Variety - Film Reviews

Chernobyl Diaries

Fri, 25 May 2012 08:28:55 +0000

Film Front Reviews: A wearyingly predictable thriller about "extreme tourists" who unwisely venture into a veritable ghost town near the site of the infamous nuclear power plant disaster.

Men in Black 3

Mon, 21 May 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Film Front Reviews: Perhaps the best that can be said for the years-in-the-works "Men in Black 3" is that its prolonged, difficult development rarely leaves visible scars on the finished product.

The Pirogue

Sun, 20 May 2012 08:51:20 +0000

Film Front Reviews: A handsome work that makes up in skill and honesty what it lacks in originality.

What to Expect When You're Expecting

Thu, 10 May 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Film Front Reviews: Citing more pregnancy trends than an obstetrics convention, glossy, star-topped comedy may become required viewing for expectant parents -- a designation owing less to its quality than to a lack of competition.

Transit

Sun, 06 May 2012 17:30:45 +0000

Film Front Reviews: There's nothing quite like having murderous thieves on your trail to get those dysfunctional-family issues resolved in a hurry, as a Texas family discovers in "Transit."

The Beatles: The Lost Concert

Sun, 06 May 2012 17:27:01 +0000

Film Front Reviews: Repackaging footage reportedly inaccessible for decades, "The Beatles: The Lost Concert" presents what's billed as the Fab Four's only available complete live show.

LOL

Sun, 06 May 2012 14:21:38 +0000

Film Front Reviews: Pic is a charmless teen-skewing trifle stocked with trendy slanguage and social-network gimcracks.

Afro Tanaka

Sun, 06 May 2012 14:19:43 +0000

Film Front Reviews: An offbeat and endearingly parochial loser comedy, this Nipponese manga adaptation is a soul sister to Nobuhiro Yamashita's deadpan slacker films.

Certain People

Sun, 06 May 2012 14:06:22 +0000

Film Front Reviews: Film acerbically observes a group of bourgeois thirtysomethings who gather for a birthday meal in the countryside.

Informant

Sun, 06 May 2012 11:32:51 +0000

Film Front Reviews: The unreliable-narrator docu develops a new wrinkle or two with "Informant."

Meeting Evil

Thu, 03 May 2012 15:35:55 +0000

Film Front Reviews: Writer-director Chris Fisher flirts with over-the-top exaggeration so often during "Meeting Evil" that auds might wish he'd gone all the way and dialed everything up to 11.

The Revisionaries

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 14:53:16 +0000

Film Front Reviews: The film does all it can to maintain an objective perspective on the Texas textbook battle, but always stays one unsteady step away from hysteria.

Knuckleball!

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:12:39 +0000

Film Front Reviews: Inevitably best suited to fans, docu follows two of the last Major League Baseball pitchers who, at the time the pic was shot, continued to throw from their fingertips.

Future Weather

Sun, 29 Apr 2012 10:12:55 +0000

Film Front Reviews: "Future Weather" integrates a green message into an emotional drama about intergenerational female conflict.

Safe

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 21:01:00 +0000

Film Front Reviews: A fast-paced but extremely familiar vehicle for Jason Statham, who can only carry the material so far on his brawny shoulders.

Marvel's The Avengers

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 21:01:00 +0000

Film Front Reviews: Joss Whedon's buoyant, witty and robustly entertaining superhero smash-up is escapism of a sophisticated order.

To the Arctic

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 17:29:17 +0000

Film Front Reviews: As documentaries on the overworked topic of climate change go, "To the Arctic" has a pretty good hook.

Think Like a Man

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:55:21 +0000

Film Front Reviews: Translating Steve Harvey's bestseller "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man" into a four-pronged romantic comedy, Tim Story's breezy if predictable film overstays its welcome.

Lockout

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 00:01:00 +0000

Film Front Reviews: A mass breakout at an outer-space Alcatraz yields a few cheap thrills and an amusing leading-man showcase for Guy Pearce in "Lockout."

The Cold Light of Day

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 15:55:36 +0000

Film Front Reviews: An average guy gets caught in the middle of an escalating government conspiracy and must, as usual, trust no one, beat the clock, dodge the bullets and save the day in Madrid-set thriller "The Cold Light of Day."