http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/gary_thompson RSS Feed for Gary Thompson en-us Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:03:28 GMT http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/gary_thompson/20090703_Gary_Thompson__Philly_native_featured_in__Right_Thing__20th_anniversary_edition.html THIS WEEK marks the 20th anniversary of one of the most influential movies of all time - Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing." http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/gary_thompson/20090702_moon.html To have any shot at enjoying the sci-fi mystery "Moon" you have to stop reading about it. There probably isn't one review in 50 that will refrain from spilling the movie's beans, since there is almost no way to examine the movie without doing so. http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/gary_thompson/20090630_public_enemies.html Director Michael Mann is a stylish, brooding perfectionist who makes movies about men who are stylish, brooding perfectionists. Mann's subjects are often cops or criminals, but though he carries a camera instead of a gun, you can feel the way Mann empathizes with and admires their terse professionalism. http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/gary_thompson/Ice_Age_sequel_Dawn_of_the_same_old_ideas.html "Ice Age 3" opens this week, so if you want to see a good animated movie, check out . . . "Up." Or maybe "Monsters Vs. Aliens," if you can still find it. Anything but "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," packed with ideas as fresh as "Land of the Lost," which we haven't seen for, oh, three weeks now. http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/gary_thompson/20090626_Gary_Thompson__Amid_summer_s_slow_dance__brainwise__try_to_Waltz_with_Bashir_.html SINCE THERE'S no shortage of frivolous entertainment in theaters now, adventurous viewers might want to take a shot at "Waltz With Bashir," a more cerebral DVD available this week. http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/gary_thompson/20090623_Transformers_sequel_is_too_long__too_loud__just_too_much.html Please don't call to complain about my negative review of "Transformers 2," because I can no longer hear. Both eardrums were blown out somewhere in the 138th minute, when there were still 10 minutes to go, not counting the credits, which list 400 sound and special effects technicians and roughly 20 speaking parts, most of those occupied by machines that talk. http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/gary_thompson/20090619_Gary_Thompson__Just_released_DVDs_provide_slim_pickings_in_gifts_for_Dad.html TOO BAD "TAKEN" was released a few weeks ago - Liam Neeson's avenging-dad movie would have been the perfect Father's Day DVD. http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/gary_thompson/20090618_proposal.html When you examine this summer's movie lineup, you detect an underserved demographic. For guys of all ages, there's "Star Trek," "Terminator," and "The Hangover," "Land of the Lost," "Up," and "Drag Me to Hell." For the ladies, there's . . . well, how do you gals feel about robots that can turn into cars? http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/gary_thompson/20090612_Gary_Thompson__Eastwood_s_hit__Gran_Torino__DVD_rife_with_special_features.html CLINT Eastwood scored a big late-career box office hit with "Gran Torino," his bloody saga of a retired auto worker who clashes with local immigrants. http://www.philly.com/dailynews/columnists/gary_thompson/20090611_awaywego.html "Away We Go" is a cute, likeable movie. For about 10 minutes. It develops, alas, into an irksome work of staggering insularity, penned by Dave Eggers, who wrote the novel "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," and co-wrote "Away We go" with his novelist wife.