Starring Russell Crowe as the Patron of the First Ark, ‘Noah’ had affronted some Christian literalists with its giant rock men, its weird visions, and the occasionally dark motives of its protagonist. But the film corralled enough religious leaders, including Pope Francis (with whom Crowe snagged an audience), to salve canonical objections. Richard Corliss Read Quote
Noah’ is about a man whose mission is to obliterate Earth’s past and godfather its future. Replacing the word ‘God’ with ‘Creator’ and taking other scriptural liberties, the movie risks confusing those who don’t take the Bible literally and alienating those who do. Richard Corliss Read Quote
Although the Academy prefers their Best Pictures grounded in realism, not fantasy, Lee’s ‘Life of Pi’ win proved that the voters understand and appreciate the qualities a visionary director needs to create an otherworldly adventure. Richard Corliss Read Quote
If you think of the 1930s in film as the decade of Gable and Lombard, Cagney and Harlow, Stanwyck and the Marx Brothers, think again. The biggest star – No. 1 in the 1936, ’37 and ’38 exhibitor polls – was a three-time box-office champ before she was 10. Shirley Temple, singer, dancer, and prime exemplar of Movie Cute, owned the ’30s. Richard Corliss Read Quote
The movie truism is that stars play themselves, while actors play other people – troubled or toxic, and memorably strange. By that definition, Philip Seymour Hoffman, who disappeared into the rabbit hole of his characters’ souls, was our generation’s anti-star and the chameleonic film actor of his age. Richard Corliss Read Quote
Ambitious of vision and swooping of camera, ‘I, Frankenstein’ is no ‘I, Robot,’ let alone ‘I, Claudius,’ but it’s definitely watchable on a cold Jan. evening or, a few months from now, on your I, Pad. Richard Corliss Read Quote
In ‘Blade Runner,’ the here is quite enough: a vision of dark, cramped, urban squalor. This is Los Angeles in the year 2019, when most of the earth’s inhabitants have colonized other planets, and only a polyglot refuse heap of humanity remains. Los Angeles is a Japanized nighttown of sleaze and silicon, fetid steam, and perpetual rain. Richard Corliss Read Quote
The visual team of ‘Blade Runner’ – one of the last big fantasy movies to be made without much computer graphics finery – worked directly for Scott, who sketched each of his prolific ideas on paper (they were called ‘Ridley-grams’). Richard Corliss Read Quote
Blade Runner’ was one of several dystopian science-fiction films to tank in the early and middle ’80s. ‘Tron,’ ‘The Dark Crystal,’ ‘The Keep,’ ‘Labyrinth’: none found a large audience. Richard Corliss Read Quote
We lived a lovely, middle-class, suburban life in Philadelphia. And I really thought that the TV programs of the ’50s, like ‘Father Knows Best’ and ‘The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet’ Nelson were documentaries filmed with hidden cameras in our neighborhood. Richard Corliss Read Quote
