I Am a Sex Addict (IFC) Caveh Zahedi has made a movie of our times -- a strange mix of self-absorption, shamelessness in the pursuit of fame, and sex. Most shocking of all is that it works. Part fiction and documentary, confessional and comedy, the film traces the history of...
According to its publicity, bringing Robert Penn Warren's 1946 novel All the King's Men to the screen again has always been "a cherished dream" of executive producer James Carville — suggesting a lurking sense of payback frustration with the insubstantial legacy of the real populist Southerner Carville himself helped to...
Monster's Ball producer Lee Daniels makes his directorial debut with Shadowboxer, and it couldn't be clearer that he's trying to follow his previous formula for success. Oscar-caliber actors? Check. Interracial sex? Plenty. A violent demise or two, all in the service of character development? Oh yes. But Daniels maybe could...
The good news is that no theater company has announced a production of Cats this season. The bad news is that every single other tired old musical ever written will make its way to local stages over the next several months. Surprise! And welcome to the 2006-2007 theater season, which...
Borne Again In the other guy's shoes: I enjoyed the cartoon story by Jim Mahfood and Stephen Lemons ("The Passion of El Cristo," September 14), maybe because I spent 20 years on the west side of town in an area that was 95 percent Mexican. I met a gentle migrant...
Grand Prix (Warner Bros.) John Frankenheimer, as underrated as he was brilliant, made a racing picture in 1966 that's yet to be topped 40 years later. James Garner suffered through the director's churlish demands (which Frankenheimer reveals and owns up to, in archival footage on one of the documentaries here)...
Any second now, the nice folks over at the ariZoni Awards will start handing out bowling trophies to anyone who's come within three feet of a theater stage this season. Therefore, welcome to the Second Annual Robbie Awards, which celebrate actual accomplishments — and acknowledge some really low points —...
UC-Berkeley gymnast Dan Millman (Scott Mechlowicz) is one of the best at what he does, and he has it all: perfect abs, a big bulge in his crotch (the camera focuses on it early on), beautiful girlfriends, and the ability to balance full beer glasses on his feet. There's just...
We all want to believe that in even the most dangerous or frightening of situations, we would have the courage to stand up for our convictions -- that we would not name names, that we would not betray our friends or our ideals. Thank God, most of us will never...
Marlon Brando sleeps with the fishes. But before the legendary actor died, he worked one last job. Curiously, it was for a videogame. In The Godfather: The Game, Brando attempts to relive his Oscar-winning role as Don Vito Corleone. From the raspy voice to the drooping jowls, it's Vito, all...
At this late date, it's hard to tell one digitally rendered talking animal from another. Madagascar blends into Ice Age looks like A Shark's Tale sounds like Shrek might as well be A Bug's Life turns into Antz feels like Chicken Little could be Over the Hedge, which is really...
If you're a regular moviegoer with a gift for remembering unusual names, chances are you've started paying attention to Chiwetel Ejiofor, the black English actor with a chameleon's talent for disappearing into a role. You may not have caught his breakthrough performance in Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things, but you...
The Darwinian theory that schlocksploitation must tighten its twist of the nuts with each new release will be tested strenuously for years -- or at least several weeks -- by Hard Candy. A pointedly s(l)ick cross between Oleanna and I Spit on Your Grave, thrown like raw meat to Lions...
It should be too early in the year to expect a good movie, let alone a great one; anything released prior to the Oscars is bound to be forgotten by spring. Yet here it is, the first -- dare we use the term that's all but been stripped of meaning...
Walk the Line (Fox) No matter what a junkie does with his spare time -- say, redefine country music, or forge one of history's most enduring personas -- movies about junkies are a drag to watch. So it's too bad this Johnny Cash biopic is a by-the-numbers fall-and-redemption tale. A...
Although British DJ extraordinaire Paul Newman (a.k.a. Tall Paul) shares the same name with the famous film actor, the world-renowned turntablist won't be starring in any Oscar-winning films about pool hustlers or creating his own brand of gourmet salad dressings any time soon. Instead, the six-foot-seven DJ is more likely...
March 5 will find most of the world gearing up for the 78th Academy Awards, but here in Phoenix, everyone with more than one use for a safety pin will still be coming down from the AZ Ska Punk festivities the night before. These two gala events would appear to...
A gritty portrait of ghetto life in contemporary South Africa, Tsotsi packs an unexpected emotional wallop. Gavin Hood's film tells a story of violence and redemption that's even more remarkable when you consider that neither of the lead performers had ever acted in a movie previously. It's little wonder that...
Through the Fire (Disney) He's averaging just nine points in his second season for the Portland Trail Blazers, but considering where he came from and what he's overcome, Sebastian Telfair is doing just fine, thank you. Jonathan Hock's fascinating documentary takes us back to the young New York basketball legend's...
A star who turned into a black hole somewhere between the release of, oh, The Wedding Planner and Sahara (or How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Two for the Money -- really, where to draw the line), Matthew McConaughey is better known of late for shooting tequila...
A Good Woman, Mike Barker's adaptation of the Oscar Wilde play Lady Windermere's Fan, has been gathering dust for some time. It played the Toronto Film Festival in the fall of 2004 before opening in 2005 in every country in the world except this one. Such dawdling doesn't bode well...
Freedomland manages a seemingly impossible feat: It's both turgid and overwrought, eliciting the shriek that fades into a yawn without anyone ever noticing. It's a wholly dreary piece of work, yet another dismal entry on the résumé of director Joe Roth, an only-in-Hollywood hack who's allowed to make movies --...
