Jesse Eisenberg

[7] Jesse Eisenberg and Alessandro Nivola star in this pitch-black comedy about a socially awkward young man (Eisenberg) who joins a karate class after he’s assaulted in the street one night. His instructor (Nivola) is a curious character who at first inspires Eisenberg’s character to ‘man-up’ and take charge of his life. But as Nivola’s tactics become more questionable, Eisenberg starts to wonder if his …

[7] A zombie apocalypse road trip movie with amusement park overtones? Oh, hell yeah. With its strong character humor and plenty of sight gags, Zombieland is a joyously exploitative horror comedy that deflects any serious criticism. Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson are the keys to this movie’s success. Eisenberg is a disarming combination of sweet and ridiculous, while Woody Harrelson gets the juicy opportunity to …

[8] A movie about corporate betrayal and litigation is normally not my idea of a good time, but The Social Network turns out to be a well-made, voyeuristic look back at the birth of a now-ubiquitous product that many users can’t live without. In fact, you wouldn’t be reading this review without it. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) is a shoe-in come Oscar time …

[4] Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, Dave Franco, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine all return for another game of magicians playing cat and mouse. (Isla Fisher is noticeably replaced with a new character played by Lizzy Caplan.) I enjoyed the first Now You See Me, and I like the entire cast for both movies. But sometimes that’s just not enough. The sequel tries to add …

[6] An prep school teacher tries to set his students on a righteous path in The Emperor’s Club. More like Goodbye, Mr Chips than Dead Poets Society, this flick focuses more on the importance of moral character than inspiration or motivation. (Don’t just seize the day; seize it well?) It’s a low-stakes morality tale, but you find yourself caring because Kevin Kline does. His performance is …

[5] Working from a stale script that comes too late in the Tarantino wake, this dark, violent ‘who’s conning who’ comedy is made tolerable by its flavor-of-the-week casting. If you like Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, and Aziz Ansari (like I do), you’ll find it worth your while. If you don’t, you won’t.

[5] There’s a good concept at the core of this Wes Craven/Kevin Williamson (Scream) collaboration — a brother and sister coming to terms with the fact that they may be werewolves. But serious werewolf fans will bemoan the cheesy Hollywood setting and the sub-par computer-animated effects. I liked Jesse Eisenberg as the brother, but Christina Ricci and pretty much the rest of the entire cast …

[5] Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice feels like a movie with an identity crisis, tasked with performing two disparate, thankless tasks. The first is to set up a big fight between two iconic superheroes. You know, the kind of thing that makes comic book nerds leave sticky puddles in their Underoos. Thing is, for all the wonder you might have about this climactic showdown, …

[7] Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart star in this edgy action comedy about a stoner convenience clerk who discovers he’s a sleeper agent and deadly assassin for the CIA. Together with his devoted girlfriend, he dodges CIA operatives ordered to destroy him while also trying to figure out whether his whole life has been a lie. American Ultra is a surprisingly violent black comedy — …

[7] Four magicians team up with a wealthy benefactor to basically rob from the rich and give to the poor in enormous productions that garner them more and more celebrity. Jesse Eisenberg, Dave Franco, Woody Harrelson, and Isla Fisher play the magicians, while Michael Caine plays their sugar-daddy — but it’s Mark Ruffalo who actually stars in Now You See Me, as we experience the …

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