Author Archive: dowd.andrew
Sean Lechowicz’s Top 10
2010 will go down as the year that Hollywood got their act together and finally provided more than just explosions or Matthew McConaughey bickering with Kate Hudson. Big budget event films were slapped with a heart and brain. The spoof film became funny and original again. Sure, there are some indie darlings that made a [...]
Burlesque
After nearly a decade, schlock masterpiece “Showgirls” has met its match. Calling “Burlesque” a train wreck does not cover the severity of its failure, nor does it cover the hilarity. Small town girl Ali (Christina Aguilera) moves to the City Of Angels in pursuit of music super stardom. Shortly after relocating, Ali takes the top [...]
The Nutcracker 3D
“The Nutcracker 3D” has the blueprint for success: an interesting director, a dependable cast, a timeless story, and all the gizmos and gadgets Hollywood has to offer. Somehow something went terribly awry, leaving a big boring stain on screen for an hour and a half. In 1920 Vienna, young Mary (Elle Fanning) receives an early [...]
The Next Three Days
Paul Haggis, writer/director of the Oscar darling “Crash”, is a name synonymous with unavoidable ham-handed social commentary. However, his latest “The Next Three Days” proves that he should steer clear from brashly shouting against racism on a megaphone and stick to suspense film making. College English professor John Brennan (Russell Crowe), his wife Lara (Elizabeth [...]
Look Both Ways
It’s the rarest of rare pleasures for a movie buff: walking in blind to a new film by a new director and being completely floored by it. In an age when every ambitious young filmmaker is greeted as the Next Big Thing and each new indie sensation arrives on a wave of festival-fueled, pre-release hype, [...]
Unknown White Male
A young man awakes, alone and disheveled, on a New York City subway train. He has no idea how he got there or where he is going. As the minutes pass, it slowly dawns on him that he also isn’t exactly sure where he is coming from, or what city he’s in, or even what [...]
Thank You for Smoking
With his clean-cut features, athletic physique, and devil-may-care smile, Aaron Eckhardt has the look of a classic Hollywood movie star – think Cary Grant with a square jaw. Yet he’s never quite been able to make that leap into Leading Man superstardom. Perhaps that’s because, beneath that charismatic, All-American veneer lies a strain of unadulterated [...]
The Golden Season: Oscar Preview 2006
It pains me to do this, but I have to get something off my chest, a secret I’ve been living with for years. Call it a confession, if you must, but here it is: I love the Academy Awards. I mean, I really love them. And no, I don’t just mean the annual ceremony. I [...]
Bubble
If you’ve heard of Bubble, the latest cinematic “experience” from Steven Soderbergh, chances are it’s because of its unique and controversial distribution strategy: much to the chagrin of theater owners everywhere, the film is being released simultaneously in multiplexes, on DVD, and on cable. Or maybe you’ve seen the creepy, surreal theatrical trailer, which depicts [...]
Andrew’s Year In Review: 2005
Maybe it’s the weather or the plethora of awful movies Hollywood unloads each January, but something about this particular time of year really puts film critics in a foul mood. As I peruse the variety of Best-and-Worst lists of 2005, I’m struck by the number of writers and journalists who have used their opportunity to [...]
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