Hit the deck! Noel Vera I have to confess, I'm not a big fan of Christmas. No, let me be more frank: I loathe Christmas. Absolutely hate it. The pressure to ...
Sleep in heavenly peace Noel Vera Catherine Hardwicke's "The Nativity Story" (2006) sad to say, feels like a stillborn effort; you want to poke at it with a...
Amado Lacuesta film retrospective <http://criticafterdark.blogspot.com/2007/01/amado-lacuesta-film-retrosp\ ective.html> Excerpt: In the wake of all the deaths...
Blood from stone Noel Vera Edward Zwick has always been the champion of a kind of earnest, well- meaning, rather flatfooted moviemaking that demands one's...
Besson's indigestibles Noel Vera Luc Besson's latest, "Arthur and the Invisibles" (2006) is roughly the equivalent of a McDonald's hamburger--not poisonous,...
Garble Noel Vera Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Babel" (2006) is excellently directed, I think; what I'm not sure of, even when the end credits have started...
Apocalypto: this time it's the Mayans Noel Vera I hope there isn't anyone out there who still clings desperately to the belief that The Passion of the Christ ...
Curse of the golden filmmaker Noel Vera I'm not sure if we can call Zhang Yimou a great filmmaker, but in the '80s and '90s he was certainly a force to be...
Love story Noel Vera John Fante was a relatively unsung poet of '30s Los Angeles, his novel "Ask the Dust"--featuring Fante's alter-ego, the ambitious and ...
Child's play Noel Vera There are a lot of things the matter with "Bridge to Terabithia," Gabor Csupo's adaptation of the Newberry Award-winning children's book...
Bowl movement Noel Vera David Bowers and Sam Fell's "Flushed Away" (2006) is surprisingly charming, an unholy marriage between Aardman Animations (responsible ...
A pair of queens Noel Vera In the wake of Helen Mirren's sweep of Hollywood's annual horse derbies for playing Her Royal Highness (a victory that was for the ...
Ugly duckling Noel Vera After more than two decades in development hell the Broadway musical "Dreamgirls" has finally come to the big screen, and while it's...
A better film than "Babel" Noel Vera I haven't liked an Anthony Minghella film in goodness knows how long. I agreed when critics dubbed "Truly, Madly, Deeply"...
He coulda been a contender Noel Vera I was never a big fan of the "Rocky" movies. Built on the dreams of actor-writer Sylvester Stallone, wearing its big heart...
The reeking Noel Vera Stephen Hopkins' brand new horror flick has a simple enough premise: the ten plagues visited upon Egypt are being inflicted on the small ...
Some notes I managed to write about the Jeonju festival, including films I saw: http://criticafterdark.blogspot.com/2007/04/jeonju-and-trio-of-korean-fi\ ...
Little girl lost Noel Vera The fairy tale that opens the picture--about a princess from an underground kingdom who wanders to the surface, can't find her way ...
Lucky me Noel Vera You have to give credit to director Curtis Hanson; he tries his level best not to repeat himself. After making his bones with suspense ("The...
Silencing the lamb Noel Vera Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: I submit to you that Gregory Hoblit's latest film isn't a crime thriller or even legal thriller...
Compulsion Noel Vera Perhaps the single most surprising fact about "Zodiac" is that David Fincher directed it--one might think that Alan J. Pakula had been ...
The twit family Robinson Noel Vera And now, the latest piece of ordure from The Rat Factory--sorry, Walt Disney Pictures… Stephen J. Anderson's "Meet the...
Frenched Noel Vera The French Film Festival is underway! And I'd recommend every film at the festival save the two I've already seen--not only because they're...
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