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SONNY BUNCH

Articles by SONNY BUNCH

BEYOND: Defying expectations

The story of the Bielski brothers is one fraught with heroism, peril and personal drama and set against a historical backdrop that lends itself to the telling of a great tale with implications for modern life. Published January 16, 2009

MOVIES: Partisans fight the Nazis by living

"Defiance" tells the story of the Bielski Partisans, a ragtag group of Jews committed to disrupting the Nazi Wehrmacht as it rolled through Europe and also maintaining some semblance of normal life as their enemies sought to dehumanize them. Published January 16, 2009

MOVIES: Biggie bio dramatizes bicoastal rap rivalry

Hardscrabble youth braves the streets before using his God-given talents to rise to the top, earning millions on the way there. It just so happens that the hardscrabble youth in question is a drug-dealing, obese rapper by the name of Christopher Wallace. Published January 16, 2009

TELEVISION: Battlestar America?

The most probing examination of the conflict between public safety, civil liberties and the necessities of war has, until now, been set billions of miles from Earth. Published January 16, 2009

Grand opening for ‘Gran Torino’

Quick: Who's the only actor big enough to make Quigley Publishing Co.'s survey of top 10 box-office draws in four different decades (topping that list at least once in three of those decades)? Published January 14, 2009

Cinema’s evolutionary step: 3-D

Jeffrey Katzenberg (the "K" in DreamWorks SKG, snuggled neatly between Steven Spielberg and David Geffen) gets really excited when he talks about 3-D animation. He compares the oncoming 3-D revolution to the introduction of sound and to the move from black-and-white into color, two groundbreaking moments in the history of cinema. Published January 2, 2009

Revoltin’ development: Sam Mendes goes back to the ‘burbs

"Revolutionary Road" tells the tale of Frank and April Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet), a swinging pair from the "greatest generation" who move out of New York City and into the suburbs after April gets knocked up. Big house, two kids and a car: Published January 2, 2009

BUNCH: The year in movies

2008 was a weird year at the cineplex, at least for list-making purposes. Outside of the top five, very few movies felt like "must-includes." The films in the second half of this list feel largely interchangeable with any number of equally good-but-not-great releases. It has, however, been a banner year for big-budget crowd pleasers - the maturation of the summer spectacle has been something to behold. Published December 26, 2008

BEYOND HOLLYWOOD: Shooting the squared circle

The quickest way to elicit a grimace from Darren Aronofsky, director of "The Wrestler," is to suggest his latest film is depressing, a downer. It's an easy mistake to make, considering the subject matter - a broken-down wrestler (Randy "The Ram" Robinson, played to perfection by Mickey Rourke) surveys the wreckage of his life and tries to make amends. Published December 26, 2008

MOVIES: “The Wrestler”

"The Wrestler" has gotten a ton of buzz as awards season rolls around, more for Mickey Rourke's transcendent individual performance than the picture as a whole. Published December 24, 2008

MOVIES: ‘Valkyrie’

The story of Col. Claus von Stauffenberg is fascinating, a tale of a cultured officer's rebuke of the sadistic regime he was forced to serve. Published December 24, 2008

MOVIES: “Gran Torino”

Word has it that "Gran Torino" is Clint Eastwood's last turn on the big screen; he plans to stay behind the camera from here on out. Assuming that's true, it's hard to imagine a better final note for the grizzled 78-year-old. Published December 24, 2008

Off the mat

Gazing on Mickey Rourke's wrecked visage in "The Wrestler," opening nationally on Thursday, it's almost impossible to recall the soft-featured raconteur of "Diner" or the sexual provocateur of "9 1/2 Weeks." Yet there he lies underneath 20 years of wear and tear in Darren Aronofsky's opus, hinting an unfulfilled promise at the camera as he pines for a woman any director would have thrown at him two decades earlier. Published December 19, 2008

Carrey’s ‘Yes’ man eager to please

Film critic Nathan Rabin last year coined the phrase "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" to describe the awfully cheerful female characters that populate a swath of indie cinema; their logic-defying craziness is meant to "teach broodingly soulful young men to embrace life and its infinite mysteries and adventures," Mr. Rabin wrote. Published December 19, 2008

Smith wanders into moral dilemma

"Seven Pounds" -- the latest film from the world's biggest movie star, Will Smith - is an impressive piece of storytelling. The performances are first-rate, the mystery at the heart of the picture unfolds slowly and (for the most part) believably, and the direction is handled with a steady precision that keeps the plot moving and audiences engaged. Published December 19, 2008

Media Room

The Nightmare Before Christmas (Blu-ray, Disney, $39.99) -- Tim Burton may not have been the actual director of this stop-motion animation classic (that honor goes to Henry Selick) that begs the question: What would happen if Halloween bred with Christmas? Because Mr. Burton's 1993 film has all the hallmarks of his gothic sensibility, one wonders what Christmas was like in the Burton household. Published December 18, 2008

Sabotaging the Sony Playstation 3 market?

I needed a Blu-ray player, and the PS3 is, without question, the best value for the money in the marketplace. It plays Blu-rays, upconverts standard-definition DVDs to near 1080 quality - and is a top-of-the-line video-game system to boot. Add to this wireless Internet capability and an ability to upgrade the operating system, and it's the Blu-ray system par excellence. Published December 12, 2008