Anyone who puts this film down has forgotten the feelings and emotions they had as a kid and doesn’t have kids of their own or do but have never paid attention to their feelings and emotions. Ah, it’s a sweeping statement, but why anyone wouldn’t be taken by this film is otherwise beyond me: at 101 minutes, it’s a startlingly faithful adaptation of a book that, adapted literally, would likely run shorter than the ad breaks during an episode of The Simpsons.
People who say it’s boring have probably watched too much Jackass for their own good, as the film is
—Chris Noble, 07 November 2009
The guy never stops making stuff—and this interesting short is one of the bits he managed to squeeze in between the cracks of Wild Things. One of the things I love of about Spike’s work is that they provoke thought. Happy 40th my man!
—Andy Jenkins, 22 October 2009
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sportfilm
Stompin’ Who?
Vintage BMX has become all the rage—just search eBay for anything related to “Hutch BMX” or “Hutch Trickstar” and you’ll find your wallet running for the hills. BMX racing, which was influenced early on by motocross racing, was, in its heyday, a sport of outcasts and hooligans. Kids that wanted to go fast and break out of the mold. But these days BMX is touching pop-culture as countless 40-somethings are out to relive their youth with bike restorations, re-releases and exhibitions.
Stompin’ Stu, the newly released documentary from John Swarr and Mark Eaton, is the story of BMX racing legend “Stompin’” Stu Thomsen, who dominated in the early days of BMX racing and became one of
—Jared Souney, 09 September 2009
PHOTO: THAT’S STU going down in a tangle of legs and chrome
TRY BEFORE YOU BUY: THERE’S A TRAILER ON THE OFFICIAL SITE, FROM WHICH YOU CAN ALSO BUY THE DVD
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In his directorial debut, Moon (2009), Duncan Jones—son of David Bowie—creatively recycles elements from a bygone era of sci-fi. Pieces from films past include a resurrection of HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) in the moon base’s in-house computer GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey), a nod to the hallucinations of Steven Soderburgh’s Solaris (2002), and a similar use of the memory implants from Blade Runner (1982). Also like Solaris, Moon is more concerned with inner space than outer space (and Clint Mansell’s score recalls Cliff Martinez’s best work). Sam Rockwell plays the lead astronaut in a role written specifically for him by Jones. If this movie doesn’t finally make the underrated Rockwell an A-lister then I am no longer qualified to write about movies. If you like the pre-CGI “golden age” of science fiction, Moon is your next destination.
—Roy Christopher, 22 August 2009
Timecrimes (Los Cronocrímenes) is Nacho Vigalondo’s first non-comedic film, and wow, it’s a completely harrowing rollercoaster mindfuck. The time travel theme, if presented well (as it is here—_in spades_), never seems to wear thin. Vigalondo’s sure-handed direction makes this condensed, pressure-cooker (the film contains exactly four actors and takes place over the course of about an hour) of a temporal thriller chock full of causal loops and suspenseful twists an imminently watchable and intriguing film. It’s somewhere between Primer and Back to the Future, only much scarier.
—Roy Christopher, 02 July 2009
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