Club Cinema

The Conspirator

2012-01-20T21:56:00.001-08:00

May be the best movie yet about the war on terror.

Contagion

2012-01-19T22:42:00.001-08:00

Should have failed like Hereafter, with which it shares several narrative traits, but doesn't.

Margin Call

2012-01-12T17:26:00.001-08:00

One of the worst blu-ray transfers of 2011, of one of the most morally ambiguous films of 2011.

Bad Teacher

2011-12-25T07:05:00.001-08:00

Bad Movie.

Brand New Day

2011-11-27T09:02:00.001-08:00

Though I am a sucker for Australian antics, and there were some awesome laugh out loud or cheer the underdog moments, here, there were far too many dull and draggy bits in between, and far too little depth.

Cars 2

2011-11-09T21:42:00.003-08:00

is better than one.

Tree of Life

2011-11-09T21:42:00.001-08:00

May be the most depressing movie in recent history.

Priest

2011-11-05T07:49:00.001-07:00

The most uninteresting vampires. Ever.

Chloe

2011-10-28T22:04:00.001-07:00

surprised me by being better than Nathalie.

Something Borrowed

2011-09-23T23:41:00.000-07:00

Clearly, I'm just a sucker for sentiment.

Le Premier Cercle

2011-09-23T23:40:00.000-07:00

Jean Reno is still The Man, even in a throwaway heist movie.

Paul

2011-09-17T10:41:00.001-07:00

is funny, in that (excuse me while I get literal) Seth-Rogen-meets-Shaun-of-the-Dead-at-Comic-Con-near-Area-51 sort of way.

Hereafter

2011-09-13T22:38:00.001-07:00

Warner Bros must have grimaced as they wrote the check for this good but very slow, very personal, very idiosyncratic meditation on death. Although we might never have expected it, it makes sense that only the grand patriarch of the studio could have put such large resources together for such an unexpected project.

Thor

2011-09-12T08:06:00.001-07:00

Not bad at all for a comic book movie, and a reminder from Mr. Branagh that the gap between Marvel and Shakespeare is a lot narrower than we might have been led to believe.

It's kind of a funny story

2011-09-10T21:51:00.001-07:00

Indie films are as formulaic as summer blockbusters these days, but that doesn't mean a good example of the genre isn't worth searching out. Like this one. Witness the magical method of conveying the utter joy of playing music very poorly with friends.

Did You Hear About The Morgans?

2011-09-09T09:06:00.001-07:00

Romantic comedies work better when the leads are charming and attractive.

All Good Things

2011-09-04T09:56:00.001-07:00

Thoroughly creepy, thanks in large part to Ryan Gosling's performance but I'm not sure whether the ambiguous bits help or hurt the movie's impact.

Limitless

2011-08-15T00:19:00.001-07:00

Not a bad portrait of mania until the end, at which point the creators clearly reached their limit.

Hall Pass

2011-08-06T07:25:00.001-07:00

What a waste of my evening. I want my two hours back.

The Lincoln Lawyer

2011-07-26T17:18:00.001-07:00

Kind of like a rejected Law and Order script (not enough twists) with a few sub-plots added on.

Unknown

2011-07-22T22:44:00.001-07:00

You'll be forgiven if you start thinking about the Bourne Identity.

Barney's Version

2011-07-20T22:19:00.001-07:00

Mostly honest; fully heartbreaking.

Survivors (BBC Series)

2011-07-17T21:14:00.001-07:00

Remarkably better than The Walking Dead.

Battle Los Angeles

2011-07-16T08:19:00.001-07:00

Where "Battle" is the operative word. I actually think this is one of the better "behind enemy lines" movies in quite a while, but it is very one-dimensional.

Source Code

2011-07-10T23:16:00.001-07:00

The concept isn't very far removed from a very good episode of The Twilight Zone -- with modern action movie production values (Chicago has never looked better) -- but make no mistake, this is superlative science fiction.