Blogcritics Author: David Dylan Thomas

Movie Review: W.

David Dylan Thomas — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:07:26 EDT

What some people will do to please their daddies.
Anyone who saw Nixon knows that Oliver Stone probably wasn't planning on doing a hatchet job on George W. Bush in his latest film. Stone seeks to understand his subjects, not forgive or excoriate them. However, anyone who saw Nixon may find that W., while a solid film, suffers by comparison.The film cuts between Bush's first term and the...

Six Reasons The Dark Knight Is So Good That It's Kicking Your Ass Right Now and You're Not Even Watching It Yet

David Dylan Thomas — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:15:55 EDT

I'm sorry. I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome this movie is.
1. Heath Ledger Let's just get right to it, shall we? Yes, Ledger will likely get an Oscar nod out of this performance and yes, it's deserved. Director and co-screenwriter Chris Nolan's vision of The Joker is as a destructive force of nature that also happens to be smarter than everyone in Gotham (including Batman). Basically, it's...

Movie Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Better Than Temple, Worse Than Crusade

David Dylan Thomas — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:08:28 EDT

Not an action classic, but still a good time at the movies.
Expectations for the latest installment of the Indiana Jones franchise probably range from Phantom Menace to Last Crusade (I'm not sure anybody really expects it to match the quality of Raiders). As it happens, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hits neither of these extremes. Instead, it simply fulfills the promise of your...

Movie Review: Iron Man

David Dylan Thomas — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:00:22 EDT

Everything you've heard is true. Assuming what you've heard involves the film kicking ass.
Iron Man does what a superhero movie should do. It creates characters you care about and puts them in interesting situations. Come to think of it, that's what movies in general are supposed to do. Funny how that happens. In addition, Iron Man pulls the rug out from under a couple of superhero story conventions. One, our character begins not as...

Philly Film Fest - Days 11 & 12: All's Well That Ends With Giant Metal Worms

David Dylan Thomas — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:30:36 EDT

As the fest draws to a close, I find out why one film sold out four times straight.
What happens when you give Ringo Lam (City on Fire), Tsui Hark (Once Upon a Time in China), and Johnny To (Exiled) the same camera? You get Triangle, a taut yet amusing entry in the heist-gone-wrong genre. The amusing part comes mostly from To, who contributed the final third. The first third comes from Hark and was built upon by Lam in the second...

Philly Film Fest 2008 - Day 10: Philadelphian Teen

David Dylan Thomas — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 20:25:52 EDT

In which I see the film I was most looking forward to at the fest.
(In case you were wondering what happened to Day 8, it was a day of rest so that I wouldn’t grow to hate movies and everything they stand for.) Son of Rambow was my most anticipated film of the fest. After hearing the film's geektastic premise - two boys decide to remake First Blood - and the accompanying Sundance love, I was hooked. It...

Philly Film Fest 2008 - Day 9: This Is So Not Kicking My Ass

David Dylan Thomas — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:39:41 EDT

The De Niro and Pacino of kung fu finally meet, but it's no Heat.
When I first heard that Jackie Chan and Jet Li were going to be in a film together, my heart leapt. When I saw which movie, it sank. Kid's movies don't generally make for good martial arts cinema. Still, I was hoping that the Rob Minkoff who co-directed The Lion King would show up, and not the one who directed The Haunted Mansion. I was...

Philly Film Fest 2008 - Day 7: That '90s Movie

David Dylan Thomas — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:49:51 EDT

In which I display the useless skill of guessing which movie will make a surprise appearance at a film festival.
Electile Dysfunction is the last political doc I'll watch at the fest. I promise. I can quit anytime I want. The locally produced doc from directors Joe Barber and Mary Patel, who were in attendance at the world premiere with about half the people interviewed in the film, uses the 2006 Senate race between Rick Santorum and Bob Casey as a spine...

Philly Film Fest 2008 - Day 6: The Found Art of Keeping a Secret

David Dylan Thomas — Wed, 9 Apr 2008 19:37:48 EDT

With secret power comes an utter lack of responsibility.
Secrecy, a documentary about the benefits and detriments of government secrets, is the most powerful film I've seen at the fest so far. Directors Peter Galison and Robb Moss artfully lay out both sides of the argument. On the one hand, leaking a tapped network, like the one tapped after the 1983 bombing of the American Embassy in Beirut, can...

Philly Film Fest 2008 - Days 4 & 5: Yeah, We're Screwed

David Dylan Thomas — Tue, 8 Apr 2008 17:34:13 EDT

If every American will shell out $30 grand, we'll take care of that national debt in a jiffy.
On day four I checked out the much anticipated and sold out (for two screenings straight) American Teen. It was worth the wait. A documentary about the lives of seniors about to graduate from a high school in Warsaw, Indiana, it comes off at first like a far less insipid version of The Hills, and while it never really loses that aesthetic, it...