Arts + Life

A bung-hole stopper

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

Robert Rodriguez stunned the cinema world about a dozen years ago with the low budget El Mariachi, a story of mistaken identity, a lethal guitar case, and a mariachi who just wants to play his instrument. Since then, the director has not had to scrounge for money and exceeds expectations with movies as varied as Spy Kids and Sin City.

You'll care about each girl.

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

The only magic realism in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is the one, one-size-fits-all pair of jeans worn by four teenage friends, whose summer adventures bring a dose of realism magical only for the insights into life, the pain and pleasure that come in from age seventeen to the end. As a coming-of-age film, this ranks with the best of them for non-condescending, adult-like perceptions, with nary a "like" in the girls' vocabulary.

An indomitable America coming back.

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

"Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting,

That would not let me sleep . . ." Hamlet

Otherworldly

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

Energetic Hubris.

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

"Ask why" was the mantra of one of the most remarkable companies in the history of modern society: Enron. And not one, not even the venerable accounting firm of Arthur Anderson, asked that question. So the little energy company that could amassed billions of dollars through deceptive accounting practices, mainly by stating profit based on future earnings (HFV=hypothetical future value) and shipping losses to offshore shell companies.

A modicum of intelligence and suspense

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

Second-tier director Renny Harlin should have hunted for minds other than these two pedigreed writers to elevate Mindhunters from the banal to the mediocre. Or better yet, when he cast Val Kilmer for no more than a ten-minute part and Christian Slater for a bit more, all crew should have fled knowing the curse that lies under billing stars with brief parts.

Balanced and focused.

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

Welcome to the best freak show so far in 2005.

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

Credit the director and writer for balancing the guilt and horror among Christians, Jews, and Arabs.

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

Exhausting and entertaining.

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

Seinfeld without the humor.

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

Predictable but enjoyable.

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

Eminently worth seeing.

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

Eccentric and satisfying.

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

The best Woody in years.

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

Manhattan still drives Woody Allen crazy: Urbanites are prey to ambition and lust, pride and diffidence and even sound like Woody with their halting sentences, paranoid affectations, and occasionally witty lines tossed off like the dregs of their grande lattes. Melinda and Melinda is a petting zoo of needy moderns who most of all want to find love, which eludes them right up to the last cliffhanging moment.

Everything a comic book/film buff could want.

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

"By Jove! I've never seen anything so unreal in my life. And

earth struck me as something great and invincible, like evil or

truth, waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic

invasion." Joseph Conrad's Marlow in Heart of Darkness

A tribute to a director who makes children interesting and wise and movies for everyone.

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

"Radix malorum cupiditas est."

("The root of evil is greed.") The Pardoner's Tale

The director aims at the heart of sin, Catholic guilt, and changing mores.

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

Thrilling and serious about the future of mankind.

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

Hollywood musicals are better.

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