The Ricochet Reviewer: Books, Movies, and Comics

Directors: Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson Writers: Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio and Joe Stillman & Roger S.H. Schulman, additional dialogue by Cody Cameron & Chris Miller & Conrad Vernon, based on the book by William Steig Stars: Michael Myers, Cameron Diaz, John Lithgow, Eddie Murphy, Vincent Cassel, Peter Dennis, Clive Pearse, Jim Cummings An entertaining film with a bit of a mean streak which  I, for one, appreciated.   An evil lord (John Lithgow) persecutes the fairy tale characters who inhabit his realm and it falls to an ogre named Shrek (Michael Myers) both to protect them and to rescue a princess (Cameron Diaz).   It's a lot of fun to watch the familiar characters in a new context.  There's plenty of action and an uplifting message for the kids, as well as more adult humor to keep grown-ups involved as well.   The music is also used well, contributing to scenes (particularly at the beginning and end) that just made me feel happy.  

Director: Giuseppe Tornatore Writers: Giuseppe Tornatore and Vanna Paoli, from a story by Giuseppe Tornatore Stars: Phillipe Noiret, Salvatore Cascio, Agnese Nano, Antonella Attili, Enzo Cannavale, Isa Daniela, Leopoldo Trieste, Roberta Lena A successful filmmaker recalls the projectionist (Phillipe  Noiret) who was a father figure to him as a boy (Salvatore Cascio) and the movie theater that was a center of community life for their small town in the years following World War II.   Many have already written that this is writer/director Giuseppe Tornatore’s valentine to the movies, but what really struck me, during a recent viewing during the height of the pandemic, is how it highlights the community experience of the movies.   This is a wonderful and moving film about community and the value of communal experiences with a beautiful Ennio Morricone score . Salvatore and Alfredo have a front seat not only to the movies but also to the boisterous life of their neig...

Directors: Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini Writers: Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini, based on comic series by Harvey Pekar and Joyce Brabner Stars: Paul Giamatti, James Urbaniak, Hope Davis, Judah Friedlander, Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner, Toby Radloff, Earl Billings Disgruntled file clerk and social misfit Harvey Pekar  (Paul Giamatti) lucks into a degree of fame, if not fortune, when underground comics legend Robert Crumb (James Urbaniak) collaborates with him on a comic about his life.  Pekar lives in a state of existential misery, desperately lonely and angry about his outsider status.  His comics, though, make him a kind of hero to average suffering folks and even bring him a little family by the end of the film (his wife, Joyce Brabner, is wonderfully played by Hope Davis).  We are left with the sense that life never has been and never will be smooth sailing for Pekar, but the struggle has its own worth and nobility and, in the end, will brin...

by James Ellroy A complex, brutal tale of murder and politics set against  the Red Scare of the early 50's in Los Angeles.  Three compromised policemen track a vicious killer while trying to smoke out communists in the film industry at the behest of powerful career minded opportunists.   James Ellroy is a master at creating characters who are waist deep in moral corruption, yet keep our sympathy because they cling so desperately to one admirable ideal even while becoming complicit in terrible acts.   James Ellroy I was shocked at one character's utterly heartbreaking fate. "Blood Shadows" (German) "The Long Void" (Dutch) "The Great Emptiness" (Swedish) "The Big Nowhere" (Greek) "No Man's Land" (Danish) "Great Nothingness" (Croatian) "The Great Desert" (Portuguese) "The Great Desert" (Spanish) "The Great Nowhere" (Romanian) "Desperate Land" (Chinese) "Hollywood--Great Emp...