Movie Reviews
MOVIE REVIEW- <i>Dragon</i> delight: Animated film is best of '10, so far
Published on Mar 25th, 2010
1 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO You can look to the news to learn about changes in U.S. foreign policy, but you might learn more from the movies. First, Avatar had villains who invaded a sovereign nation to steal...
MOVIE REVIEW- <i>League</i> loser: Rom-com lacks rom, com<i> </i>
Published on Mar 11th, 2010
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO Embarrassing is the word for She's Out of My League, a romantic comedy that would be offensive if it weren't so pathetic. British writer/director/sketch comic Jim Field Smith takes...
MOVIE REVIEW- Force field: Cop's lives are tough in <i>Brooklyn's Finest </i>
Published on Mar 4th, 2010
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO Anyone who would choose to become a police officer after seeing Brooklyn's Finest should be disqualified as psychologically unfit. Director Antoine Fuqua has made a few films of...
MOVIE REVIEW- <i>Cop</i> sop: Smith should have been Smithee
Published on Feb 25th, 2010
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO Over the years, director Kevin Smith has reportedly been attached to various major studio projects, most notably The Green Hornet, but the first to come to fruition is Cop Out. It...
MOVIE REVIEW- Camp or horror? <i>Wolfman</i> can't decide
Published on Feb 18th, 2010
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO Once again, Hollywood looks to its past for "new" ideas. At least they're going all the way back to 1941 for this one...unless you count Wolf and the Teen Wolf, American Werewolf and...
MOVIE REVIEW- Mythtake: <i>Lightning Thief</i> steals your time
Published on Feb 11th, 2010
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is a terrible title but a boon to reviewers who get paid by the word. Dragging out a title to establish a franchise doesn't...
MOVIE REVIEW-No <i>Mercies: Crazy Heart </i>doesn't quite measure up
Published on Feb 4th, 2010
4 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO There's no reason there shouldn't be as many movies about washed-up, alcoholic country singers as there are washed-up, alcoholic country singers, but Crazy Heart is too much like...
MOVIE REVIEW-Dull and duller: <i>Legion</i>'s apocalyptic vision offers few thrills
Published on Jan 28th, 2010
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO So what were Americans spending their movie money on last weekend? Avatar passed The Dark Knight to become the second-highest grosser of all time in the U.S. and Canada– it...
MOVIE REVIEW-Apocalypse redux: Book of Eli is doom-y and gloomy.
Published on Jan 21st, 2010
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO Considering how long it takes to get a movie made, Hollywood's depression must have started before the current economic downturn. In fact, maybe things were going so well they...
MOVIE REVIEW- Unpleasant<i>: </i>Enchanting lead can't save <i>Lovely</i> <i>Bones</i>
Published on Jan 14th, 2010
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO Remember when Peter Jackson announced he was going to make "a little picture" after the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong and before tackling The Hobbit? Well, The Lovely Bones...
MOVIE REVIEW- Bloodthirst: <i>Daybreakers</i> shows the downside of vampirism
Published on Jan 7th, 2010
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO Now that vampires are the new sex symbols (People was going to name Robert Pattinson the Sexiest Man Alive, but they weren't sure he is alive), the scenes in Daybreakers where they...
MOVIE REVIEW- Effects: Avatar a stunning visual delight
Published on Dec 17th, 2009
10 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO My question is, how will Americans react when/if they realize Avatar essentially has them rooting for the Taliban? Unless you've spent 2009 in solitary confinement in an Afghan...
MOVIE REVIEW- Indomitable <i>Invictus: </i>Eastwood and Freeman make it look easy
Published on Dec 10th, 2009
2 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO With one of my acting gods, Morgan Freeman, playing one of my political gods, Nelson Mandela, Invictus couldn't help being a spiritual experience for me. Freeman's every line of...
MOVIE REVIEW- Better than <i>Up</i>?: Clooney, Streep make <i>Fox</i> fantastic
Published on Nov 26th, 2009
1 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO The characters may be talking animal puppets, but director Wes Anderson has never made a movie more recognizably his own than Fantastic Mr. Fox. Likewise, though his voice may be...
MOVIE REVIEW- 2012 doom: Earthquakes, tsunamis and flares, oh Mayan!
Published on Nov 12th, 2009
1 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO There's nothing like a disaster movie to put the "critic" in "hypocritical." We're here to see Art, dammit! Don't you dare entertain us! Independence Day established writer-producer-...
MOVIE REVIEW- Boo-yah: Spooky flicks for spooky day
Published on Oct 29th, 2009
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO It's Halloween, the one holiday that sells more horror movie tickets than Hallmark cards. It's the season to hear "Boo!"-ing from trick-or-treaters, highway patrolmen, Republicans...
MOVIE REVIEW- Overhyped:<i> </i>Not everyone's wild about <i>Wild Things</i>
Published on Oct 22nd, 2009
4 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO It would be easier to jump on the bandwagon and rave about Where the Wild Things Are, but I'll be honest and admit I didn't get it. I've been underwhelmed since the first trailer...
MOVIE REVIEW- Beyond revenge: <i>Law Abiding Citizen</i> a gory allegory
Published on Oct 15th, 2009
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO "Torture porn" isn't just for horror movies anymore. Law Abiding Citizen is a cross between Death Wish and The Silence of the Lambs. It's a story about guilt that will be a guilty...
MOVIE REVIEW- Identity crisis: <i>One and Only</i> can't decide
Published on Oct 8th, 2009
1 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO My One and Only is the story of two teenage boys who know what they want to be when they grow up and their mother, who doesn't. The movie doesn't know what it wants to be either...
MOVIE REVIEW- Mad money: Moore's latest rips capitalism
Published on Oct 1st, 2009
4 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO Hey, there's a terrific new movie about entities that rise from the dead to devour the general population and suck their lifeblood! Actually there are two such movies, but in...
MOVIE REVIEW- Critical condition: Movie reviews a dying breed
Published on Sep 24th, 2009
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO Dear Reader, Not so many years ago young people would come up to me and say, "How can I become a film critic? It seems like a cool job." I would reply, "Well, first you take a vow of...
MOVIE REVIEW- Fact or fiction: <i>Informant!</i> a true story with twists
Published on Sep 17th, 2009
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO If Silkwood and The Insider had a baby with a sense of humor, he might grow up to be The Informant! If you've ever wondered what a "pathological liar" is, The Informant! offers an...
MOVIE REVIEW- Deep-six <i>Nine</i>: Pain by number
Published on Sep 10th, 2009
1 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO This year's 9 (not to be confused with "Nine," District 9, $9.99, or other nonary titles– did the studios all consult the same numerologist last year?– is a fantasy that'...
MOVIE REVIEW- Judge rules: New film <i>Extract</i>s laughs
Published on Sep 3rd, 2009
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO I've wondered why Mike Judge's Office Space has evolved into one of the biggest cult movies of the ‘90s, just below The Shawshank Redemption and The Big Lebowski. Though a...
MOVIE REVIEW- Groovy movie: <i>Taking Woodstock </i>recalls rock of ages
Published on Aug 27th, 2009
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO Ang Lee switches gears again with a comedy about Elliot Teichberg (later shortened to Tiber), without whom the Woodstock festival might never have happened. At least that's Elliot's...
MOVIE REVIEW- Glorious <i>Inglourious</i>: Tarantino's latest a sure classic
Published on Aug 20th, 2009
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO I don't know why but I still get pumped for a new Quentin Tarantino movie. He'll probably never top Pulp Fiction, his Citizen Kane, but I keep hoping the next one will be his Touch...
MOVIE REVIEW- Streep's success: Stick a fork in her...
Published on Aug 13th, 2009
2 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO The movies are getting kinkier. On the heels of Humpday (no local booking scheduled), which is about "two straight dudes bonin'," comes Julie & Julia, in which the climax is...
MOVIE REVIEW- Love and laughs: <i>Ugly Truth </i>funny, trite
Published on Jul 30th, 2009
0 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO Actress Katherine Heigl (Knocked Up) and director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde) must have had a positive experience making The Ugly Truth because they've already shot another film...
MOVIE REVIEW- <i>Food </i>for thought: Film shows dark side of the food biz
Published on Jul 23rd, 2009
2 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO If you haven't eaten fast food since you saw Super Size Me, you'd better not see Food, Inc., because then you won't eat anything. Talk about a crash diet! Why is E.coli bad and broc....
MOVIE REVIEW-Wild wizards: Newest Potter's not <i>Half </i>bad
Published on Jul 16th, 2009
2 comments PUBLICITY PHOTO All the wizards' spells haven't kept me from becoming progressively disenchanted with the Harry Potter films as they've gotten darker, more CG-dependent and, with increasing...