Ray Pride

Last Days

Gus van Sant continues working in the elusive style of "Elephant" in this meditation based on the last days of Kurt Cobain.

2

The Beat My Heart Skipped

The mischievous French director of "Read My Lips," Jacques Audiard, remakes James Toback's 1978 "Fingers." Oooooooh, this is gonna be good.

3

Bad News Bears

Richard Linklater's remake of the Michael Ritchie-Walter Matthau pic, with Billy Bob Thornton as the curmudgeonly coach of a kid's baseball team; with a script from the guys who wrote "Bad Santa," it might even be R-rated!

4

Charlie & The Chocolate Factory

BurtonDeppDahl: now who was this Gene Wilder, exactly?

5

The Aristocrats

Almost 100 comedians weigh in on the world's filthiest joke in this doc by Penn Jillette and Paul Provenza; a relentless Rorschach of comedic extravagance.

The rest of July

The Brothers Grimm

Terry Gilliam's long-shelved Heath Ledger-Matt Damon starrer about the fairy-telling Bros. gets disinterred in the summer-long Weinstein Bros. stampede to the Miramax exits.

Dark Water

Walter Salles remakes the Japanese horror hit with Jennifer Connelly living in fear of Manhattan Realtors.

Deep Blue

Miramax sweeps their shelves of a doc about undersea life; Michael Gambon lends a voice-over, indicating "quality."

The Devil's Rejects

Somebody let Rob Zombie into the blood bags again...

5x2

Sleek French auteur Francois Ozon traces a marriage from front to back (but not back again).

Happy Endings

Don Roos, after the blunder of "Bounce," returns to naughty ensemble comedy. With Lisa Kudrow, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Sir Tom Arnold.

Harold Lloyd Festival

The Music Box brings back the silent great, with brand new prints courtesy of Sony Repertory.

Hustle and Flow

Pimps and `hos in Memphis; the great Terrence Howard wants to become a rap singer instead of working the flesh. With Anthony Anderson, Isaac Hayes, Ludacris.

The Island

Michael Bay clones himself and the result is PearlHarborPearlHarborPearlHarborPearlHarbor. No, no, no, he clones Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson in this SF kaboomer.

The Man Who Copied

Jorge Furtado's Brazilian comedy of an ordinary office worker's obsessions has gotten great early reviews.

March of the Penguins

Morgan Freeman narrates the Americanized version of the Sundance favorite.

Murderball

Wheelchair rugby? GET OUT OF MY WAY!

Must Love Dogs

John Cusack in a romantic comedy written, produced and directed by the 61-year-old sensibility behind "Family Ties" and "Spin City." Diane Lane brings along some class.

Nightwatch

The "Russian Tarantino" gets all Cossack and Tatar on yer ass.

Shake Hands with the Devil

The genocide in Rwanda, as seen through the eyes of Romeo Dallaire, the Canadian UN peacekeeper who could not stop the killing.

Sky High

Kurt Russell stars in Disney's attempt at a live-action "Incredibles"--superhero family life!--from the director of "Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo."

Stealth

Rob Cohen brings his XXXhibitionist tendencies to a zoomer about planes `n' spies.

Undead

Mm? Zombie movie, dear?

Wedding Crashers

Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn play a coupla good ol' goombahs who crash weddings to pick up the ladies. With Christopher Walken.

White Diamond

Werner Herzog goes ballooning in South America.

Yes

Joan Allen plays an American scientist having an affair with a Lebanese chef; Sally "Tango Lesson" Potter writes up all in versified dialogue.

(2005-05-24)

Also by Ray Pride

Tip of the Week
Everything that's old is new again, or at least you can hope against hope when it comes to contemporary UK gangster thrillers
(2005-05-17)

Sith and spin
After the Tribune's reviewer gave it four stars, Ebert offers three-and-half death stars, the Time's A. O. Scott hedges neatly that it's "by far the best film in the more recent trilogy," need me for what, do you?
(2005-05-17)

Dog the walk
"Unleashed" is one of those unlikely hybrids of action, sound, music and sentimentality that announce you've arrived on Luc Besson Planet
(2005-05-10)

Tip of the Week
Jonathan Nossiter's made a couple of interesting fiction features (the gloomy "Sunday" and the fractured "Signs & Wonders"), but "Mondovino," a documentary about the shifts in sentiment and sediment in the twenty-first century world of wine, combines filmmaking with his original career, that of a successful New York sommelier
(2005-05-10)

Modern Medieval
(2005-05-03)

Tip of the Week
(2005-05-03)

Tip of the Week
(2005-04-26)

What Do You Believe?
(2005-04-26)

Glossed in translation
(2005-04-19)

Tip of the Week
(2005-04-19)

Burp of a nation
(2005-04-12)

The welcoming of chance
(2005-04-12)

about Newcitychicago | about Newcity magazine | advertising | privacy policy | FAQ | employment