

Columns By Douglas PrattPratt@moviecitynews.com
12 Rounds
Wrestler John Cena jumps off the ropes to take a shot at action hero stardom as a New Orleans cop in12 Rounds, a Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment release directed by the depreciated action maven, Renny Harlin. Aidan Gillen portrays an Irish terrorist who kidnaps the hero’s wife and makes him do all sorts of crazy things…
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: My Dinner with Andre, Two Lovers, Do the Right Thing and more…
PICK OF THE WEEK: NEW Two Lovers (Three-and-a-Half Stars) U. S.; James Gray, 2009 Joaquin Phoenix, in various weird ways, has suggested that James Gray‘s Brooklyn romance Two Lovers may be
Read the full article »Vassup, Bruno
Note: this column treads into spoilery territory. So if you want to stay pure forBruno, then avert your eyes! When Da Ali G Show premiered on HBO, I remember where I was and who I was with. It was a seminal comedic moment in my life, changing the verynature of what I thought humor could do. …
Read the full article »Transformers: Triumph of the Risen
The tracking was great … just not this seemingly boffo. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen smashed the competition with an estimated weekend gross of $110.8 million and a five-day near record gross of $200 million. That left the frame’s other wide release — the decidedly femme-centric, weepy My Sister’s Keeper — picking up scraps of…
Read the full article »Last Year at Marienbad
What excited folks in 1961 about Alain Resnais’ Last Year at Marienbad was its overpowering formalism and mastery of style. Each shot seems so meticulously composed, down to the mannerism of every actor on the screen, that it leaves the impression that Resnais had absolute, total control over every pixel on the screen. The lack…
Read the full article »Real Dads of Hollywood
Over Father’s Day weekend as my kids and I were plotting and planning how to make their dad’s day a special one, I thought about writing a column this week on great movies about dads and fatherhood. Unfortunately, I realized in trying to come up with a list of films I would include in such…
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Woodstock, Last Year at Marianbad, Waltz with Bashir and more…
PICK OF THE WEEK: CLASSICS Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music — The Director’s Cut (Four Stars) U.S.; Michael Wadleigh, 1970-1994 (Warner) Both a great rock concert movie, and a superb documentary on youth culture in the Vietnam War Years, Michael Wadleigh’s Woodstock
Read the full article »Wedding Bell Green
The Proposal was an offer the audience couldn’t refuse as the romantic comedy romped to an estimated $34.4 million debut to gain weekend bragging rights. The frame’s other national freshman — the caveman comedy Year One — grunted $20.1 million to finish fourth overall. New titles in limited or regional release had a few bright…
Read the full article »Irene in Time: A Father’s Day Gift from Henry Jaglom

Irene in Time, a movie devoid of any positive male role models, is being released Friday, two days ahead of Father’s Day. Naturally, the peculiar timing begged the question, “Who thought this was a good idea?” “Actually,” replied writer-director Henry Jaglom, “it was my idea. Sometimes, you need a marketing hook to encourage people to…
Read the full article »Festival in …
They don’t have car shows in Detroit. But in Los Angeles — a once near-moribund venue for alternative cinema — the landscape is rife with celebrations of the seventh art. The unprepossessing-sounding Los Angeles Film Festival is one of two annual events (the other, AFI Fest, unspools in November) that at least on paper strive…
Read the full article »The Relativity of Relationships
There’s a certain irony in a film festival held in Las Vegas — a town where the size, not the quality, of your chip stash matters and fliers offering beautiful girls sent to your hotel room are handed out on the streets — programming some interesting films that focused on emotional connections. Based on an…
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: The Seventh Seal, At the Death House Door, Gary Cooper and more…
PICK OF THE WEEK: CLASSICS The Seventh Seal (Two discs) (Four Stars) Sweden; Ingmar Bergman, 1957 (Criterion) Antonius Block, a dazzlingly blonde and handsome, idealistic, death-haunted knight
Read the full article »Tired Acts in Year One
How did Harold Ramis, Jack Black and Michael Cera — otherwise intelligent, talented people — end up involved in a mediocre, muddled project llikeYear One? I’d like to say this film is a perfectly acceptable comedy, the kind of movie that gives you a couple smiles here and there, and can be forgiven for being the kind of…
Read the full article »Transformers in My Mailbox
At the end of last week’s column, which was about unnecessary sequels being released this summer, I implored readers to send me e-mails if they were actually fans of the first Transformers movie and let me know why. I had stated that I didn’t know anybody who actually enjoyed that film, which was true. But now I’ve…
Read the full article »Sub-way Stories
Hangover and Up once again dominated weekend ticket sales with respective grosses of $33.1 million and $30.7 million and that put the kibosh on new releases. The highly anticipated The Taking of Pelham 123 pulled into third spot with a just passable $24.6 million gross while the $5.6 million box office for Imagine That was…
Read the full article »The Greatest Adventure of All
I celebrated my 41st birthday on Monday and, as many of us do when the clock makes another tick toward the inevitability of our own demise, I’ve been thinking about growing older, and things undone that I wanted to do (or thought I wanted to do) by now. When I was younger, I imagined many…
Read the full article »Real Life Meets Cinema: Unmistaken Child and Throw Down Your Heart

Twenty-three years ago, in his Graceland album, Paul Simon anticipated the coming of the digital age and global shrinkage as well as any scientist, engineer or palm reader. It was an analog world back then, and Pope John Paul II, President Reagan and MTV Europe had yet to make a dent in the Iron Curtain….
Read the full article »Wilmington on DVDs: Gran Torino, Revolution Revisited, The Rain People, and more…
PICK OF THE WEEK: NEW Gran Torino (Four Stars) U.S.; Clint Eastwood, 2008 (Warner) Clint Eastwood plays a Dirty Harry guy grown old in his latest movie Gran Torino.
Read the full article »Sequels Nobody Asked For
Box office receipts can be deceiving. Most studios will look at the box office results of the latest tent-pole blockbuster and based on those results, decide whether or not the film merits a sequel. Besides the fact that that is clearly not an artistic decision in any way, it’s also incredibly short-sighted. Just because a…
Read the full article »Land of the Loss
Belmont be damned … it was a photo-finish at the weekend box office with initial estimates giving the animated adventure Up a slight edge on the debut of the gonzo comedy The Hangover. First blush pegs Up with $44.5 million for a $200k lead on the new “boys’ night out” misadventure. The weekend’s other major…
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