Neil Morris

Invictus opens Friday throughout the Triangle The saying goes, “Soccer is a game for gentlemen played by hooligans; rugby is a game for hooligans played by gentlemen.” The joke is recounted in Clint Eastwood’s Invictus, and it carries an extra sting because his story concerns rugby in South Africa. During the years of apartheid, athletes […]

Everybody’s Fine opens Friday throughout the Triangle Everybody’s Fine succeeds in evoking a spirit of family reconciliation and yuletide cheer. However, the film’s mawkishness overrides any warm feelings it could elicit. Robert De Niro plays Frank, a retiree trying to adjust to a life of menial solitude, unmoored from the world by his wife’s death […]

The Twilight Saga: New Moon opens Friday throughout the Triangle Earlier this month, Taylor Swift starred in a Saturday Night Live spoof of Twilight entitled Firelight. Perfectly mimicking Kristen Stewart’s mannerisms, Swift’s Bella Swan doppelganger struggled to cope with her star-crossed love for a young Frankenstein and friendship with his rival, a teenage mummy. The […]

Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire opens Friday throughout the Triangle Only an African-American filmmaker could get away with making Precious. That’s meant as both a compliment and a criticism. Officially known as Precious: Based on the Novel PUSH by Sapphire, the film has been a runaway train of accolades since its Grand […]

Michael Jackson’s This Is It opens Wednesday, Oct. 28, throughout the Triangle Before the inevitable numbing effect of media overload set in, the death of Michael Jackson struck a real chord with children of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Anyone 10 years old when Thriller was released in 1982 is now 37 years old […]

Ong Bak 2: The Beginning opens Friday There is a mighty urge to give Ong Bak 2: The Beginning a pachyderm-sized pass. Thai martial arts filmmaker Tony Jaa’s follow-up/ prequel to his original 2003 hit film largely accomplishes what it sets out to do: present a bigger, more audacious pageant of battles royal and muddy, […]

Good Hair opens Friday A trailer recently began running in theaters for the animated film Planet 51, in which Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson voices a white astronaut who lands on a world inhabited by little green aliens. The specter of white actors performing in blackface is as old as cinema itself. So the notion of […]

Zombieland opens Friday throughout the Triangle Thirty years ago, George A. Romero tailored his chosen film genrezombie horror moviesinto a critique of American consumerism and social decadence in Dawn of the Dead. Hollywood’s latest zombie flick, Zombieland, is not set inside a shopping mall. But when four survivors of a zombie pandemic begin a trek […]

Capitalism: A Love Story opens Friday in select theaters To summarize the sentiment fueling Michael Moore’s latest agitprop, one need only quote Tony Montana: “You know what capitalism is? Gettin’ fked!” Capitalism: A Love Story is another entry in the Moore canon of dogmatic documentaries designed to purvey his brand of leftist populism. Whether that […]