Search for John

Sometimes, even a hardened critic can be surprised by a movie. Based on the promotional material, Sex Drive appears headed down the worn track followed by a long line of formulaic teenage road comedies. I won't bother listing the titles - those w...

In 1998, there have been two films about space debris on a collision course with Earth, two animated insect movies, and now two tales about life during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Granted, there's a yawning chasm in tone between the dark, treach...

Shall We Dance? is a remake of the 1997 Japanese feature by the same name. Penned and directed by Masayuki Suo, that film was an unexpected pleasure - a feel-good feature that wasn't weighed down by the unnecessarily cloying melodrama and manipula...

A couple of cliches come to mind while watching Danny Boyle's deliciously diabolical feature debut, Shallow Grave. The first -- that money is the root of all evil -- is obvious. The other -- that it's always the quiet ones who bear the closes...

There are a variety of ways one can evaluate the effectiveness of standard-order romantic comedies. Mine is to ask three questions: (1) Do I like the characters? (2) Do I sense chemistry between them? (3) Am I rooting for them to be together at t...

Schlock Holmes is too brutal. Call it instead The Adventure of the Da Vinci Code Knock-off or The Adventure of the Missing Ending. Either would be equally appropriate. This original story, which borrows heavily from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "can...

The Shining is a curious motion picture. On the one hand, as a ghost story and adaptation of the Stephen King novel, it's largely a failure. On the other hand, as an example of directorial bravura and as a study of madness and the unreliable narr...

With something as controversial as Shortbus, you can never get a sense of what you're in for based on word-of-mouth, especially when there's no consensus. Some think it's a masterpiece (or nearly so). Others think it's an abomination. Such a divisi...

Dreamworks Pictures' wonderful, whimsical Shrek proves to be the latest family film to live up to its billing. With its blend of high adventure, light romance, and double-layered dialogue (which will take on a slightly different meaning for the un...

Edmond Rostand doesn’t get an “official” credit for “story by” but anyone claiming familiarity with Cyrano de Bergerac will immediately recognize where screenwriter Lindsey Beer drew her inspiration. It’s not unusual for a modern-da...