MovieFreak.com - Movie Reviews

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:40:34 GMT

Underworld’s Bloodlust Finally Runs Dry

One gets the sense this is the end of the line for Underworld. Former star Kate Beckinsale hasn’t exactly sounded enthusiastic when asked if she’d ever return to the role of Selene, while I can’t imagine Bill Nighy or Michael Sheen being very quick to re-up for more now that their contractual obligations are complete. Fun for at a little while, Rise of the Lycans is a last hurrah proving this series has seen one sunrise too many and whose cinematic bloodlust has unfortunately run dry.

Inkheart

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:37:58 GMT

Fantasy Inkheart a Familiar Turn of the Page

Based on the first novel in a popular series of books written by Cornelia Funke, director Ian Softley’s Inkheart is a pretty to look at if unspectacularly familiar adventure hard to muster up enthusiasm for. For all its whimsical notions of sparking the imaginations of children and adults alike the film instead is a remarkably tired and frustratingly boring retread, elements of everything from The Lord of the Rings to Star Wars to Labyrinth to Excalibur popping up with such annoying frequency a person could almost make a drinking game out of trying to spot them all.

My Bloody Valentine (2009)

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:36:00 GMT

3-D Valentine a Bloody Throwback

Slick, straight-forward and made with a gleeful old-fashioned whimsy hard to detest, the remake of 1981’s My Bloody Valentine plays things pretty close to the vest. This is nothing more than a Friday the 13th meets Halloween retread gussied up in modern day gore, the viscera and intestinal fluids flying with all the freewheeling fury of a “Tom & Jerry” cartoon gone completely berserk.

Defiance (2008)

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:35:54 GMT

True Story Defiance a Hollow Act

Edward Zwick, for all his cliché Hollywood tendencies, can be a good director, sometimes even an exceptional one. Unfortunately, this is not one of those times, his work on this as empty as a soldier’s canteen after a particularly taxing march up a steep icy hill. While the story at the heart of Defiance deserves to be told, this doesn’t do it, and I defy anyone to walk out of the theater thinking anything close to otherwise.

Hotel for Dogs

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:34:01 GMT

Unfunny Hotel a Real Dog of Comedy

The new family comedy Hotel for Dogs might just be one the most refreshingly colorblind kid flicks I’ve ever seen. Not only do you have interracial teen romances and a child of interracial parents as one of the secondary protagonists, you have an African American father figure embracing two Caucasian orphans with as much love and adoration as if they were his very own.

Unfortunately, the rest of the picture is an outright disaster on just about every level. The saga of two orphans, Andi (Emma Roberts) and Bruce (Jake T. Austin), who unwittingly stumble upon a vacant hotel and turn it into a shelter for every dog they can find, this movie wastes so many comically appealing opportunities at a certain point I just stopped trying to count them all.

Last Chance Harvey

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:27:14 GMT

Hoffman, Thompson Make Harvey a Comedy to Savor

Last Chance Harvey is as good a romantic comedy as I’ve see in quite some time. Old pros Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson have exquisite chemistry, each of their scenes together just crackling in emotionally honest electricity. More than that, there is real depth to the characters, real drama and heartache to their predicaments, all of it adding together to create flesh and blood figures anyone no matter what their age able to relate to.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop

Sat, 17 Jan 2009 01:10:37 GMT

What You See is What You Get with Mall Cop

Paul Blart: Mall Cop is not a good movie. Working from a script co-written by James, the film feels like a Die Hard parody that’s at least a decade too late. It’s sophomoric and rudimentary, the whole thing offering so few laughs I almost fell asleep in the theater while watching it. Kevin James is an easygoing enough presence, and there are a couple of moments of surprising wit that I almost couldn’t help but make me to illicit a slight chuckle or two.

Bride Wars

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:15:13 GMT

Bride Wars Divorced from Hilarity

The truth about Bride Wars is that it sucks. Nothing else really needs to be said. [Do not] let the trailers and the cute-as-a-button posters and promo pictures convince [you] this one might be worth a gander. It isn’t, though, and anyone foolish enough to let themselves be conned otherwise are in for 88-minutes of brain-numbing swill so beyond the pale of vulgar incredulity it almost defies disbelief.

Not Easily Broken

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:13:03 GMT

Disastrous Finale Proves Broken Easily Shattered

There is a good movie desperately trying to break free in director Bill Duke’s Not Easily Broken. This adaptation of T.D. Jakes’ popular novel doesn’t pigeonhole its African American protagonists. Better, it doesn’t place them in a bubble completely outside of the worlds inhabited by those all around them living in economic strata both above and below their own. It has the ability to admit to the imperfections love, romance and marriage can hold yet never dwells on any of them enough to cancel out the possibility of eternally heartfelt reconciliation between husband and wife.

The Unborn

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:11:59 GMT

Silly Unborn an Odious Afterbirth

I’m not entirely sure what there is to say about writer and director David S. Goyer’s (The Invisible, Blade: Trinity) latest horror opus The Unborn. The film, a derivative Jewish take on The Exorcist that uses the specter of the Holocaust for cheap sensationalistic scares, is pretty much a mess start to finish. More so, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, its narrative so disjointed and haphazard its ultimate twist feels like a major unintentionally hysterical cheat.

CHE

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:09:55 GMT

Soderbergh’s Che a Mesmerizing Revolution

CHE is technically two movies in one. Steven Soderbergh’s (Ocean’s 11, Traffic) 267-minute epic of the Latin American revolutionary is split into halves, the first covering Argentinean doctor Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara’s (Benicio Del Toro) involvement in the Cuban Revolution working as Fidel Castro’s (Demián Bichir) friend, confidant and must trusted military colonel, the latter picking things up in 1965 as the renowned soldier secretly heads to Bolivia to try and duplicate his previous success.

As for the halves themselves, Part Two worked a little better for me than Part One did. It moved at a faster pace, its downward spiral into tragedy far more interesting than the hit-and-run sparring of the first part did. That said, I can’t remotely imagine it would have worked near as well without being setup so beautifully by that initial section.

Revolutionary Road

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:07:17 GMT

Revolutionary Road Dripping in Painful Insight

It’s pretty tough stuff. Revolutionary Road covers topics as explosive as infidelity, divorce, sexual alienation, unwanted pregnancy, abortion and domestic violence. Its two leads (Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet) match wits on both intellectual and physical levels, neither of them willing to pull their punches in desperate search to hopefully find the key which might unlock a happiness neither has had in what feels like eons.

Valkyrie

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:58:00 GMT

Explosive Valkyrie a Thrilling Mission Accomplished

Based on a little known yet absolutely stunning true story, director Bryan Singer’s Valkyrie is an old-school Hollywood WWII throwback filled with tension and suspense. While the outcome is never in doubt (can’t change historical fact, after all) getting there is so exhilarating and fast-paced it almost hardly mattered that the filmmakers and his team of talented craftsmen have manufactured a ticking clock thriller chronicling a failure.

Gran Torino

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:56:01 GMT

Eastwood Elevates Torino to Something Grand

Eastwood the director, coupled with the powerfully complicated and bravely uncompromising performance of Eastwood the star, somehow manages to gloss [over several] handicaps with restrained, subtly unflinching ease. As a filmmaker, few have proven to be as dynamic or as important in the latter stages of their careers as he has been, and from Mystic River to Million Dollar Baby to Letters from Iwo Jima he has shown a monumental gift for genre storytelling defying the usual Hollywood conventions.

The Reader (2008)

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:52:56 GMT

Complicated Reader an Uncompromising Success

There is nothing easy about director Stephen Daldry’s The Reader. This adaptation of Bernhard Schlink’s novel by noted playwright David Hare has many twists and turns, asking its audience to ponder numerous moral complexities in ways that can be distinctly uncomforting. It is a movie that can offend just as much as it exhilarates, the discussions it generates on both sides of the divide sure to be ones intelligent filmgoers would be all the better off for entering.

Seven Pounds

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:51:30 GMT

Frustrating Seven Pounds Breaks the Scale

Seven Pounds is giving me fits. Maudlin, incredibly self-important and ultimately delivering a denouement that’s head-scratching, nonetheless this picture is so well made, and so beautifully acted by Will Smith, that hating it for its numerous flaws proves to be surprisingly difficult. All that being the case, please forgive me if I try all the same, the picture driving me a bit more crazy then I almost care to admit.

The Tale of Despereaux

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:50:08 GMT

Valiant Despereaux Doesn’t Get a Storybook Ending

Based on the award-winning book by author Kate DiCamillo, The Tales of Despereaux is a frustratingly irritating disappointment. While the film’s heart is certainly in the right place, and while certain moments exude honest warmth and refreshingly direct truth, on the whole there is nothing about this computer animated epic that remotely sets it apart from the crowd. It is, in the end, really rather nondescript, little about the picture worth recollecting the moment audiences walk out the door.

The Wrestler (2008)

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:49:24 GMT

Rourke’s Renaissance Makes Wrestler a Winner

Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler is the story of a once-famous professional wrestler named Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke) who has since his 1980’s heyday fallen on incredibly rough times, this movie takes no prisoners, offers little solace and grips your throat like a vice daring you to try and look away. It is visceral and uncompromising, its wounded heart beating upon its sleeve like a bloody calling card impossible to miss.

Yes Man

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:48:06 GMT

Flawed Yes Man Easy to Digest

Other then one particularly unfunny gag involving some scotch tape, Carrey’s new comedy Yes Man is not a sequel to 1997’s Liar, Liar. In fact, the two hold very little in common, nothing mystical at all about Carl’s almost sudden inability to turn down any and all of life’s multitude of requests. Instead, this influx of positivism is all by choice, the unhappy banker making a conscious decision to change even amidst the colossal depressions he thinks dominate his life.

But for all its faults the movie did make me laugh, sometimes quite a lot. Carrey seems to be in a solid groove

Frost/Nixon

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:44:14 GMT

Superb Climax Propels Frost/Nixon to Victory

Sometimes a good movie can be transformed into something great by a powerful third act. That is exactly the case with Ron Howard’s adaptation of screenwriter Peter Morgan’s (The Queen) Tony Award-winning play Frost/Nixon.

For roughly 90-minutes, the Apollo 13 auteur delivers a handsome, well-acted and relatively entertaining – if not entirely memorable – drama. Then, suddenly, almost on a dime, the energy level ramps itself up, the tension becomes palpable and the performances by Michael Sheen (as British journalist David Frost) and Frank Langella (as disgraced former President Richard Nixon) rise to a level they heretofore hadn’t been at before.

Doubt (2008)

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:42:41 GMT

Poignant Doubt an Exercise in Faith

Oscar-winning filmmaker John Patrick Shanley’s (Moonstruck) adaptation of his own Tony Award-winning play Doubt is a very good movie. It is not, however, a great one. Extremely well acted by the leads and full of complicatedly intelligent discussions well worth ruminating on, all the same this picture isn’t as transcendent or as timeless as some might like you to believe.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:41:30 GMT

Klaatu Barada Hokum

Life on Earth is about to change. They have come from above, their ships of luminescent ethereal orbs full of beings and powers we can’t possibly fathom. Even more than that, they are not pleased with us, not at all, our care for the planet we call home giving them so much consternation they are ready to lay waste to every last cell of human contamination destroying the pristine natural environment.

It almost mystifies me that this movie is as big of a mess as it ultimately is.

Nothing Like the Holidays

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:39:41 GMT

Pedestrian Holidays a Gathering to Avoid

The Rodriguez family is coming home to Chicago for Christmas. Patriarch Edy (Alfred Molina) can’t wait, positive he and his wife Anna (Elizabeth Peña) are in store for a holiday they’ll always remember. Because, not only is eldest boy Mauricio (John Leguizamo) going to be there with his wife Sarah (Debra Messing), Hollywood actress Roxanna (Vanessa Ferlito) is flying in for the festivities for the first time in years.

Timecrimes

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:38:11 GMT

Shaky Third Act Keeps Timecrimes a Conundrum

Award-winning short film director Vigalondo makes the leap to features with his trippy film festival favorite Timecrimes, a “Twilight Zone” wannabe that sets a suitably creepy vibe only to unfortunately fall to pieces during the climax. Undeniably easy to watch, the film still isn’t very fulfilling, the aftertaste left by the over-familiar finale one I just didn’t like.

Wendy and Lucy

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:36:56 GMT

Quietly Moving Wendy a Profound Journey

Quietly profound and at times deeply moving, Wendy and Lucy is one of 2008’s most unexpected gems. A small film, barely even being given a theatrical release, this drama of a young single woman, Wendy (Michelle Williams), trying to find her dog, Lucy, after she goes missing while she’s trapped in a small Oregon town on her way to Alaska is an emotional peon to friendship, kindness and loss.

Punisher: War Zone

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:36:07 GMT

Brutally Repugnant Punisher a Senseless Abomination

Ever want to see a man get suddenly stabbed clean through the adam’s apple by the broken stem of a wine glass? Ever been curious what an exploding urban parkour enthusiast street villain would look like? If you answered in the affirmative to these questions, then by golly Punisher: War Zone is the motion picture for you.

A Christmas Tale

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:42:15 GMT

Christmas a Complex Holiday Tale Worth the Struggle

A Christmas Tale is all over the place, shifting tones and points of view so frequently it’s almost impossible to keep up with who is doing what and why and whether or not it matters in the grand scheme of things. Yet as the film progresses these multifarious layers of dramatic ennui and vitriol becomes absolutely intoxicating, and before I knew it my eyes were glued to the screen and I almost couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next.

Australia

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:40:40 GMT

Wildly Uneven Australia a Lushly Romantic Adventure

I was swept away by Australia, captivated by every giddily harebrained twist and turn, my ultimate rapture nearly as splendiferous as watching the two stars kiss for the very first time. I guess that means I loved it, and I can’t help but imagine the majority of viewers are going to feel just the same.

Days and Clouds

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:38:38 GMT

Days and Clouds a Blisteringly Emotional Drama

Silvio Soldini, the director behind such stunning dramas as Bread and Tulips, has crafted a wearingly uncompromising piece of work with his latest effort Days and Clouds. This is a hard movie, the pain and suffering being felt by its two main protagonists so unrelenting and harsh watching it can almost feel like a chore.

Four Christmases

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:36:39 GMT

Four Christmases a Yuletide Disaster

Four Christmases sucks, but not for the lack of at least trying to be something better than what it actually is. The film, in many ways, plays like star Vince Vaughn’s acidic response to having appeared in last year’s horrid holiday family adventure Fred Claus (a movie I was far too kind to, I embarrassingly admit), his role in particular so crassly detestable the actor almost dares viewers to like him.

Milk (2008)

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:34:38 GMT

Penn’s Magnificence Keeps Milk Alive

Personally, as good as the picture is (and, at times, it is excellent) I’m not sure this was the right decision. While I appreciate that Van Sant eschews all of the standard biopic conventions, there is an almost blandly didactic monotony to this bordering on the frustrating. There are moments where the film plays more like a greatest hit collection than it does a feature film, each snapshot of a particular year or campaign having all the staying power of Andy Gibb coyly asking to be my everything.

Transporter 3

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:32:08 GMT

Raucous Transporter 3 Delivers

Sometimes it is simply wonderful to be proven wrong. The truth of the matter is, I loved Transporter 3, and while the sequel is nothing more than a pumped up B-movie on steroids it moves with such beautifully pugnacious grace and precision watching it is almost an outright joy.

Bolt (2008)

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 01:05:17 GMT

Sweetly Endearing Bolt a Super Adventure

The sweetly endearing and pleasantly enchanting Bolt is bizarrely rated PG (there is some minor fiery peril during the rambunctious climax, but nothing so extreme young children will feel any undue stress), a quiet character-driven comedy perfectly suited for viewers of just about any age. The film breezes by in what feels like an instant, the emotional warmth exuded by the relationships within both genuine and true.

Twilight (2008)

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:59:31 GMT

Drippy Twilight Easy to Endure

It goes against my better judgment, but I’m going to give Twilight a pass. It isn’t a great film (or even a very good one, for the matter), but I had a good time watching it. The dialogue [is] so unintentionally hilarious George Lucas himself would probably find it irredeemably ghastly.

JCVD

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:22:12 GMT

Emotional JCVD Unleashes the Van Dammage

The script by director Mabrouk El Mechri, Frédéric Bénudis and Christophe Turpin is tight, efficient and astonishingly emotional, the whole thing moving along with such enthralling vitality it easy to become captivated by it. The trio mix real stories of their star’s life and times within their fictional stew of chaos and captivity, all of it coming together with such tasty relish gobbling it up is nothing less than a fully satiating joy.

Quantum of Solace

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:20:22 GMT

Quantum Gives Bond Fans Plenty of Solace

The thing is, as dynamic as all this action is and as kinetically invigorating as much of it can be, there is a point where all this lively intensity can become a little bit pummeling. The film’s plot is secondary to all the pyrotechnics, and if you close your eyes for even a second you’ll probably miss five or six of the film’s myriad of plot twists.

Slumdog Millionaire

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:18:55 GMT

Final Answer is that Millionaire Passes the Test

Slumdog Millionaire breezes by so quickly you almost don’t even realize it’s come to an end. The filmmaker deftly weaves between past, present and a (potentially) hopeful future with such energetic skill it is impossible not to be impressed. Bouncing between both digital and standard photography, gifted cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle (The Last King of Scotland) has arguably shot the most visually stunning film of the year.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:22:14 GMT

Familiar Pajamas Still Packs an Emotional Punch

British director and screenwriter Mark Herman (Brassed Off, Little Voice) has crafted his most accomplished work to day, the filmmaker employing a skillfully subtle hand missing from the majority of his previous features. It is almost as if the story itself has forced him to eschew his usual penchant for layering on the sentimentality, the schmaltzy gloss weakening his earlier efforts gone seemingly without a trace.

I've Loved You So Long

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:19:45 GMT

I’ve Loved You So Long an Instant Emotional Classic

This film is raw, profound and shockingly alive in naturalistic tenderness and intensity. It is, in short, a gift, and without question it is one of the finest pieces of character-driven melodrama – along with The Edge of Heaven, The Visitor and Rachel Getting Married – that I’ve seen this year.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:18:17 GMT

Second Madagascar an Funny Return

The film doesn’t quite rise to the level of DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda from earlier this summer, and it has plenty of bumpy stretches (especially when it focuses upon a group of lost New Yorkers living their own personal Swiss Family Robinson) that don’t work in the slightest. Overall, though, this is one funny movie. More than that, it’s also a surprisingly effective character-driven one, all four of the central protagonists becoming richer and more engaging as the plot progresses.

Role Models

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:14:59 GMT

Crudely Funny Role Models a Slight Diversion

The only thing that really matters is that Role Models made me laugh, and considering how little else has in 2008 that’s a gift I’m not exactly going to complain about. Not that the film was without its speed bumps. There are long stretches where the whole thing just sits there idling aimlessly searching for something interesting to do, while some of the more overtly sexual bits don’t play out near as hilariously as the filmmakers obviously think they do.

Changeling

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 05:01:50 GMT

Eastwood’s Changeling a Frustrating Drama

Based on a true story, Clint Eastwood’s latest drama Changeling is a movie I wish I liked more than I actually do. Like all of the director’s pictures, it is tastefully made, delicately paced, intelligently constructed and layered together with subtle brushstrokes we seldom get the opportunity to witness anymore. Unlike his recent efforts, it’s also unforgivably obvious and unsurprising, Eastwood telegraphing all the twists and turns in writer J. Michael Straczynski’s script long before they ever have the chance to come to light on their own.

Fear(s) of the Dark

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:59:23 GMT

Beautifully Animated Dark Forgets the Fear

Basically, the movie is a (mostly) black and white foray into the everyday things that haunt our nightmares. Angry dogs barking madly barely held at bay by a straining leash, the site of a hypodermic needle inching closer and closer, the feeling of all-ecompassing dread as if you’re not alone inside the house, unexplainable noises cascading through a darkened hallway.

The Grocer's Son

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:53:44 GMT

Moving Son a Heartfelt Journey

The Grocer’s Son (Le Fils de l’épicier) is the type of quiet, introspective drama that sneaks up on you with such subtle charm and grace you find yourself desperately in love almost without noticing it. A surprise box office sensation in its homeland, this movingly pleasant tale of a man learning to let go of regret and live life to its fullest potential is the type of cinematic surprise I absolutely adore. Even more, it was one I didn’t want to see come to an end.

Pride and Glory (2008)

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:52:38 GMT

Forceful Pride Finds Little Glory

Powerfully acted, confidently directed by Gavin O'Connor and superbly written by O’Connor, his brother Greg and Narc filmmaker Joe Carnahan, this one was just about perfect, and before it was even half over I was absolutely certain I was witnessing one of the finest and most brutally profound pictures of the entire year. Then, with an absolute suddenness unlike anything I think I have quite possibly ever seen in my time as a critic, the bottom drops out and the movie fades into almost unbearably horrific disappointment.

Max Payne

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:16:59 GMT

Dumb Max Doesn't Bring the Pain

This movie is dumb, no question, and it is directed by Moore with all the subtlety of a jackhammer, but it is seldom boring and it is anchored by a strong – if still only a paycheck – performance by Wahlberg. I can’t recommend it, but for those that go for this sort of thing you could do a heck of lot worse. Max Payne is a lot of things, the majority of them negative, but it isn’t painful, and considering the alternative I have to think that’s some sort of minor victory.

The Secret Life of Bees

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:16:33 GMT

Sweetly Satisfying Bees a Honey of a Tale

Based on the best-selling novel by Sue Monk Kidd, writer and director Gina Prince-Bythewood brings The Secret Life of Bees to the big screen infusing it with both warmth and intelligence. Superbly acted, nicely plotted and exquisitely shot by Rogier Stoffers (Lakeview Terrace), this is beautifully layered piece of period entertainment that seldom preaches and never overstays its welcome, the whole thing building to a refreshingly simple coda of tenderness that nearly broke my heart.

Sex Drive

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:14:59 GMT

Funny Sex Drive Passes the Test

The bottom line is that I laughed, sometimes a lot, and while I freely admit the script is a bunch of teenage sex comedy hokum the fact I couldn’t stop smiling says volumes for just how overall entertaining it actually is. Director and co-writer Sean Anders keeps things moving at a convincingly breakneck pace, while his trio of young unknowns do a grand job of crafting believable three-dimensional adolescents I couldn’t help but feel affinity for. The jokes he and fellow writer John Morris come up with are actually kind of inspired, entire tangential bits so exhilaratingly uproarious I had to wipe the giggle-enduced tears away from eyes.

W.

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:12:51 GMT

Stone Inaugurates His Version of W.

What’s surprising isn’t that Stone broke those preconceptions and actually tried for at least a modicum of impartiality, it’s that the film is so rudimentary and by the numbers it is, for at least a large portion of its running time, boring. At the same time, this movie does the one thing I never thought possible in regards to Bush, Jr., and that’s humanize the man to a point I almost never thought possible.

Body of Lies

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:54:37 GMT

Electric DiCaprio Gives Body Life

For the majority of its running time, the new thriller Body of Lies showcases Oscar-nominated director Ridley Scott at his absolute best. This film moves like gangbusters, crisscrossing the globe and the political spectrum like nobody's business and doing it in a way that’s tense, terrific and, at times, downright terrifying. However, one downside is that it doesn’t maintain this epically prophetic urgency all the way through to the end.

City of Ember

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:51:21 GMT

Delightful Ember a Magical Fantasy

Under the assured direction of Gil Kenan (Monster House) and the skilled penmanship of acclaimed screenwriter Caroline Thompson (Edward Scissorhands), Jeanne Duprau’s acclaimed novel City of Ember comes to the screen with all its heart, imagination and limitless vitality still very much intact. A rapturous all-ages adventure in the spirit of Stardust and Ladyhawke, this tale of curiosity and selfless daring-do is a sure-fire delight I fell in love with right from the very first frame.

The Express (2008)

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:49:46 GMT

Over-Familiarity Dooms Well-Crafted Express

The Express is a finely made motion picture that covers all the highs, lows and tragic in-betweens of Ernie Davis’ life with authority and warmth. The problem is, I can’t get over the feeling I’ve seen this movie before. Repeatedly. Over and over and over again. While Davis’ story is definitely worth talking about, in my opinion at least The Express is nothing more than a fast-moving locomotive to nowhere

Happy-Go-Lucky

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:46:13 GMT

Giddy Happy-Go-Lucky an Ebullient Smash

Happy-Go-Lucky is an instant winner, a film so good I’m going to be urging people to see it from here into eternity. Just thinking about it can’t help but make me smile, and as far as my own personal positivism is concerned just like Poppy I’m going to choose to assume the best and claim viewers are going to walk out of the theater singing this one’s praises.

Rachel Getting Married

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:44:40 GMT

Demme’s Getting Married a Rapturously Moving Affair

With Rachel Getting Married, director Jonathan Demme has crafted hit his first bona fide homerun since Silence of the Lambs won five Academy Awards back in 1991. This multi-layered drama of addiction and family strife is poignant, powerful and emotionally devastating. It’s also one of the most movingly loving pictures of the entire year, and while the road it travels is difficult and disturbing when the trip concludes the final destination is so loving I almost couldn’t wait to jump in the car and go on the journey again.

Appaloosa (2008)

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:46:38 GMT

Straight-Shooting Appaloosa a Good Yarn

Ed Harris’ Appaloosa is a good film. At times, it is even a great one, the actor’s directorial follow up to 2000's Pollock an even stronger effort that that Oscar-winning debut. As Westerns go, this doesn’t really do anything to break the mold or go all that far outside the norms of the genre, and while it admittedly follows the generally excepted template start to finish it does it so fantastically well I found it impossible not to come away impressed.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:45:29 GMT

Disney’s Chihuahua a Bad Dog

I’m in my thirties, and watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua is as close to nails on a chalkboard as I’ll probably get. This is one of those films, based on the trailers alone, you could almost presuppose an urgent need to run away from it screaming. While nothing actually contained within is near as horrendous or as painful as that precognition there’s also just as much not in the way of sublime (or even partially entertaining) redemption, either, so please don’t hold your breath praying for some.

Blindness (2008)

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:40:27 GMT

Mediocre Blindness a Relentless Despair

What’s most surprising is that the pedigree bringing this picture to life is almost beyond compare. Oscar-nominated director Fernando Meirelles is the man behind The Constant Gardener and City of God, writer Don McKellar made the outstanding Canadian feature Last Night while actors as strong as Moore, Rufallo, Alice Braga, Danny Glover, Gael García Bernal and Sandra Oh all felt connected enough to the material to add their talents to the mix. But whatever power author José Saramago's original novel possessed has been lost in translation, this movie a frustratingly disgusting journey into degradation and despair seemingly without both point or end.

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:38:37 GMT

Uproarious Friends Ultimately Alienates

Based on Toby Young’s acclaimed 2001 memoir, How to Lose Friends & Alienate People is a foul-mouthed and risqué comedic satire that for two full acts had me laughing fairly consistently. While it didn’t always connect, so many of the punches it landed were so uproarious and unpredictable it was impossible not to be impressed. Sure it’s got it’s moments of incredulous offensiveness (and a couple moments of shocking transphobia almost beyond belief), but the whole thing takes so few prisoners and offers up so many solid belly laughs these sequences can almost (if not quite) be forgiven.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Sat, 04 Oct 2008 21:42:41 GMT

Nick and Norah Sings a Catchy – if Familiar – Tune

Based on the best-selling novel by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist is light, bubbly and surprisingly sweet entertainment almost impossible to dislike. But it is just as difficult to fall entirely head over heels for, much of the picture playing like a series of extended skits all of which are more than a bit uncomfortably assembled into a somewhat unsatisfying whole.

Choke

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:02:29 GMT

Disturbingly Funny Choke Engages the Gag Reflex

Choke is absolutely insane, and I mean that in the best sense of the word. Based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk (the genius behind Fight Club), this is one of the more absurdly out-there dramatic comedies of the year. To say it is an original would be a massive understatement. To say it is going to alienate and disgust just as many viewers as it throws into convulsive fits of rapture would be an even bigger one. Nothing is off-limits, no stone unturnable, and if political correctness and unabashed genteel politeness are your thing than I’d recommend staying as far away from this as possible.

Eagle Eye

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:00:50 GMT

Flashy Eagle Eye a Deadly Disaster

The simple fact is that what starts as fast and furiously entertaining potboiler easy to roll with suddenly becomes one of the more incredulously asinine and unintentionally silly disasters I’ve seen all year. At a certain point when the HAL-9000 sci-fi lunacy starts spiraling out of control the movie can’t help but fall apart in grotesquely idiotic fireballs of cliché, corniness and implausibility so extreme that any chance to suspend one’s disbelief and roll with the punches becomes borderline impossible.

Humboldt County

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:58:54 GMT

Humboldt County an Agreeable High

After Peter Hadley (Jeremy Strong) fails his final class in medical school putting an important residency in jeopardy, he lets the chips fall where they may and spends a wild and crazy evening with free-spirited jazz singer Bogart (Fairuza Balk). Waking up after this night of strange reverie, he finds himself stranded in the middle of the Redwood Forest deposited in the multi-generational family home of marijuana farmers Jack (Brad Dourif) and Rosie (Frances Conroy) completely unsure of how he got there.

The Lucky Ones

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:57:33 GMT

Burger’s Lucky Definitely the One

Director Neil Burger’s latest effort The Lucky Ones is the best film the auteur behind Interview with the Assassin and The Illusionist has made yet. This homespun yarn of soldiers wandering through a strange land they still call home is a humorously profound road trip I almost couldn’t help but love. It is, in its own idiosyncratic way, the sly observant second cousin to Kimberly Peirce’s Stop-Loss, only this time out the melodrama is kept to a minimum with the unspoken bonds of soldierly camaraderie taking center stage.

Miracle at St. Anna

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:56:25 GMT

Lee’s Miracle a War-Torn Failure

Based on the acclaimed novel by James McBride (who also wrote the screenplay) Miracle at St. Anna is arguably the worst film of the director’s entire career. It is an ineptly constructed and furiously didactic picture that's about as dour and as pointless an exercise in tedium as anything I could ever have imagined, and sitting in the theater watching it uncoil borders on torture.

Nights in Rodanthe

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:54:31 GMT

Pitiful Third Act Dooms Rodanthe to a Broken Heart

Adrienne (Diane Lane), suddenly single, still reeling from the sudden separation from her philandering husband Jack (Christopher Meloni) and trying to raise two kids on her own, heads to her friend Jean’s (Viola Davis) ocean-side inn to watch over things for a couple of days. The only guest is another lost soul, Dr. Paul Flanner (Richard Gere), in town for a few days to meet with the husband (Scott Glenn) of a former patient who tragically died on his operating table.

XXY

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 17:51:41 GMT

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:19:12 GMT

The Duchess

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:19:01 GMT

Ghost Town (2008)

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:18:53 GMT

Igor (2008)

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:18:44 GMT

Lakeview Terrace

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:18:36 GMT

Towelhead

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:18:24 GMT

Burn After Reading

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:16:58 GMT

Righteous Kill

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:16:48 GMT

The Women (2008)

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:16:40 GMT

I Served the King of England

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:16:26 GMT

Ping Pong Playa

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:16:12 GMT

Death Race (2008)

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:35:35 GMT

Hamlet 2

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:35:15 GMT

The House Bunny

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:35:03 GMT

Vicky Christina Barcelona

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:53:23 GMT

Fly Me to the Moon

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:52:49 GMT

Henry Poole is Here

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:52:39 GMT

Star Wars: Clone Wars

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:52:27 GMT

Transsiberian

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:52:10 GMT

Tropic Thunder

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:52:00 GMT

America the Beautiful

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:25:03 GMT

Bottle Shock

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:24:48 GMT

Frozen River

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:24:36 GMT

Pineapple Express

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:24:26 GMT

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 22:24:08 GMT

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:50:07 GMT

Swing Vote

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:49:57 GMT

American Teen

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:24:41 GMT

Step Brothers

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:24:31 GMT

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 07:24:21 GMT

The Dark Knight

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:25:35 GMT

Mamma Mia!

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 18:25:20 GMT

Garden Party

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:42:05 GMT

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:41:56 GMT