The Debt
It’s not a surprise to say that Hollywood — and audiences in general — loves a good revenge thriller. Watching a hero blow things up and kill villains is fun, and with bad guy who has it coming, it’s even more fun…
A Better Life
Years ago, Carlos Galindo (Demián Bichir) crossed the border from Mexico to America. Since then he’s bounced from job to job, had a son (José Julián), and gotten a divorce…
The Help
Mississippi consisted of two worlds in the 1960s (and, many would say, still today): the free-to-do-as-they-please whites, be they rich, poor, or in-between, and blacks struggling against centuries of bigotry…
Written on August 18, 2011 | Posted in Reviews
Michael Biehn Gets Bloody at the River Oaks Theatre, Tonight
Late notice, I know, but movie fans should sit up & take notice of a cool event going on tonight (Wednesday, August 17th) up at the River Oaks Theatre…
Written on August 17, 2011 | Posted in Posts
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Will Rodman (James Franco) has an understandable obsession: his father (John Lithgow) is slowly following apart from Alzheimer’s, and his boss (David Oyelowo) won’t get behind the unconventional genetic cure…
Another Earth
The Greek philosopher Philolaus once theorized there was a mirror Earth orbiting the Sun opposite us, an Earth exactly like us, filled with people exactly the same as us, living our lives. That’s a pretty esoteric subject for a drama about life and death…
Captain America: The First Avenger
During the height of World War II, a crazed madman digging up secret treasures all over Europe has discovered a way to bring the entire world under his control, and the embattled forces of the Allies might not be able to stop him. Their only hope is to fight fire with some mad-science fire…
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2
The length of the cast alone should tell you just how long this has been coming; after 10 years, the Harry Potter series finally comes to a close with an extended bang. Mainly because that’s pretty much all it has left. It should come as no surprise…
Kung Fu Panda 2
Filmmakers and story-tellers, especially the ones specifically targeting adolescent and pre-adolescent boys, love telling coming-of-age stories. They speak to self-belief and hidden power, making them potent vehicles for hanging personal power fantasy off of…
Written on July 13, 2011 | Posted in Reviews
Submarine
Everybody comes of age some time or another, and if you haven’t learned that from personal experience yet, movies will take the burden off you, because every director makes a coming-of-age film at some time or another, too…
The Hangover: Part II
After getting drunk, getting drugged, and stealing a tiger, a police car, and a small Asian man — and misplacing their best friend in the process — you would think Phil, Stu, and Alan would have learned…
X-Men: First Class
The short version is X-Men: First Class is an excellent return to form after several missteps, capturing everything that made the series great and jettisoning must of the unnecessary stuff. That’s all you really need to know, but if you need more, keep going…
The Tree of Life
Cormac McCarthy once said the only thing he could ever imagine writing about was life and death, because nothing else would ever be important enough to waste time and words on. I imagine if someone were to ask Terrence Malick that question…
There Be Dragons
The life of Saint Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of the Opus Dei movement, seems ripe for dramatization, regardless of what you may think of his accomplishments. Founded during the Spanish Civil War, Escrivá’s order…
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
In 1994, three French explorers delved into the reaches of what became known as the Chauvet Cave in southern France and found one of the world’s great archeological treasures: a group of the oldest, best-preserved…
Houston Palestine Film Festival Starts Tonight
Dangit, how does it always do that to me? I’ve meant to check out the Houston Palestinian Film Festival literally for years now — this its fifth year of existence, I’m told — but every time, it sneaks up on me…
Written on May 13, 2011 | Posted in Posts
Thor
One of the problems with being a critic is watching the same stories over and over and over again, and however well told they might be, the lack of freshness can’t help but be a strike against them. This is especially true of light summer entertainment…
Rubber
The main plot of Rubber follows an old, used truck tire rolling down Route 66 encountering typical road-movie types: motel workers, a bored local kid, a local sheriff, and a sultry female in a vintage convertible…
See A Movie: Win Passes to The Next Three Days Screening Tomorrow
Giveaway time, folks… Paul Haggis-directed thriller The Next Three Days (from Lionsgate) opens this weekend, and it looks pretty damn neat, at least to me; I’m not familiar with the movie Haggis is remaking, French film Pour Elle, but I like the general plot line quite a bit…
Written on November 16, 2010 | Posted in Posts
Cool Movie-Related Thing: Closet Space Out on DVD Today
Hey, just wanted to mention this real quick, both since it’s cool and since we here at SCR are all about supporting our own, yo (as long as what they’re doing is good, anyway)… Quickly-rising horror film director, longtime SCR staffer, and all-round good guy Mel House…
Written on September 12, 2010 | Posted in Posts
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
This may well be as good as Twilight is ever going to get, and as it turns out that’s not too shabby. So Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is really into vampires. Well, a vampire (Edward Cullen). So much so that she wants nothing more to become one…
Knight and Day
I can’t believe Tom Cruise movies have gotten old-fashioned. That’s not right. What I should say is: I can’t believe movie stars have gotten old-fashioned. But they have, and the proof is in Knight and Day‘s pudding…
The A-Team
The film opens Somewhere In Mexico, with gangsters interrogating Hannibal (Liam Neeson in a bewildering rubber nose). Somewhere Else In Mexico, Bosco Albert Baracus (or B.A., a perfectly cast Quentin “Rampage” Jackson) races cops in a Lamborghini…
Girls Rock (on Film), Tonight
Nearly missed this one completely, dammit — thankyew, Facebook… Tonight (Thursday, June 3rd), the cool folks of {Girls Rock Camp Houston} are having a fundraiser up at a place I’ve never heard of called Beaver’s (2310 Decatur)…
Written on June 3, 2010 | Posted in Posts
Dennis Hopper, Remembered
I can’t claim to’ve been Dennis Hopper‘s biggest fan, honestly — the guy’s politics, for one, always kinda threw me off — but I was still pretty down to hear the news this past weekend that he’d passed away. It wasn’t a surprise, for sure…
Written on June 1, 2010 | Posted in Posts
Easy Rider
Easy Rider at Houston Worldfest Film Festival’s Tribute to Dennis Hopper: Dennis Hopper’s “Billy” and Peter Fonda’s “Captain America” make enough profit from a one-time cocaine deal that they are finally able to set out riding their custom motorcycles…
Hometown Boy Makes Good: Houston Flick “Walking Distance” Premieres at Dallas Intl Film Fest
Ah, this one does my soul good. I’ve known Mel House for what, looking back, sure seems to be a long damn time now, from waaaay back in his days playing with Inbred Whiteboy, and he was also one of the first seriously consistent writers we had here at SCR (I still miss being able […]
Written on April 8, 2010 | Posted in Posts
Tonight: mr. Gnome (Reviewed!) + Bright Men + Skatalites + Bike Films + Fired For Walking + More
Damn, damn, damn. I’m afraid that the snow dazzled and bewildered me, and so I totally forgot about all the awesome shows going on this very evening (Fri., December 4th) while out being pelted with grassy/muddy snowballs by my daughter. Argh. (Okay, and my sleep-deprived brain for some reason thought the freaking show was tomorrow […]
Written on December 4, 2009 | Posted in Posts
2012
We’ve been waiting for the end of the world for a long time. Frequently polls will suggest that a large percentage of people believe we are living at the end times at any given moment. Books and magazine articles will appear explaining why the Apocalypse is nigh…
Written on November 13, 2009 | Posted in Reviews
Moneen, The Moneen DVD: It All Started with a Red Stripe
The DVD begins with a short film, The Start to This May Be the End to Another, which acts as a documentary of Moneen, showing the band traveling in their tour bus, enduring the typical trials of losing the signal during business calls, excessive gas pumping, and unloading all the heavy gear…
Written on November 11, 2009 | Posted in Reviews
The Box
The big problem with all adaptations into film is “why do them at all?” Oh, it makes perfect sense from a business standpoint — it’s a known quantity that can ameliorate some of the gigantic risk that is studio feature filmmaking. But just in and of itself…
Astro Boy
Sunday, at Edwards Marquee’s screening of Astro Boy, geek dads brought their children to have their hair styled in the inexplicable dual spikes of the 60 year-old anime icon. Hairdressers were contracted by the studio reps to perform this hilarious task. Once inside, adults fell into two categories and children into one. Some adults were […]
Written on October 22, 2009 | Posted in Posts
Z
From August 14-16, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston screened a beautifully restored 35mm print of Z in the Brown Auditorium to sell-out crowds as part of their ongoing Revival Series. Constantin Costa-Gavras’ 40-year-old procedural about an investigating judge…
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
They don’t make them like this anymore. One of the most surprising things I found about Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner was that I hadn’t seen it yet. A friend of mine (who knows I’ve see everything) just naturally assumed I had…
The Informant!
The Informant! is the story of Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon), a scientist, VP, and whistleblower at the giant agri-business food additive company Archer Daniels Midland, which specializes in using corn to take over the world…
Update: Fake Believe (Tonight!) + Electric Attitude (Tonight!) + Behemoth + Dillinger is Dead + More
Hey, all — got a new bunch of reviews up this evening, so I wanted to put a quick note up here about ’em, especially since two of the bands, Fake Believe and Electric Attitude, both happen to be playing tonight (Sat., September 12th) at The Festival at Mink (which I already blathered about here, […]
Written on September 11, 2009 | Posted in Posts
Dillinger è morto (Dillinger is Dead)
Dillinger is Dead is called writer/director Marco Ferreri’s masterpiece. It recently screened at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston as part of their Revival Series (http://www.mfah.org/films), a restored 35mm print that looks and sounds brilliant…
Written on September 11, 2009 | Posted in Reviews
Such Hawks Such Hounds
In the overflowing racks of DVDs at your local record store, the subject of stoner rock has long been neglected. The void has now been filled, however, with the release of Such Hawks Such Hounds. The film is the culmination of three years work by John Srebalus…
Film Monitor
This one’s pretty unique; ran across it at the 2008 Zine Fest deal at The Shady Tavern and was immediately impressed as hell. It’s teeny-tiny (literally only 8 pages, including the cover), but very nicely done, laid out well & a hell of a lot more legible…
Written on October 26, 2008 | Posted in Zines
One Last Update Before Leaving for Colder Climes: Battles Live + Rush Hour 3
Yep, just a couple more things up before I head off to wander the fjords and freeways of Scandinavia, in search of traces of my wife’s Viking forebears — as of this AM, we’ve got up a cool, cool review of the Battles/Ponytails/Sharks and Sailors show in town a month or so ago (give or […]
Written on August 18, 2007 | Posted in Posts
