Email Author Bill Gallo

2004 Stories by Bill Gallo

• Phantom Menace

  published December 22, 2004

  By all accounts, the only living creatures who've never taken in a stage production of The Phantom of the Opera are Osama bin Laden and... More >>

• Extended Sentence

  published December 22, 2004

  The grim little green-walled apartment where Walter finds himself after his release has the look of a jail cell -- with one apparent easement.... More >>

• A Few Dollars Left

  published December 22, 2004

  Clint Eastwood began digging into the third act of his career -- the one that reveals the mature, deep-thinking artist ... with a little jazz... More >>

• Closer to Fine

  published December 1, 2004

  Mike Nichols' new film Closer is a boiling pot of lust, mistrust, and double-dealing that might well be taken for outright soap opera --... More >>

• Anatomy of a Sumbitch

  published December 1, 2004

  Mark Brian Smith and Tony Montana's fascinating documentary Overnight is a kind of instructional video about how to fail in show biz.... More >>

• Next Best Thing

  published November 17, 2004

  When shot with verve and skill, so that we can feel the heat and passion of the moment, a concert film is the next best thing to being there.... More >>

• Redemption Thong

  published November 10, 2004

  The witless inanity of After the Sunset is so numbing that the sole reason for any living creature to sit through it -- man, woman, or... More >>

• Killing You Slowly

  published October 27, 2004

  The punk-hipster appeal of filmmaker Jim Van Bebber is based on half a dozen lurid, no-budget gorefests like My Sweet Satan, in which a... More >>

• Hail to the Drama Queen

  published October 20, 2004

  Margo Channing cracked wiser. And her devious protégé cooked up better schemes to steal the limelight. Still, half a century after they... More >>

• Like Moths to Flame

  published September 29, 2004

  It was only a matter of time before Hollywood capitalized on the sympathy and admiration that have enveloped the nation's firefighters since 9/11,... More >>

• Finding a Way

  published September 29, 2004

  The Czech drama Zelary brings to mind Bertolt Brecht's pointed observation that "war is like love; it always finds a way." In this... More >>

• Crooked as They Come

  published September 8, 2004

  The most crucial piece of equipment in Hollywood is obviously not the movie camera. It's not the casting couch, either, nor the Rolls-Royce Silver... More >>

• Paddled Senseless

  published August 18, 2004

  Summer movies don't get much sillier or more empty-headed than Without a Paddle, and that includes Catwoman and King Arthur.... More >>

• Collateral Damaged

  published August 4, 2004

  Sheathed in a custom-tailored gray suit and sporting expensively barbered silver hair, Tom Cruise looks like an older, harder version of the... More >>

• Thunder Rolls

  published July 28, 2004

  If you're, oh, 11 years old and you've had it up to here with Spider-Man's current case of existential angst, it's time to blow your weekly... More >>

• Off the Rails

  published July 21, 2004

  The return to the screen of the ravishing Chinese actress Gong Li, who may have the most expressive face in film, should be cause for rejoicing... More >>

• Entertain Your Brain

  published July 21, 2004

  Brassbound skeptics may see the complex, provocative docudrama What the #$*! Do We Know!?, which poses the Big Questions of Life, as just... More >>

• Wet Kisses

  published July 14, 2004

  There is nothing mysterious or subdued about Stacy Peralta's enthusiasms. A product of Southern California's vivid beach scene, he's been a surfer... More >>

• Playing on Fear

  published June 16, 2004

  Getting stranded at snowbound O'Hare for the night is one thing. You call home, maybe knock down a couple of martinis, then grab a blanket. A... More >>

• Serenade in the Sand

  published June 16, 2004

  Fair warning: If the behavior of camels in the Gobi Desert during the spring birthing season is not high on your things-to-learn-about list, and... More >>

• The Unlikely Lambs

  published May 19, 2004

  Moviegoers who know the tides of recent Brazilian history will likely get more from Hector Babenco's new prison movie, Carandiru, than the... More >>

• Pitt and the Pabulum

  published May 12, 2004

  In the mood to launch a thousand ships? Fine, but it's gonna cost you. Feel like sacking the Temple of Apollo? OK, but bring drachmas. Depending... More >>

• Missing Links

  published April 28, 2004

  Pour a couple of Old-Fashioneds into the average golf historian, and it won't be long until he gets misty-eyed over Robert Tyre Jones Jr.... More >>

• Family Ties

  published April 28, 2004

  In Israeli writer/director Nir Bergman's Broken Wings, we never see an automatic weapon, a military roadblock, or a horrific explosion on a... More >>

• Fear Factors

  published April 21, 2004

  When a pleasant Italian comedy called Mediterraneo won the 1992 Academy Award for best foreign-language film, a lot of observant American... More >>