Arts + Life

The 2 hours of this remake feel like 80 days in real time.

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

If I were a filmmaker, the only thing I would remake would be my wardrobe because the odds are not in my favor to improve any original film hit. Ask Gus Van Sant about remaking Hitchcock's "Psycho" or, more recently, Frank Oz about "The Stepford Wives." Neither director would welcome your inquiry.

The first true "disaster" film of the summer

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

Satirizing fundamentalism is a dicey business.

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

The stunning setting and bizarre situation make a memorable coming-of-age film.

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

"There's magic in the web of it."

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

Like most human beings, 13-year-old Harry Potter is becoming plain interesting as he gets older. The newest installment, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban," is a testimony to testosterone and tribulation as Harry, Hermione, and Ron meet the threat of mass murderer Sirus Black, who, upon escaping Azkaban Prison, seriously wants to find Harry. Even the hundreds of Dementors sent to protect Hogwarts from Black are more trouble than they are worth.

Serious implications about the power of love spiced with a humor mastered only by the French.

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time

Vive la Farce Fran?ais!

I enjoyed the 2 hours. Go figure! It's summertime!

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

Until hell freezes over! Well, some people say New York City is hell, so it's fitting that Roland Emmerich's ("Godzilla," "Independence Day") "Day After Tomorrow" features the freezing of NYC, and the whole northern hemisphere for that matter, as a result of global warming.

The sheer truth of a young couple trying to escape their tyrannical roots to be reborn.

By John DeSando, WCBE"s "It's Movie Time"

The most disgusting movie of the year

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

The most disgusting movie of the year is "Super Size Me" because overindulging in fast food is inherently disgusting, and watching Morgan Spurlock do just that for 96 minutes is equally so. Spurlock spent a month eating McDonald's for three squares a day with unsurprising results.

An enjoyable and memorable blockbuster to complement a summer of real war and conflicted citizenry.

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

An unforgettable study of occupation and defeat.

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

That "Dogville" is unlike any other film in this century should satisfy the cinephiles.

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

The film relies like many other American offerings too much on special effects.

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

The credibility of documentaries and scientists is on the table here.

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

Having just seen Kaurismaki's dryly-witty "Man Without a Past," I couldn't believe that director Bent Hamer's "Kitchen Stories" is actually drier and funnier. The Norse/Swedish co-production depicts 1950's Swedes studying bachelors in their kitchens to improve their lives. Swedish scientist Folke, in a high chair like some infantile god, observes Norwegian Isak under the restriction that he must not interact with Isak.

Could we agree that this film should not be cloned?

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

It's a killer.

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

A memorably objective documentary and an uncommonly informative biography.

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

An existential comic book made into a movie!

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

Hell hath no fury like an "X-Files" type of film faithfully adapting a revered comic book with the darkly existential theme of "choices." Director Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy" playfully brings to life the story of a demon from hell conjured by WWII Nazis occultists under the supervision of the legendary Rasputin and freed by US troops to fight ghosts and monsters for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.

The Coens haven't dug themselves too deeply into the hole of an uneven comedy.

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

Throughout this Cannes-winning, almost docudrama, Van Sant turns our expectations upside down.

By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"

What's in the name of a place? Tombstone, Columbine? The former conjures up thoughts of heroic justice, the latter mass murder. Understanding the motives of Wyatt Earp or Dillon Klebold is not as easy as the place names; interpreting a film about either event as antiviolence is not easy either.