http://www.filmnwla.com film and wonderful L.A. Fri, 10 Jul 2009 23:00:38 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en When young Iowa-born actor Brandon Routh was cast by director Bryan Singer as Clark Kent and his alter-ego Superman in soon-to-be-released blockbuster Superman Returns, there was a fair degree of surprise in Hollywood. While Singer had suggested that he wanted an unknown actor to take Superman into the 21st century, ... http://www.filmnwla.com/superman-returns/ A business course on cutthroat capitalism disguised as a slacker comedy: That’s the kindest way to describe Michael Lehmann’s “Flakes,” a movie that shares the smug, hipper-than-thou sensibility of its sour protagonist, Neal Downs (Aaron Stanford). An aspiring rock musician who manages a New Orleans eatery where the only bill of ... http://www.filmnwla.com/cereal-as-a-metaphor-for-capitalism/ Anna is working as an art teacher in the city, however she fails in the big city, and is given a job to teach a young girl by the name of Flora. In the movie though it appeared that Anna played the role of the nanny and the art teacher. ... http://www.filmnwla.com/in-a-dark-place/ The Perfect Holiday is seasonably pablum partially redeemed by a smart (if wasted) cast and at least one unusual holiday bit. Directed by co-written by Lance (The Cookout) Rivera, the film mostly flounders through contrived meet-cute scenes and some “what were they thinking” scenes (such as one involving a 300-pound ... http://www.filmnwla.com/perfect-holiday/ A group of students discover that their dorm used to be an asylum run by a mad doctor, with a flair for inflicting pain and torture on his patients (as he believes this to be the cure for their illnesses). The spirit of the doctor is awakened, and is out ... http://www.filmnwla.com/asylum/ Having never seen the stage version of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, I can't speak to the fidelity the film shares with the play. That said, let there be no doubt that Tim Burton has crafted a true piece of musical cinema from Stephen Sondheim's bloody masterpiece. ... http://www.filmnwla.com/sweeney-todd/ Following in the footsteps of the Death Wish movies and this year’s earlier Death Sentence, Neil Jordan’s The Brave One tries with every bit of skill and talent it's got to bring more complexity to the themes of vigilance and revenge. Instead of merely attempting to make the viewers complicit ... http://www.filmnwla.com/the-brave-one/ Southland Tales. As in Tales from Southern California, but a different California, where Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is an action star turned prophet, Justin Timberlake is a veteran of Iraq, Sean-William Scott is actually a pair of twins, and Sarah Michelle-Gellar is a porn star named Krysta Now. “No-one rocks ... http://www.filmnwla.com/southland-tales/ "The Polar Express," Chris Van Allsburg's beloved children's book, published by Houghton Mifflin, captures the pure spirit of the holiday season. It is a time of wonder, of enchanting discovery, of boundless fascination. The inspirational tale will become even larger than life with the theatrical release of "The Polar Express." The ... http://www.filmnwla.com/the-polar-express/ Those yellow, animated phenomenons have finally made their way to the big screen and it only took eighteen years.  So does the animated movie live up to the hilarity of the television show?  Read on and find out – doh! The town of Springfield’s lake is overly polluted and socially conscious ... http://www.filmnwla.com/the-simpsons-movie/