http://past-the-popcorn.gospelcom.net Films, and the Artists Who Make Them Fri, 09 May 2008 04:51:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The last time brothers Andy and Larry Wachowski commanded from the directors’ chairs, they brought us The Matrix Revolutions, the final film in the sci-fi trilogy kicked off by one of the most inventive movies in recent memory. Unfortunately, the subsequent sequels failed to live up to the original’s promise, ... http://past-the-popcorn.gospelcom.net/index.php/2008/speed-racer/ Errol Morris has had a long and storied career. A product of the 1970s and the San Francisco Art Institute, he has made his living primarily as the creator of ground-breaking feature-length documentaries. After earning a strong (if quiet) critical reputation with his early efforts, he became an overnight sensation ... http://past-the-popcorn.gospelcom.net/index.php/2008/errol-morris/ David Mamet’s scripts have always been packed with memorable lines. I just wouldn’t have called any of them aphorisms, particularly. No, the soundbites have been too edgy and cynical for aphorisms—not exactly the kinds of things you want to quote to your teens in order to build character; rather, they’ve ... http://past-the-popcorn.gospelcom.net/index.php/2008/redbelt/ Directed by acclaimed Italian filmmaker Daniele Luchetti, and garnering high praise at both the Cannes and Toronto film festivals, My Brother Is An Only Child explores Italian politics of the 1960s and 70s through the lives of two brothers in a small town outside of Rome. It is a tumultuous ... http://past-the-popcorn.gospelcom.net/index.php/2008/brother-only-child/ Just about everyone knows the Las Vegas tourism slogan, right? “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!” Sounds like a recipe to let your hair down and indulge yourself in ways you might not normally. Except, what if it doesn’t stay in Vegas? Exhibit A… Joy and Jack. Joy just got ... http://past-the-popcorn.gospelcom.net/index.php/2008/happens-in-vegas/ The summer 2008 movie season is shaping up to be a good one for comic book fans. We’ll soon see a spate of superhero films: the next release in the revitalized Batman series Dark Knight, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and The Incredible Hulk. Not to mention the fourth installment ... http://past-the-popcorn.gospelcom.net/index.php/2008/iron-man/ “If you want to make God laugh,” says Jose in the opening voiceover of Bella, “tell Him your plans.” Eduardo Verástegui has a most improbable story. The son of sugar cane farmers in Xicotencatl, a village in northern Mexico, he left for Mexico City at 18 with a head full ... http://past-the-popcorn.gospelcom.net/index.php/2008/eduardo-verastagui/ A dark-horse hit at the Sundance Film Festival, Son of Rambow is a charming and insightful story of friendship, childhood, boundaries, and making movies—all wrapped up in a smart British bow. Set squarely in the 1980s, we find ourselves with Will Proudfoot, the son of a widowed mother whose family are ... http://past-the-popcorn.gospelcom.net/index.php/2008/son-of-rambow/ One of my favorite memories of elementary school was Movie Day. We would come in from recess to find some sort of tempting snack on our desks and the lights dimmed. Would it be Rikki Tikki Tavi? Or the one about the boy and the doughnut machine? But my absolute ... http://past-the-popcorn.gospelcom.net/index.php/2008/flight-of-the-red/ The number of films that begin at their end and then ask us to walk with them as they retrace their steps through the past are countless. Recently, Snow Angels brought us back slowly to the time of the crime. Just before that, Vantage Point subjected us to six ... http://past-the-popcorn.gospelcom.net/index.php/2008/graduation/