Author: Rob Blackwelder Page 9
Blast From The Past
"Blast From the Past" is one of those high-conceptmovies in which the gimmick becomes an albatross around the story's neck.An obliging comedy about a 35-year-old man-boy raised ina backyard bomb shelter by parents who panicked...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
The Musketeer
After all its TV commercial posturing about "re-envisioning" a classic as a post-Hong Kong actioner, "The Musketeer" betrays the truth of its utter lack of real ambition in the casting of a wooden, charmlessly handsome,...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Disney animated features have never been known for their originality, but their creators almost always craft delightful entertoonment from threadbare grab bags of clichés and contrived plot devices.This year's regularly scheduled summer cartoon release is...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Freaky Friday
Hitting the nail on the head of mother-daughter relationships -- and doing so with amusing savvy and imaginative good humor -- Disney's "Freaky Friday" remake is such a sublimely fun-for-all matinee delight that it cleansed...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Not Another Teen Movie
If ever there were a genre long overdue for a vicious lampooning, it would have to be the cliché-plagued fantasy factory of the witless teen comedy/romance.The popular jock, the cruel cheerleader, the arty-dreamy bespectacled girl,...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
All Over The Guy
If gay men were allowed to kiss on TV -- I mean really kiss -- a frivolous but passably entertaining sitcom flick like "All Over the Guy" probably would have -- probably should have --...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Just One Time
Stop me if you've heard this one before: "Just One Time" is a "romantic comedy" about a guy who acts like a selfish idiot through the whole movie, then makes an insincere 30-second apology just...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Mystery, Alaska
"Mystery, Alaska" is a modern, good old-fashioned, American feel-good movie, about a talented hockey team in a snowbound, Arctic Circle hamlet that gets to take on the New York Rangers in an NHL publicity stunt.It's...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
The War Zone
In its opening scene "The War Zone," a stormy, explosive drama of terrible family secrets, seems almost tranquil as a deeply sullen teenager named Tom (Freddie Cunliffe) rides his bicycle home through the green and...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Xxx
More wow-worthy than an afternoon at the X-Games, more feebly-scripted than a gunfire-filled X-Box action game rated "M" for mature, "XXX" is cool, cool, cool until director Rob Cohen gets to the last act and...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
The Cider House Rules
You know, there's nothing really wrong with "The Cider House Rules," per se.The story of a cusp-of-manhood orphan trying to find his place in the world is noble and interesting enough, in theory. The performances...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
The Medallion
When Jackie Chan was in his low-budget, Hong Kong action-comedy prime, it was easy to forgive his better movies for simplistic plots and mediocre (sometimes downright bad) acting because enjoying them came down to two...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Stuck On You
When Walt Tenor (Greg Kinnear) decides he wants to become an actor, he tries to convince his twin brother Bob (Matt Damon) -- his conjoined twin brother -- to move out to Hollywood with him...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
A Dirty Shame
Tracey Ullman is so perfectly attuned to John Waters' brand of lasciviously trashy comedy, it's a wonder that she hasn't worked before for the shamelessly silly provocateur.In the uproarious "A Dirty Shame," the writer-director lets...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Austin Powers In Goldmember
The cameo-driven, "Mission: Impossible 2"-spoofing, movie-within-a-movie, pre-title sequence of "Austin Powers in Goldmember" is the funniest five minutes to date in this spy comedy franchise. Then Mike Myers shows up and ruins everything.Still trapped in...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
De-Lovely
"This is one of those avant-garde things, is it?" says a droll, dubious and dying Cole Porter (Kevin Kline) as he sits in an empty theater at the beginning of "De-Lovely," watching his life pass...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Monster
Curvy, leggy, drop-dead gorgeous Charlize Theron ("The Italian Job," "Mighty Joe Young") has always had the chops to play deeper and more challenging roles than the girlfriends and temptresses she's been making a living from...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Around The World In 80 Days
Jules Verne might have a hard time recognizing his source material in the Jackie Chan action-comedy adaptation of "Around the World in 80 Days," but for non-purists, it's easy to forgive the many liberties taken...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Ella Enchanted
Following in the footsteps of the "Fractured Fairy Tales" cartoons, "The Princess Bride," "Ever After," "Shrek" and "A Knight's Tale" -- but never quite matching any of their wit or novelty -- "Ella Enchanted" is...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Bride & Prejudice
If nothing else, "Bride and Prejudice" proves that the silly, ingenuous charm of Bollywood musicals becomes tedious andeven downright dumb in English.A cross-cultural adaptation of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" set in modern-day Bombay, London...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Running Free
Put Mr. Ed and Francis the talking mule in a room together and they still wouldn't yap as much as Lucky, the equine orphan hero of the overly-lengthy, overly-loquacious children's movie "Running Free."Lucky is a...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Cradle Will Rock
A wonderfully ambitious, old-school ensemble piece, very much in the can-do spirit of the community to which it pays homage, "Cradle Will Rock" is a politically-undertoned dramedy about theater, censorship, ambition, apprehension, oppression, Orson Welles...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
The Deep End Of The Ocean
I had a problem with "The Deep End of the Ocean" right off thebat because Michelle Pfeiffer loses her kid (that's the plot) at one ofthose 15th class reunions that take place only in the...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
The Passion Of The Christ
Beyond Jesus's inner circle of Disciples, relatives and Mary Magdalene, there's barely a single sympathetic character in the entirety of devoted director Mel Gibson's passion project "The Passion of The Christ."Pontius Pilate, the tyrannical Roman...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Hit & Runway
"Hit and Runway" is the kind of shoestring budget, mock-autobiographical, tongue-in-cheek film festival trinket that has an endearing charm despite the fact that it just screams "my first feature."Written and directed by unpolished rookie Christopher...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
The Flinstones In Viva Rock Vegas
"The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas" is one unapologetic goofball of a movie. It makes no pretense of brains or decorum. It's dumb, screwy and proud. Yabba dabba doo!A prequel to 1994's live-action "Flintstones" feature,...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back
Somewhere out there in the cinematic ether there's an elusive line between lewdly moronic raunch comedies like "Tomcats" or "Freddy Got Fingered" and sophomoric, low-brow sex and gross-out romps that can make even intellectual types...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
A magnificently crafted hybrid of Chinese historical epic, F/X-enhanced martial arts spectacular, mystical romantic tragedy and live-action anime, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is a film that defies genre while embracing traditionalism.It's an intellectually challenging story...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Sex & Lucia
"I'm sorry for everything I said when I left," a pretty young waitress whispers into a pay phone at the back of her restaurant in the opening scene of "Sex and Lucia." Regret and apprehension...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
No Such Thing
On a cutting room floor somewhere lie 15 to 20 minutes of footage that might have made the metaphorical monster movie "No Such Thing" a trenchant, ironic cultural satire instead of a frustrating misfire.It's a...
Movie Review posted on 8th March 2005
Suggested
Leisure Festival - Dreamland in Margate
On the same day that Glastonbury welcomed back Margate's adopted sons, The Libertines, Margate itself put on it's very own Leisure Festival as it...
Pretty Fierce talk to us about collaborating with Doja Cat, emetophobia, arena tours and staying "true to yourself" [EXCLUSIVE]
Sheffield's very own all girl group Pretty Fierce are still on a high after the recent release of their debut single - 'Ready For Me'.
Will Varley & Jack Valero - The Astor Theatre Deal Live Review
Three nights before the end of his current tour Will Varley returned to his home town of Deal to delight a sold out crowd in The Astor Theatre.
WYSE talks to us about her "form of synaesthesia", collaborating with Radiohead's Thom York and the prospect of touring with a band [EXCLUSIVE]
With only a few days to go before Portsmouth based songstress and producer WYSE releases her new single, 'Belladonna', we caught up with her to find...
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Bay Bryan talks to us about being a "wee queer ginger", singing with Laura Marling and being inspired by Matilda [EXCLUSIVE]
Colorado raised, Glasgow educated and Manchester based Bay Bryan is nothing if not a multi-talented, multi-faceted artist performing as both...
Keelan X talks to us about staying true to "your creative vision", collaborating with Giorgio Moroder and being "a yoga nut" [EXCLUSIVE]
Former Marigolds band member Keelan Cunningham has rediscovered his love of music with his new solo project Keelan X.
![Luke De-Sciscio talks to us about having the courage to be yourself, forgiving that which is outside of one's control and following whims [EXCLUSIVE]](https://images.contactmusic.com/images/home/homepage/luke-de-sciscio-abof-a.jpg "Luke De-Sciscio talks to us about having the courage to be yourself, forgiving that which is outside of one's control and following whims [EXCLUSIVE]")
Luke De-Sciscio talks to us about having the courage to be yourself, forgiving that which is outside of one's control and following whims [EXCLUSIVE]
Wiltshire singer-songwriter Luke De Sciscio, formally known as Folk Boy, is set to release is latest album - 'The Banquet' via AntiFragile Music on...
Annie Elise talks to us about the challenges a female producer has to face and "going through a year of grief and sickness" [EXCLUSIVE]
Electronic music pioneer and producer Annie Elise says that the release of her first EP - 'Breathe In, Breathe Out' feels "both vulnerable and...
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