Email Author Robert Wilonsky

2006 Stories by Robert Wilonsky

• Juices Flowing

  published December 28, 2006

  Jackass Number Two: Unrated (Paramount) The sequel to the dumb-ass jamboree makes its predecessor look plain and inoffensive.... More >>

• The Good Shepherd

  published December 21, 2006

  It took Norman Mailer seven years and 1,282 pages to write 1991's Harlot's Ghost: A Novel of the CIA, and if memory serves, it took me... More >>

• The Pursuit of Happyness

  published December 14, 2006

  About Will Smith's estimable talents, there is no doubt. Six Degrees of Separation, Ali...um...the "Parents Just Don't Understand" video: The... More >>

• Farce of a Champion

  published December 14, 2006

  Talladega Nights (Columbia) This cut of Will Ferrell's NASCAR comedy runs 13 minutes longer than the theatrical version, and... More >>

• Willie Nelson

  published November 30, 2006

  This doesn't sound like a Willie Nelson record, and it doesn't sound like a Ryan Adams record (though he produced it). I don't know what it sounds... More >>

• Extra! Read All About It

  published November 30, 2006

  Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (Warner Bros.) At long last, Richard Donner's much-whispered-about "original version" of... More >>

• Tenacious D in "The Pick of Destiny"

  published November 23, 2006

  The first few minutes of Tenacious D in "The Pick of Destiny" are something to behold: a four-minute rock opera cranked to eleven.... More >>

• Bad News With Al

  published November 23, 2006

  An Inconvenient Truth (Paramount) This isn't exactly the kind of DVD you buy to watch again and again; the ending doesn't get... More >>

• Casino Royale

  published November 16, 2006

  By all rights, 2002's Die Another Day should have been the final James Bond film. It was packaged like a cynical best-of concert coughed up... More >>

• When the Stars Came Out

  published November 16, 2006

  Forbidden Planet (Warner Bros.) Long available as faded discount product, Fred McLeod Wilcox's 1956 masterpiece -- the movie... More >>

• Burning the Yule Log

  published November 9, 2006

  The Junky's Christmas (Koch) They just aren't cranking out claymation Christmas specials like they used to, which makes this a... More >>

• Impossibly Passable

  published November 2, 2006

  Mission: Impossible III: Special Edition (Paramount) On the commentary track, director J.J. Abrams and star Tom Cruise sound... More >>

• History Lessons

  published October 26, 2006

  There's a scene about halfway through Catch a Fire during which freedom fighters -- men and women, each boasting such nicknames as... More >>

• These Dogs Still Hunt

  published October 26, 2006

  Reservoir Dogs: 15th Anniversary(Lions Gate) Quentin Tarantino's first film shows its age these days, mostly because we've seen all its... More >>

• Took a Shot

  published October 19, 2006

  American Dreamz (Universal) Till this, Paul Weitz had a stellar filmography, a career in ascension: American Pie (good),... More >>

• Repeat Offender

  published October 12, 2006

  There is no way of sidestepping the issue, so why not jump right into it: Infamous, this year's retelling of how Truman Capote wound... More >>

• Voter Fraud

  published October 12, 2006

  Barry Levinson hasn't made a movie of note in almost a decade -- since 1997's Wag the Dog, to be precise, and even that was less a work of... More >>

• Future Imperfect

  published October 5, 2006

  The animated feature has become the most tiresome dish available in the googolplex buffet line -- more so than even the mopey art-house offering... More >>

• Lewis Blows His Top

  published October 5, 2006

  Lewis Black: Red, White & Screwed(HBO) Like many other Daily Show success stories, Lewis Black is a comedian made for these... More >>

• Men Behaving Badly

  published September 28, 2006

  One would never confuse the work of writer-director Todd Phillips with that of the late Robert Hamer, whose filmography includes the essential... More >>

• Poetry and Puncture Wounds

  published September 21, 2006

  The Proposition (First Look) There's an old saying about Ginger Rogers, who did everything Fred Astaire did -- but backwards and in... More >>

• Turning Tricks

  published September 14, 2006

  I Am a Sex Addict (IFC) Caveh Zahedi has made a movie of our times -- a strange mix of self-absorption, shamelessness in the pursuit of... More >>

• Necessary Evil

  published September 7, 2006

  United 93 (Universal) A suggestion to those who've put off watching the year's most wrenching and essential film: Before rolling the... More >>

• The Breakups

  published August 31, 2006

  By the time Trust the Man opens this weekend, it will have been nearly a year since it debuted at the Toronto International Film... More >>

• The Short Goodbye

  published August 31, 2006

  Arrested Development: Season Three (Fox) The final collection of Arrested Development discs feels sadly incomplete: only 13... More >>