The word “bunraku” refers to form of Japanese puppet theater where the puppeteers, usually dressed in black, are visible on stage. “Bunraku” the film combines elements of classic samurai and cowboy films and sets it in a gunless future that feels more like an alternate past. The aesthetic feels both unique and familiar. While it […]
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The slasher film ruled the horror genre from the release of “Halloween” in 1978 until Jason was sent to Hell in 1993. It had a brief resurgence, though, with the self-aware “Scream” trilogy and the films that followed in its wake. But true 80s-style horror has been the exception, rather than the rule. Enter writer/director […]
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Fantastic Fest 2010 has started and George Hickman is covering it for Scene-Stealers. His reviews of all the movies he can cram into one week will be published here until the genre-oriented film festival is over and his bloody fingers can type no more. “14 Blades” – Minor Rock Fist Up Fantastic Fest has begun […]
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Here’s my video review of Ben Affleck‘s “The Town” from KTKA-49. Like his directorial debut “Gone Baby Gone” from three years ago, Ben Affleck’s newest movie “The Town” is a crime drama set in his hometown of Boston. More specifically, the Charlestown neighborhood—which has more bank robberies per capita than any other place in the […]
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I must confess that when I first saw the trailer for “Easy A,” the literature nerd in me was thrilled. A teen comedy that takes on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter”? So down. I didn’t expect much of the movie—by which I mean I went in with no expectations of greatness—and while I don’t think […]
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Here is Eric’s KTKA-49 review of “The American” starring George Clooney. His print review of the movie is right here: Movie Review: The American
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“I don’t subscribe to the credo that there’s enough room for everyone to be successful. I think there are only a few spots available, and people like Dick Koosman and Bono are taking them up.” Can a film whose central characters are uniformly unlikable be dramatically compelling in their midst? Eric thought so in his […]
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When Cliff Secord finds a rocketpack in the passenger seat of his stunt plane, it should be an opportunity for the type of high-flying action perfect for a big-budget summer movie. Instead “The Rocketeer” becomes an exercise in monotony. And Insomniac Movie Theater’s first cure for insomnia.
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What makes “The American” work as a thriller is not what it shows, but what it leaves out. There are no flashbacks and there is very little talk about the past. In fact, the first time we meet George Clooney’s character, we have no context at all. He’s at a cabin in the woods in […]
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I love heist flicks and I’m usually willing to cut them an awful lot of slack. On my DVD shelf alongside of “Heist,” “To Catch a Thief“, and “Sneakers,” I own copies of “The Newton Boys,” “How to Beat the High Co$t of Living” and “After the Sunset“. When a new heist flick comes along […]
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Robert Duvall is an actor who can do stoic Southern characters in his sleep. He has always had a knack for playing the down-home philosopher who chooses his words carefully, and he’s as sturdy and subtle as ever in “Get Low,” a measured drama set in Depression-era Tennessee. Partially inspired by the true story of […]
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Watch Eric’s review from ABC KTKA-49 above or check out his more detailed print review of “The Switch,” starring Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston.
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What is it about space that so captures our imagination? Is it the vastness that seems to beckon, almost tease us, upward and outwards to explore its seemly endless wonders, or is it simply how it allows us another perspective in order to see how small and relatively unimportant one tiny blue dot is in […]
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Watch Eric’s on-camera review of “The Switch” with clips from the movie here. Narration in movies is a tricky thing. Sometimes it illuminates the thoughts of an anachronistic, layered character. Sometimes it’s used to create a mood or rhythm—it’s another detail of a film’s setting. Often times, however, narration is there to tie up a […]
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