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Articles in Culture and Criticism

Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
March 5, 2007 – 6:22 AM | No Comment

So good! I was not bored for one single second, that chase scene with the giant crane was brilliant, and I thought Nick Stahl was pretty good too. My only complaint: Arnold should have left …

The Terminator
March 5, 2007 – 6:22 AM | No Comment

I liked this a lot. I don’t know what it is about these movies that makes me enjoy them so much; partly, it’s that the exposition isn’t draggy. The movies aren’t short, but they’re spare …

Tender Mercies
March 5, 2007 – 6:21 AM | No Comment

Evidently this movie was a big whoop twenty-odd years ago; it’s good, and everyone in it is very appealing — particularly Robert Duvall, who is much more sympathetic than he’s been in a while — …

Syriana
March 5, 2007 – 6:21 AM | No Comment

Yes, it’s confusing, but I think that’s part of the point; I don’t see how else Gaghan could have made the movie, because if he’d explained any further, it would have been 1) five hours …

Sweet and Lowdown
March 5, 2007 – 6:20 AM | No Comment

Sarah: “No, but I really hate Sean Penn.” Mr. S: “Oh, me too, but you won’t mind him in this.” And I didn’t; a couple of times, I could see him doing That Sean Penn …

Super Size Me
March 5, 2007 – 6:19 AM | No Comment

I liked Spurlock’s show 30 Days a lot, so it’s no surprise that I liked this; sometimes the graphics get a little hokey and Schoolhouse Rock-y, but in a documentary, it’s good rhythmically to break …

Superman Returns
March 5, 2007 – 6:19 AM | No Comment

I’d wait to rent it, if I had it to do again, but I liked it okay — Routh is very cute, Kate Bosworth is much better than I’d expected, and it’s fun to watch …

Superman IV — The Quest for Peace
March 5, 2007 – 6:18 AM | No Comment

Uch. At least Superman III had some camp value; everyone in the third installment showed up to work, in any case, but this one is just bad — Reeve is given miserable dialogue, even clonkier …

Superman III
March 5, 2007 – 6:18 AM | No Comment

Where to begin? Well, let’s start with “it sucked” and go from there, because…iiiiit suuuuucked, people. It’s over two hours long, and it’s an hour-and-a-half movie, if that, but every Richard Pryor twitch and mug …

Street Fight
March 5, 2007 – 6:17 AM | No Comment

A guy Scrapper and I grew up with directed the documentary, which is about the 2002 mayoral race in Newark and how scrappy it got between the incumbent, Sharpe James, and the challenger, Cory Booker, …