John Cusack

[5] Writer/director Savage Steve Holland reteams with John Cusack for another absurd comedy in the vein of Better Off Dead. This time, Cusack heads to Nantucket island after graduating from high school. Once there, he and his friends come to the aid of a struggling singer (Demi Moore) whose family home is targeted by a nefarious land developer. One Crazy Summer lacks the high concept …

[8] John Cusack stars as a comically suicidal teen who doesn’t think he’ll ever get over being dumped by his girlfriend (Amanda Wyss). As he trains to beat a douchebag high school ski captain in an upcoming downhill race, he starts to find love again with a French foreign exchange student (Diane Franklin) who is dealing with her douchebag host family. Writer/director Savage Steve Holland …

[6] This may be one of the least insufferable John Cusack romantic comedies out there. He’s nauseatingly pussy-whipped like always, willing to drill a hole in his own head to catch a piece of hair pie. When his friend (Anthony Edwards) promises there’s a hot blonde (Nicollette Sheridan) ready to bump uglies out in L.A., Cusack, always sickeningly deranged at the mere hint of poon-tang, …

[7] Lee Daniels (Precious, The Butler) directs this moody piece about a college dropout who helps his older brother investigate the murder of a police officer. The convicted killer’s girlfriend joins the investigation to help prove his innocence. Zac Efron and Matthew McConnaughey play the brothers and Nicole Kidman plays the girlfriend — each of them showing range and abilities you haven’t seen from them …

[5] This haunted hotel room flick, based on a short story by Stephen King, brings nothing new to the haunted house subgenre. It even veers straight into cliches like dramatic temperature changes, ghostly images of murders past, and (my favorite) the paintings that change. I know it must be hard to breathe new life into a tired formula, but screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski …

[7] There’s a lot to like about the first animated feature produced by 20th Century Fox, even if the sum of the parts is a bit uneven. Directors Don Bluth and Gary Goldman (The Secret of NIMH, The Land Before Time) can always be relied upon for solid aesthetic design, but the merging of CGI with traditional animation is a little clunky here. The voice …

[5] John Toll’s cinematography and Hans Zimmer’s music will wash over you in an ecstatic kind of way in The Thin Red Line. The shots rolling over wind-swept grassy hills are mesmerizing and director Terrence Malick incorporates many other elements of nature throughout his telling of James Jones’ story centered around Guadalcanal in World War II. The biggest takeaway seems to be that we and …

[5] John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, and Clark Duke star in this Back to the Future parody of sorts, about three men and a nephew who take a nostalgic vacation at an old ski lodge from the men’s youth, where a mystical hot tub transports them back to 1986. Once taken back in time, they struggle to ensure events occur according to history, lest …

[10] Rob Reiner (This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride) adapts this dark coming-of-age tale from Stephen King, about a band of four boys who embark on a weekend journey to find the body of a missing teenager. Stand By Me is the best film of Reiner’s career, and the best film adaptation of King’s work. It’s a moving, hauntingly nostalgic piece, bolstered with healthy …