Epinions Recent Reviews for Wokelstein

Why is Wokelstein Reviewing "Man Trouble"?

Thu, 11 Mar 2004 17:05:13 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - Ellen Barkin was on “Inside the Actor’s Studio” a while back and they were going over her career. Along comes the subject of “Man Trouble”, a film that the host James Lipton tells her “Didn’t really work.” You know, when James Lipton says that your movie...

Mel Gibson's "The Lord of the Rings"

Sat, 6 Mar 2004 20:32:43 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - Pretty much all the critics worth listening to have panned Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ”. They are all of course brilliant and in some cases (like with Stephanie Zacharek) necessary; if flatly wrong. The one that interests me the...

It's a Floater ! : Gary Ross' "Seabiscuit"

Mon, 23 Feb 2004 17:27:52 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - I have been trying very hard to resist using toilet metaphors when describing bad films. It’s lazy writing and it’s unquestionably crude. As much as I love the person I’m thinking of, I don’t want to be one of those people who describes...

Once Upon A Time on Elm Street: Chuck Russel's "The Dream Warriors"

Thu, 19 Feb 2004 16:19:48 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - The Nightmare on Elm Street films, for the most part, have been just a notch below the Friday the 13ths. Comparatively speaking, they’ve been more carefully and lovingly made, the special effects are incredible and the humor is clever and even...

Libertarianism for Dummies: The Inexplicably Good "Harold and Maude"

Sat, 7 Feb 2004 20:59:04 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - My initial instinct is to just bitch, bitch, bitch about “Harold and Maude”. Just really tear into it. It’s a badly made movie and it’s a stupid one. But somehow, it’s also a good film. My recommendation is somewhat guarded and cautious, but...

Take the Pain: Alan Parker and Oliver Stone's "Midnight Express"

Sat, 31 Jan 2004 01:26:31 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - I knew that Midnight Express was the movie for me right from the opening scenes, of young Billy Hayes making duct tape packages of hashish to smuggle out of the country. We hear his heart beating loudly on the soundtrack underlined by the Valaris/Wendy...

I Smell Sex and Candy: P.J. Hogan's "Peter Pan"

Fri, 23 Jan 2004 02:54:03 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - The theaters here in Logan are usually three screens at most and so the matinees understandably take place on the weekends and consist of kiddie movies. When the wife suggested that we spend our Saturday catching up on movies; kiddie pictures, were all...

Queer Eye for the Burnt Guy: Jack Sholder's "Freddy's Revenge"

Mon, 12 Jan 2004 15:02:58 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge is a pretty bad movie that’s probably better than it should be. There’s some sort of rule at play here that states slasher films that tend to follow the conventions closely can never really...

Worth Revisiting: Franklin J. Schaffner's "Planet of the Apes"

Mon, 5 Jan 2004 20:44:04 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - I liked the 2001 remake of “Planet of the Apes” in a very basic, superficial way. I’m either quite partial to or quite forgiving of the brainless summer blockbusters. The drive-in movie theater in Riverdale Utah is only open in the spring and summer and...

Sleaze is the Word

Sat, 20 Dec 2003 21:01:08 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - I really really actively hate Grease. I hate that it’s popular, and I hate what it seems to be saying about American culture. If you are lucky enough not to be acquainted with this film, it’s a musical about the fifties made in the 1970s; and it brings...

Well-Baked: Audrey Wells' "Under the Tuscan Sun"

Fri, 12 Dec 2003 17:56:58 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - I mentioned in my last review, " A Nightmare on Elm Street", that the target markets for movies are divided into only four categories: children, teenagers, middle-aged women, and the masses. (Men with careers and families don't have movies for...

Wokelstein Takes on Freddy Next ! "A Nightmare on Elm Street"

Tue, 25 Nov 2003 22:09:24 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - I believe that I’ve seen the entire nostalgic “I Love the 80s” miniseries on VH1. I have not seen the entire “I Love the 80s Strikes Back” miniseries however. It seems that in the “I Love the 80s Strikes Back” 1984 segment,...

Richard Kelly's "Last Temptation of Christ"

Mon, 17 Nov 2003 00:18:38 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - Richard Kelly’s “Donnie Darko” buys up the early films of Steven Spielberg, the live-action fantasies of the Disney studios, and the entire legacy of John Hughes; tears them apart and builds them up anew. The picture is more than the sum of its parts. If...

Marcus Nispel and Michael Bay Give Us a Slice of Hell: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Mon, 20 Oct 2003 01:17:22 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - What it all comes down to really, is the fact that I don’t think I have any respect for the cinema’s greatest institutions. I rather like remakes. I liked Werner Herzog’s version of Nosferatu, I liked Gus Van Sant’s Psycho, and I liked Ste...

Kill Bill Volume 1: Quentin Tarantino Re-Invents Cinema with "Kill Bill"

Sun, 12 Oct 2003 23:14:10 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - I’m a Tarantino-ite by default, of course. Pulp Fiction came out in 1994, a few months before I turned thirteen. I think that you can really pinpoint the year that I turned into a film buff as being 1995, corresponding roughly with David Fincher...

The Joys of Feminist Nihilism: Part 2 Takashi Miike's "Audition"

Thu, 26 Jun 2003 17:04:03 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - It's funny. I was browsing around at Borders the other day, when I sat down and read most of "Afterg...

The Future Looks A Little Bleak: James Isaac's "Jason X"

Fri, 13 Jun 2003 16:28:22 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - Yeah, Jason X was about what I expected. It's the slickest of all the Friday the 13th films; althoug...

Gus Van Sant's Cover of Hitchcock's Psycho (Hollywood Fat Write-Off)

Mon, 9 Jun 2003 17:05:37 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - When "Gus Van Sant's" Psycho first came out, none of the critics had any idea how to respond to it. The film was a shot by shot remake of the Hitchcock film, which most critics and audiences loved; and so you understand that with a few minor variations,...

It's Good For You: 1996's Best Picture Winner "The English Patient" (Hollywood Fat W/O)

Thu, 29 May 2003 15:34:57 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - I am not typically an Academy Award hater. For one thing, I genuinely like celebrities. I think Roman Polanski's autobiography is one of the best books that I have ever read, and I think that E! True Hollywood Story is one of the best TV series on...

The Joys of Feminist Nihilism: Charles Kaufman's "Mother's Day"

Tue, 22 Apr 2003 17:52:24 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - The problem with feminism is basically that it cannot decide if it is interested in affirming gender or destroying it. I recently read one of Dr. Laura's books, "Ten Stupid Things that Men Do To Mess Up Their Lives" or something like that. We'll have to...

Pasolini's Sweet Ending: "Arabian Nights"

Sat, 29 Mar 2003 18:27:33 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - Arabian Nights was Pasolini’s concluding chapter in his “Trilogy of Life” following The Decameron and The Canterbury Tales. All three of these films are, of course, based on three separate collections of often sexually explicit regional...

Adam Marcus Nearly Ruins the Franchise With: "Jason Goes To Hell"

Sun, 9 Mar 2003 15:01:50 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - For some strange reason, I couldn't find a copy of "Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday" on DVD. I was looking forward to obtaining a copy as in my last review I described how New Line Cinema is finally showing Jason fans a little respect in giving us a...

The Best Teen Sex Comedy Ever Made: Alfredo Cuaron's "Y Tu Mama Tambien"

Tue, 4 Mar 2003 23:00:57 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - A certain kind of light

That never shone on me

I want my life to lived with you

Lived with you

There's a way everybody say

To do each and every little thing

But what does it bring

If I ain't got you, ain't...

The Less Than Utopic Present of Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining"

Mon, 17 Feb 2003 02:15:22 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein -

Vivian Kubrick's "Making the Shining" is one of the best making-of films that I have ever seen. Up there with the "That Moment" doc on the making of Magnolia. Both are far superior to the overrated "Hearts of Darkness" by virtue of their refusal...

Workmanlike, But It Works: Martin Bell's "American Heart"

Sat, 8 Feb 2003 17:38:42 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author Wokelstein - In 1984, Martin Bell made a documentary about homeless teens called “Streetwise”. It’s one of the ten best films of the 1980s. Maybe one of the five best. Eight years later he followed it up with “American Heart”. So recently after...