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Reviews: December 2006 Archives
"Perfume," "Pan's Labyrinth"
By Matt Singer on 12/26/2006
Oh the horrible things we will do in order to smell good. Tom Tykwer's "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" reveals that the natural order of the world is nasty and stinky. Its main character, as the title suggests, is a homicidal perfumer who creates the world's most intoxicating scent by killing beautiful women, covering them in a viscous liquid, cocooning them, then placing them in a weird pickling device that distills them into "their essence." Think about that this holiday season when you're at the fragrance counter. Based on the bestselling novel by Patrick Süskind and narrated by John... MORE »
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"Perfume," "Pan's Labyrinth"
By Matt Singer on 12/26/2006
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsOh the horrible things we will do in order to smell good. Tom Tykwer's "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" reveals that the natural order of the world is nasty and stinky. Its main character, as the title suggests, is a homicidal perfumer who creates the world's most intoxicating scent by killing beautiful women, covering them in a viscous liquid, cocooning them, then placing them in a weird pickling device that distills them into "their essence." Think about that this holiday season when you're at the fragrance counter. Based on the bestselling novel by Patrick Süskind and narrated by John... MORE »
"Children of Men"
By Matt Singer on 12/18/2006
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: "Children of Men," Universal Pictures, 2006] I am jealous of you, reader. You haven't seen "Children of Men" yet, and you don't have any idea what's in store for you. "Children of Men" is a great movie and I plan to see it again, soon and often. But nothing will compare to my first viewing, when I didn't quite know what to expect and didn't realize the raw power of the movie I was about to watch. You still have the opportunity to have that rush of excitement that comes so rarely at the... MORE »
"Children of Men"
By Matt Singer on 12/18/2006
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: "Children of Men," Universal Pictures, 2006] I am jealous of you, reader. You haven't seen "Children of Men" yet, and you don't have any idea what's in store for you. "Children of Men" is a great movie and I plan to see it again, soon and often. But nothing will compare to my first viewing, when I didn't quite know what to expect and didn't realize the raw power of the movie I was about to watch. You still have the opportunity to have that rush of excitement that comes so rarely at the... MORE »
"Home of the Brave," "Venus"
By Matt Singer on 12/11/2006
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: "Home of the Brave," Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 2006] All the words we like to think apply to our nation's servicemen — honorable, noble, courageous — can also be applied to Irwin Winkler's "Home of the Brave," a coming home drama about a group of National Guardsmen back from a tour of duty in the current Iraq war. But plenty of other, less desirable words — patronizing, heavy-handed, clumsy — apply as well. The film's heart is in the right place. Its mouth, not so much. The four combat-shocked veterans Winkler follows upon their return to Spokane,... MORE »
"Home of the Brave," "Venus"
By Matt Singer on 12/11/2006
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: "Home of the Brave," Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 2006] All the words we like to think apply to our nation's servicemen — honorable, noble, courageous — can also be applied to Irwin Winkler's "Home of the Brave," a coming home drama about a group of National Guardsmen back from a tour of duty in the current Iraq war. But plenty of other, less desirable words — patronizing, heavy-handed, clumsy — apply as well. The film's heart is in the right place. Its mouth, not so much. The four combat-shocked veterans Winkler follows upon their return to Spokane,... MORE »
"Breaking and Entering"
By Matt Singer on 12/04/2006
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: "Breaking and Entering," Weinstein Co., 2006] Like a lot of movies lately, Anthony Minghella's "Breaking and Entering" proposes that all rich, successful white people are, in fact, wildly miserable, and that the criminals who intrude on their seemingly perfect (but secretly terrible) lives are a great deal more complex than they imagine them to be. But this discouragingly "Crash"-ian premise slowly develops into an impressively un-"Crash"-ian film of subtle acting and surprising humanity. Since films like these work on equivalences, the story is perched between two symmetrical immigrant families living in London. Swedish-American Liv... MORE »
"Breaking and Entering"
By Matt Singer on 12/04/2006
Filed under: Reviews, ReviewsBy Matt Singer IFC News [Photo: "Breaking and Entering," Weinstein Co., 2006] Like a lot of movies lately, Anthony Minghella's "Breaking and Entering" proposes that all rich, successful white people are, in fact, wildly miserable, and that the criminals who intrude on their seemingly perfect (but secretly terrible) lives are a great deal more complex than they imagine them to be. But this discouragingly "Crash"-ian premise slowly develops into an impressively un-"Crash"-ian film of subtle acting and surprising humanity. Since films like these work on equivalences, the story is perched between two symmetrical immigrant families living in London. Swedish-American Liv... MORE »
