The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
Features  |  Reviews
FIND MOVIES
Find a Movie
Movie List
Loading ...
or
Find Theaters and Movie Times
or
Search Movies
Nominate-best-2010

2009: The year in movies

By PETER KEOUGH  |  December 28, 2009

 

3.Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
As opposed to the situation in Abel Ferrara's 1992 original, the "badness" in Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant isn't moral — it's existential. For Lieutenant Terence McDonagh (Nicolas Cage), being good is just another compulsion, like smoking crack or cutting off the oxygen supply of an old woman in a rest home. And the ultimate question is not "Why is there evil in the universe?" but rather "What the fuck is that iguana doing on my coffee table?" (The iguanas are kind of like the frogs at the end of Magnolia, except better.) McDonagh is the Dirty Harry of the new millennium, and Cage's performance shows that his soul is still dancing.

< prev  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |   next >
Related: Review: The Road, Review: Brothers, Review: Crazy Heart, More more >
  Topics: Features , Celebrity News, Entertainment, John Hillcoat,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
HTML Prohibited
Add Comment

ARTICLES BY PETER KEOUGH
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: EDGE OF DARKNESS  |  February 02, 2010
    A new genre is emerging in which aging A-list actors play fathers off on a rampage to rescue their daughters or avenge their deaths.
  •   REVIEW: FROZEN  |  February 03, 2010
    A storm is coming, the girl has to pee, and then things get much worse.
  •   KAREN SCHMEER: 1970-2010  |  February 02, 2010
    Karen Schmeer, the brilliant local film editor whose work on Errol Morris's documentary The Fog of War helped win it the Best Documentary Oscar in 2004, died January 29 in a tragic accident, struck by a getaway car as she was crossing a street in Manhattan. She would have turned 40 on February 20.
  •   IS THERE 'HOPE' IN HOLLYWOOD?  |  January 29, 2010
    Buoyed by President Barack Obama's campaign slogan, many had hopes for change after his election.
  •   REVIEW: WAITING FOR ARMAGEDDON  |  January 27, 2010
    Much scarier than 2012 is this documentary about the death grip that fundamentalist religious groups have on American politics.

 See all articles by: PETER KEOUGH

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2010 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group