Reviews

I remember seeing this with a bunch of my friends the night it came out. Back in seventh grade, I thought this was the coolest, funniest movie I'd ever seen. I wanted to BE Richard Grieco in that movie. I loved how he started out as a gawky American guy lost in Europe, and slowly transformed into an ersatz James Bond. It's not a big, great movie. Just a fun, humorous action flick. Gotta love Gabrielle Anwar in this. Roger Rees was also a very cool villain.

Overall, for a fun time that's not taxing on the brain, definitely rent this. I loved it back then, and I still do now.

Eugene Martin's fine indie film EDGE CITY is based on the real life beating and death of Eddie Polleck, who unfortunately met his fate the same way as one of the this movie's characters. It is a film that has yet to find a national distributor yet has played at film festivals across the country and is now showing at one theater in Philadelphia. It's a good enough film with flaws that probably can't get distributed because of the timeliness of the children and violence theme.

EDGE CITY is an ensemble piece about what happens when a rumor is horribly twisted around. Two Jersey girls have Coke thrown onto them by three Philly kids. As they tell people about it, this minor incident turns into groping, attempted rape, and full-on rape. As the movie builds up, so does the rumor. We see the lives of both the Philly kids and the Jersey kids. The Philly kids we focus on, mainly on the character of James, just go about their business. James and his brother Bobby try to keep their alcoholic father together by working with him at the local supermarket.

Meanwhile, in Jersey, a girl named Cherie, who drinks her way through her father's remarriage, is the girl who has Coke thrown on her. When she tells her friends, it gets around that what was once a mere practical joke has been twisted into a deadly serious topic. Her friends get ready for a rumble that ultimately the innocent James and Bobby become the center of.

EDGE CITY is a nicely made picture but it is not perfect. While it is superior than Larry Clark's horrible KIDS, it tends to lapse into KIDS territory: letting white kids talk like black kids for too long of a time and letting the dialogue get so out of hand that you soon realize that no one talks like that, even when they're joking. Also, the device of the jump cut within scenes is WAY overused in the first half hour of the movie, with the cuts being jarring and misused than artistic and crafty. And the script too often veers into Afterschool Special territory, i.e. rich girl falls in love with poor boy and he can't accept it, snobby girl is really anorexic, drinks too much, and hates her stepmom, etc.).

However, the fine performances from the cast hold down this film. Charlie Hofheimer is excellent as the doomed hero James, giving a quiet, sentimental coolness to his character that few could pull off. Heather Gottlieb transcends the material for her character, giving a usual Afterschool special character an original turn, making us actually care for her. The rest of the cast, full of local Philadelphia kids, work well together and make the story believable, even when it is not.

All in all, a film that needs to be seen, needs a distributor, and needs a national release. Wake up, you ill-minded Hollywood studios, and pick this little gem up. It's not perfect, but it is one of the better indie films of the last few years.

Rating: B

What a grand masterplan Kubrick unleashed: Make his worst movie ever, then set the release so far into the future that he dies before it comes out to terrible reviews and bad word of mouth.

You've REALLY gotta be a Kubrick fan in order to appreciate the slow, languid pace that this film takes and to spot some of his trademark shot stagings, i.e. a quick ZOOM IN to the masked woman on the terrace looks like the ZOOM IN to Alex as the droogs beat him up in CLOCKWORK ORANGE.

The film lags badly in the beginning, and, of course, Warner Bros. being the dolts that they are, hyped the WRONG part of the movie, which was Tom and Nicole's sex scenes, which were obviously considerably cut. In the middle, the film picks up some form of momentum and gets interesting, culminating in the weird as hell yet interesting masked orgy in the castle-looking house (which was obviously a London set piece, where in NY would you FIND a place like that?). Then it tapers off into one of the most anticlimactic endings ever.

Nicole Kidman was great during her monologue in the beginning but is so underused by Kubrick except to oggle at. Tom Cruise was okay in his performance, but someone else should've been picked to better accentuate his descent into this dream-pervading-reality hell. More judicious editing would've made this a better film. I've never seen "BARRY LYNDON" and I don't agree with most Kubrick critics on "THE SHINING", but I think this is Kubrick's least effective film ever. Very disappointing. Let's just forget that this film exists and remember all the good Kubrick & Cruise did in the past. Rating: C-

As someone who's endured the rigors of indie filmmaking, I have to say that this is without a doubt one of the funniest films ever made about the entertainment industry. And the reason it's so funny is because it's true to life. Steve Buscemi gives one of his best performances in this film, as the frazzled (understatement) director. Catherine Keener is great in her role, while James LeGros steals his segment as a demanding lead actor. All in all, I suggest it to everyone. Just give it some time, it'll grow on you.

Rating: A

Energetic, original, and spectacular. The entire cast is excellent, the script is tight and funny, and Doug Liman, returning from the uproarious SWINGERS, proves once again why he is one of the most talented and underrated filmmakers of today. His camera work is ingenious and incredible. While I enjoyed the film's first and third story, the second story was by far the best. Sarah Polley stands out, along with Katie Holmes and Desmond Askew (Simon). Very cool and very funny. Go see it now.

Rating: A

I applaud the filmmakers and actors, who succeeded in all they set out to do: Make an inexpensive, thrilling movie that defied genre, created its own, ignored Hollywood conventions, and stood out as an original masterpiece. I villify Artisan Entertainment and the hype machine surrounding this movie, for making it out to be something it's not. This is NOT a horror film, it's a psychological drama, about the unravelling of three friends as they trust and distrust each other in a dire situation WITH THE BACK DROP BEING the Blair Witch documentary. That's why the film isn't that scary. However, the last five minutes are definitely tour de force creepy and had me going. This is not Hollywood moviemaking and should be viewed by only those who can get past the non-Hollywood feel. This year's PULP FICTION, this year's CHASING AMY, this year's USUAL SUSPECTS. Expect many inferior copycats, expect Heather Donahue to become a sex symbol, expect a BLAIR WITCH marketing blitz. Get past all that (although I myself that Heather was hot and don't mind option 2) and revel in one of the best sleepers ever. Rating: A+

On a cool Saturday afternoon, I trekked down to Center City Philadelphia to see this much-hyped art house flick from Germany. Boy was I rewarded! Franka Potente aka Lola was the best thing in this film bursting with great things. She has a commanding presence on screen that eclipses a lot of today's actresses. Not only that, she's beautiful and hot as hell. Aside from that, the movie is fast-paced, imaginative, and never slows down. Makes some of Hollywood's MTV-ish action flicks look like silent movies.

Rating: A+