Movieline Online

THE FLICK: Suddenly, the end of the world is in fashion again. After 28 Days Later found a way to cheaply and effectively wipe out life as we know it, the cinema has become obsessed with our own destruction...usually resulting in some sort of flesh-eating zombie plague that holds a mirror to our own inadequacies as a species. The inspiration for all this anarchy is often laid at the feet George Romero and his seminal undead epic Dawn of the Dead. But the true source goes back much further to author / screenwriter Richard Matheson’s influential novella I Am Legend. Twice adapted for the screen – 1964’s underappreciated The Last Man on Earth and 1971’s The Omega Man with a bare-chested Charlton Heston – this third version went through years of development hell before emerging with Will Smith in the lead and director Francis Lawrence (Constantine) behind the camera, telling the same story of a scientist/soldier fighting off an army of mutated survivors of a chemical apocalypse. At least, ...

THE FLICK: Alfred Hitchcock, among his many cinematic talents, had a knack for elevating popular entertainment to high art. Joel and Ethan Coen have proven themselves adept at doing the exact opposite: turning art into popular entertainment. Working in the post-modern Hollywood universe, none of the Coen Brothers’ films are outrageously original; they seem to relish jumping into recognizable formulas (screwball comedy, film noir, etc) between more prestigious projects. But when they choose to bring their A-game, no filmmaker can match their ability craft “indie” ideas with mass audience appeal. Fargo announced their artistic arrival, but No Country For Old Men cemented their reputation. Leaning heavily on their previous set-in-Texas potboiler, Blood Simple, the Coens waste little time and even fewer words getting things started. Llewelyn (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon a pile of bodies and a stack of cash in the desert. Taking a calculated risk, he absconds with the money only to be pursue...

Alfred Hitchcock, among his many cinematic talents, had a knack for elevating popular entertainment to high art. Joel and Ethan Coen have proven themselves adept at doing the exact opposite: turning art into popular entertainment. Working in the post-modern Hollywood universe, none of the Coen Brothers’ films are outrageously original; they seem to relish jumping into recognizable formulas between more prestigious projects. But when they choose to bring their A-game, no filmmaker can match their ability to craft indie ideas with mass-audience appeal. Fargo announced their artistic arrival, but No Country for Old Men cemented their reputation. Leaning heavily on their previous set-in-Texas potboiler, Blood Simple, the Coens waste little time and even fewer words getting things started. Llewelyn (Josh Brolin) stumbles upon a pile of bodies and a stack of cash in the desert. Taking a calculated risk, he absconds with the money, only to be pursued by a relentless psychotic hitman named Ant...