I support

Local

Community

Journalism

Support the independent voice of Houston and help keep the future of the Houston Press free.

Support Us

59 results

page 1 of 3

Luke Y. Thompson

Visit my author page »

The Impossible Bomb

By Jordan Harper, Luke Y. Thompson and Robert Wilonsky
Dec 22, 2005

Serenity (Universal) Joss Whedon's film version of his TV series Firefly came and went like a lightning bug in October; the predicted phenom stuck around the multiplex just long enough to lose millions. But like Firefly, which sold enough boxed sets to warrant a movie, Serenity's bound to do well...
Fellowship of The Ringer

Johnny Knoxville's still an ass, but his co-stars are something special

By Luke Y. Thompson
Dec 22, 2005

It's impossible to talk about The Ringer, a comedy about someone pretending to be retarded in order to rig the Special Olympics, without mentioning that episode of South Park in which Cartman does the same thing. The Ringer was already in production when that episode was made, and has taken...
Yuletide Fear

Wolf Creek rings in Christmas with a band of butchered tourists

By Luke Y. Thompson
Dec 22, 2005

The notion that Wolf Creek is opening nationwide on Christmas Day brings to mind the scene from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, in which a young boy opens up his holiday gift and finds a severed head. The movie is about as diametrically opposed to the concept of "goodwill...
Asia Minor

Memoirs of a Geisha views Japan through Western eyes

By Luke Y. Thompson
Dec 15, 2005

"Agony and beauty for us live side by side," laments Mameha (Michelle Yeoh), the most successful geisha in Gion. You'll know how she feels: Memoirs of a Geisha, as directed by Chicago's Rob Marshall, is beautiful to look at, but when it comes to the dialogue and storytelling, agony just...
Love the Sin

By Jordan Harper, Luke Y. Thompson and Robert Wilonsky
Dec 15, 2005

Sin City: Recut, Extended, Unrated (Buena Vista) Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's near frame-for-frame adaptation of Miller's bone-crunching comics finally gets a rewarding DVD treatment, following a shamefully sparse edition earlier this year. The theatrical cut boasts two commentary tracks (with Quentin Tarantino and Bruce Willis, among others), but there...
Sweat Along with Russell

By Jordan Harper, Luke Y. Thompson and Robert Wilonsky
Dec 8, 2005

Cinderella Man (Universal) Back in the Great Depression, boxing matches only cost a nickel, and the ring was uphill both ways. That's the central message of this well-made if sappy bio of 1930s boxer Jim Braddock. Ron Howard's direction and a stellar cast save the film from its one-dimensional characters...
Lion in Winter

C.S. Lewis's world comes to life in The Chronicles of Narnia

By Luke Y. Thompson
Dec 8, 2005

If you're a fan of C.S. Lewis's Narnia books, all you need to know is this: Disney has done right by The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It's impossible to imagine it done much better, in fact. If you're not a fan, perhaps you're among...
Torah! Torah! Torah!

Protocols of Zion takes a hard look at those who fear Jews

By Luke Y. Thompson
Dec 1, 2005

You'd think that anyone possessed of the notion that "the Jews" are one monolithic whole that thinks and acts alike need only take a look at, say, wrestler Bill Goldberg, Hollywood hottie Natalie Portman, shock jock Howard Stern and nebbishy right-wing scold Michael Medved to have that idea instantly dispelled...
Home Wreckers on DVD

By Jordan Harper, Luke Y. Thompson and Robert Wilonsky
Dec 1, 2005

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Fox) The pairing of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, both in real life and on celluloid, is so obvious as to be almost cartoonish. So even though both are better actors than they need to be, they perfectly belong in this goofy, explosiony world. Married assassins,...
Your Government at Work

By Jordan Harper, Luke Y. Thompson and Robert Wilonsky
Nov 24, 2005

Punishment Park (New Yorker Video) This 1971 movie from director Peter Watkins could have been made yesterday, which is no doubt why it finally sees video release long after accruing cult status. Born of the filmmaker's outrage over the Kent State killings, the war in Vietnam, and other abominations of...
Weighting...

Ryan Reynolds recalls his fat years in Just Friends

By Luke Y. Thompson
Nov 24, 2005

For those of us who dug Rob McKittrick's recent comedy Waiting…, Just Friends offers up some good news: Ryan Reynolds and Anna Faris are together again as a dysfunctional couple. Reynolds plays a slick music executive named Chris Brander, still traumatized at having gotten the "Let's just be friends" speech...
Fire Flies

The fourth Harry Potter rushes through its paces

By Luke Y. Thompson
Nov 17, 2005

The part with the dragon is really cool. Might as well cut to the chase, right? It's not as though you need anybody to tell you the basic premise of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; if you somehow missed the last three, this won't likely be the one...
A Very Long Run

By Luke Y. Thompson and Robert Wilonsky
Nov 17, 2005

Born to Run: 30th Anniversary 3-Disc Set (Columbia Home Video) The centerpiece of this three-disc boxed set isn't the classic 1975 album, but the two DVDs that come with it. On one, shot in London in 1975, Bruce and the band tear through most of Born to Run and its...
Bum Rap

50 Cent wants to be an actor...but he's not

By Luke Y. Thompson
Nov 10, 2005

About halfway through Get Rich or Die Tryin', the new movie starring rapper 50 Cent (a.k.a. Curtis Jackson) and loosely based on his life, 50's character Marcus is in prison, being visited by his girlfriend, Charlene (Joy Bryant). Surprised by his inability to communicate with her, she asks the gangsta...
Aboard Game

Zathura sweeps you into its alternate reality

By Luke Y. Thompson
Nov 10, 2005

Pay attention, Disney: This is how you do a family film right. Neither pandering nor dull, Zathura plays exactly like a no-limits replica of the kind of space adventure that imaginative kids left to their own devices might enact. Assuming there's no Xbox to distract them, naturally. Loosely based on...
Last Laugh

Paradise Now finds humor in the mission of suicide bombers

By Luke Y. Thompson
Nov 10, 2005

A common criticism of Hollywood from the right side of the political spectrum is that it hasn't made any movies that deal with the war on terror, the way it did with World War II, for example. The truth is that it's probably less an example of political bias than...
Pluck Off

That's not the sky falling, just Disney's Chicken Little

By Luke Y. Thompson
Nov 3, 2005

Chicken Little is a groundbreaking movie in more ways than one. Not only is it Disney's first in-house all-computer-generated feature, but on select screens, it will be presented in "Disney Digital 3-D," a brand-new system created with the help of George Lucas's special-effects company, Industrial Light & Magic. It's revolutionary!...
Gettin' Jiggy Again

The Jigsaw Killer returns in Saw's even sharper sequel

By Luke Y. Thompson
Oct 27, 2005

Talk about striking while the iron is hot: It's been only a year since Saw became an instant cult hit, as well as a topic of debate among horror fans. Was it an innovative new classic, or did the occasionally lackluster acting and ludicrous final twist doom it to also-ran...
Requiem for a Dreamer

This horse movie needs to be put down as soon as possible

By Luke Y. Thompson
Oct 20, 2005

DreamWorks is so eager to have you believe in its latest family movie that the words "inspired by a true story" are actually part of the title. Yep, Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story is the proper name, and publicists have been well coached to say and write out the...
Keira Get Your Gun

Domino chronicles the life of a model-turned-bounty hunter

By Luke Y. Thompson
Oct 13, 2005

Her name is Domino Harvey, and she is a bounty hunter. If you've seen even one TV spot or theatrical trailer for Domino, you've heard that message ground into your brain like an annoying jingle. What you may not know is that Domino Harvey was a real person, daughter of...
You Got Served

For a fun way to pass the time, you could do worse than Waiting...

By Luke Y. Thompson
Oct 6, 2005

All the publicity for Waiting... has focused on the scene in which an annoying customer at the fictional chain restaurant ShenaniganZ sends her food back to the kitchen, where it meets with all sorts of nasty modifications, courtesy of some dandruff, pubic hair and mucus. The teaser posters depicted similarly...
Retro Fits

Roll Bounce skates on its '70s vibe

By Luke Y. Thompson
Sep 22, 2005

It would take a critic more churlish than this one to sneer and bare chickenlike talons at Roll Bounce, a formulaic crowd-pleaser that hits familiar marks, but does so well enough that it's hard to fault anyone involved. The retro-'70s vibe seems kind of obvious, and the irritating Mike Epps,...

I support

Keep the Houston Press Free.

Archives from 2005

Luke Y. Thompson