Posts in the "movies & tv" category - Chris Hardie

The Constant Gardener is surely one of the best films I've seen in a while. It's easy to forget that such a thoroughly high standard of moviemaking is being observed out there somewhere, so it's always refreshing when beautiful and touching exceptions like this one come along. It's even better when you're not expecting it - I went into the theater with only a vague notion of what it was about and a recommendation from a friend who had been to Africa, and was just swept away. The story is epic...

It excites me much more than it should that I've found him after all these years: Ashton Smith. You know, the guy. The guy with the voice. The guy with the voice that narrates over almost every movie trailer, commercial, television show promo, and network news teaser that we see/hear. I didn't think it was possible that it was all the same guy, but it is. Ashton instills solemnity and foreboding into every word he speaks. And yet, he has the tender inflection that can make us rush out to spend...

It's been said that a good movie is either about extraordinary people in normal circumstances, or about normal people in extraordinary circumstances. Campbell Scott's Off the Map is an extraordinary film about normal people in normal circumstances, one I was pleasantly surprised by and thoroughly enjoyed when I saw it this weekend on the big screen. The story shows us the lives of Arlene and George as they raise their 11 year old daughter, Bo, on less than $5,000 a year in the remote hills of New Mexico....

I attended my first film festival ever this past weekend in Madison, Wisconsin. As someone who generally enjoys movies and sees the art as an important cultural phenomenon (not to mention being interested in writing and making them myself), it was a real treat to participate in an event that is shaped entirely around that phenomenon and the people who love movies. Though I'm sure we didn't take on as much of a hard-core schedule as many others there, we got to see a nice mix of films: from feature-length...

After seeing Bill Murray on Letterman last week and remembering how much I enjoyed Lost in Translation, I was excited to see his new flick, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which came out this week. I went with my mom and sister in Chicago, which tends to be a better movie-watching experience for me than in Richmond, where the, um, conventions regarding sound levels and distractions during a public movie seem to follow the looser "enjoy it like it's your own living room" standard. But this...

Mark Burnett's checklist for Season Two of "The Apprentice" (yes, I watch that crap, leave me alone): Elevate Donald Trump to the status of demigod through not-so-subtle use of regal music and flattering camera angles. Check. Exploit women for profit while using Carolyn's "strong character" to take the moral high ground. Check. Breaking the stated rules of the game, fire someone who isn't technically allowed to be fired that week. Check. Breaking the stated rules of the game, prematurely...

Okay, I'm not usually one to gripe, or even talk about, the horrors of keeping up with all my favorite TV shows and movies. But last night was just not fair. UPN was showing two episodes of Star Trek Enterprise (one of the two TV shows I watch), one at 8 and one at 9. The 9 o'clock showing overlapped with the season finale of The West Wing (the second of the two TV shows I watch), which overlapped with my travel and prep-time for the 10 o'clock theater showing of The Matrix Reloaded (one of the few movies...

I saw the movie Phone Booth over the holiday weekend; I commend it to you, though less so for the movie itself than for the central question that it finds such a creative way to ask: When you're all alone at the edge of your life, with nothing much to lose, what are the things about your life that need to be reconciled, the ghosts of your your past and present that need to be called by name? When Stu, the central character in the movie, was asked this question, he didn't have any particularly...