Just back from Fast Food Nation and I feel as if I’ve been bludgeoned for hours with a semi-thawed side of beef. Ponderous does not begin to describe this film, and I speak as someone who would sooner eat his own arm than gum on a fast food patty. I know what goes on in the food industry -- one reas...

There's a clear metaphor at the heart of Wasabi: Jean Reno sucks great gobbets of the aforementioned cruciferous paste from his fingertips and evinces no emotion, no stimulation, whatsoever. He's that hard. Or, alternatively, this wasabi is entirely without heat. Take your pick. One thing’s for...

I can’t remember who recommended Garden State -- probably Luigi -- but I know that I have been waiting forever for it to arrive. And, boy, was it worth it. It builds slowly, wonderfully, and to me brought to mind One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in the almost imperceptible transformation in the lea...

An odd week, to say the least, in which one sees Sin City one night and Water a day later. It’d be easy to do the trite thing and say that Sin City was very violent while Water was very moving. But it works the other way too. The violence of Water is unspoken and largely unseen; but without the...

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is a gem of a film. The entire cast give stellar performances and the gentle poke at Cousteau, which to begin with I thought might wear thin, sustains beautifully. Killing off Owen Wilson -- unthinkable in a mainstream movie -- works too. As for Jeff Goldblum, cou...