/the-ghost-writer/ The Ghost Writer moves slowly and the end reveal is not nearly mind-blowing enough to make it worth the monotony. It’s a nice effort that certainly harkens back to the paranoid thrillers of the seventies, but it is not nearly as successful as, say, Michael Clayton. Sorry, Jake, this is not Chinatown.]]> http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/the-ghost-writer/feed/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/the-crazies/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/the-crazies/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 04:05:23 +0000 Jeff Walls http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/the-crazies/ Dawn of the Dead is one of the better of the recent zombie movies and helped usher in the era of the modern, fast-moving zombie. Now, director Breck Eisner is remaking Romero’s 1973 flick The Crazies and while it is no Dawn of the Dead, it is sure to delight fans of the genre.]]> http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/the-crazies/feed/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/law-abiding-citizen-revisited/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/law-abiding-citizen-revisited/#comments Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:53:36 +0000 Greg Wright http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/law-abiding-citizen-revisited/ Law Abiding Citizen (and our reaction to it) is fueled by the sense that Clarence Darby, the primary perpetrator, isn’t getting what he deserves. On a purely secular level, I get that; but on a broader moral level, none of us get what we deserve. In fact, most of us expend a great deal of daily energy trying to find ways of circumventing our very own laws, and conceptually (read: begrudgingly) agreeing that we will “be accountable for our actions,” as Shelton wishes, only if we are caught red-handed. But when somebody does something really wrong (read: breaking those laws with which we actually agree), by God we want them to pay.]]> http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/law-abiding-citizen-revisited/feed/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/blood-done-sign-my-name/ http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/blood-done-sign-my-name/#comments Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:14:16 +0000 Greg Wright http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/blood-done-sign-my-name/ Blood Done Sign My Name avoids the triumphalist tone of so many civil rights films. Not once do you get the impression that this is one of those “one act changed everything forever” stories. Instead it recognizes that the progression toward racial equality was—and remains—a two-step-forward, one-step-back proposition. It’s a good thing that we don’t get to the end of the film thinking that everything’s gonna be rosy. The strength of Stuart’s film lies not in legal ramifications but in human ramifications. These will keep you hooked through the two-plus hour running time, and will leave you feeling inspired and satisfied even if the last twenty minutes come off as rather perfunctory.]]> http://ptpopcorn.com/index.php/2010/blood-done-sign-my-name/feed/