THE NEW DOCTOR WHO, BBC AMERICA, 2010
THE NEW DOCTOR WHO, BBC AMERICA, 2010 I was never a Doctor Who fan. There are many such fans where I work, but I could never get into the series: it seemed too retro and too cheesy. And then one...
View ArticleRIVERWORLD, SYFY, 2010
RIVERWORLD, Syfy Channel, 2010 Remakes are almost always bad. The original belonged to a particular time and place and was part of a cultural mood that has long since passed. But the Syfy channel has...
View ArticlePLEASE GIVE (2010)
PLEASE GIVE (2010) Please Give is all about getting: getting old, getting zits, getting a tan, getting laid, getting a facial, getting a present, getting a boyfriend, getting cancer, getting guilt—and...
View ArticleHARRY BROWN (2010)
HARRY BROWN (2010) Suppose we are living in a post-Apocalyptic world—no Mad Max, just loss of faith and lack of hope. Suppose our world has ended as T. S. Eliot predicted, with a whimper. Daniel...
View ArticleTHE CITY OF YOUR FINAL DESTINATION (2009)
THE CITY OF YOUR FINAL DESTINATION (2010) Depending on which review you read, this film was made in 2008 or 2009 and released in 2010, after being previewed in 2007. This deluge of dates means that...
View ArticleMOTHER AND CHILD (2010)
MOTHER AND CHILD (2010) The bonds between Mother and Child are mysterious but not at all instinctual. “Karen” (Annette Benning) and her daughter, “Elizabeth” (Naomi Watts), never meet but are...
View ArticleLETTERS TO JULIET (2010)
LETTERS TO JULIET (2010) If you have ever wondered how much money a fact-checker working for The New Yorker magazine makes, this film satisfies your curiousity—-in fact, a fact-checker makes a lot of...
View ArticleROBIN HOOD (2010)
ROBIN HOOD (2010) First, let me say that Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood is a decent movie and I enjoyed the film, but, before I begin my review, I must make a few objections, complain and set the historical...
View ArticleKITES (2010)
KITES (2010) Bollywood, is an acquired taste—in this case, a taste of a hot dog covered in curry and wrapped in a tortilla. Welcome to globalism, from “Vegas, Baby” to India to Mexico. The first time...
View ArticleTHE DEATH OF A MUSEUM: THE DEMISE OF THE CLAREMONT MUSEUM
THE DEATH OF A MUSEUM Claremont Museum of Art Claremont, California How does a museum die? Slowly circling the drain or suddenly closing at an opening? The Claremont Museum of Art died on the spot,...
View ArticleI SEE DEAD PEOPLE: ELVIS, MICHAEL AND DIANA
I SEE DEAD PEOPLE: Elvis, Michael, and Diana When Elvis died, ABC News reported on the Panama Canal. On August 16, 1977, Elvis was not “news.” Today, no one can recall what—if anything—was going on at...
View ArticleWHAT IS ARTISTIC SUCCESS? ROGER KUNTZ
WHAT IS ARTISTIC SUCCESS? Why Some Artists are Obscure: The Curious Case of Roger Kuntz Last spring of 2009, the Laguna Beach Art Museum held a retrospective for a little known but aptly named, artist,...
View ArticleFAMOUS FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES AT THE ORANGE COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART
FIFTEEN MINUTES OF FAME. PORTRAITS FROM ANSEL ADAMS TO ANDY WARHOL Orange Country Museum of Art Newport Beach May 2 – September 19, 2010 “In the future,” Andy Warhol predicted, ‘everybody will be...
View ArticleTHE KARATE KID (2010)
THE KARATE KID KICKS OFF THE SUMMER Remember when Will Smith could be counted on to open the summer with a blockbuster? From Independence Day to Men in Black, Will Smith always delivered. Move over...
View ArticleI am Love (2010)
(MAMMA MIA) I AM LOVE (2010) I am Love could just as well be titled “I am Heavy-Breathing Melodrama” or “I am an Italian Soap Opera.” Here we have the rich behaving badly and stupidly, throwing away...
View ArticleDoctor Who and Vincent van Gogh
DOCTOR WHO MEETS VINCENT VAN GOGH: ART HISTORY MEETS POPULAR CULTURE When the forces of popular culture meets the immovable object that is art history, the latter always loses and accuracy is often a...
View ArticleInception (2010)
“Life is but a Dream” “We are the stuff that dreams are made of.” So said William Shakespeare in his last play, The Tempest. And this, in a nutshell, is the theme of Inception. This is the movie the...
View ArticleThe Kids are All Right (2010)
The Last Prejudice The Kids are All Right is about a marriage threatened by an affair and a family threatened by a stranger from the outside. The only novelty, which is hardly a novelty, is that the...
View ArticleWork of Art, Bravo Network, Summer 2010
An Open Letter to the Network Re: Reality show, Work of Art: The Next Great Artist Dear Bravo Network, Do not do this again. Ever. Thank you. Signed, A genuine art critic. Dr. Jeanne S. M. Willette The...
View ArticleHollywood Does “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE (2010) For those Americans who can’t read (subtitles), to the horror of those of us who admire good filmmaking, Hollywood has decided...
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