[6] Terminator: Salvation is passable summer entertainment held together by a sliver of thematic sci-fi integrity and a strong supporting performance by Sam Worthington (Avatar). Why Christian Bale opted into this movie is beyond me — it’s a thankless role. He’s easily outshined by Worthington, whose character carries all the dramatic weight of the story. Anton Yelchin, as a young Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn’s character …
[6] Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser vie for the affection of a beautiful Vietnamese woman against the backdrop of the French-Indochina War. Philip Noyce (Dead Calm, Patriot Games) is the second director to bring Graham Greene’s novel to the screen (after Joseph Mankiewicz’s 1958 version), and does a good job balancing the intimate character drama against the political intrigue. I like how the movie presents …
[8] Pineapple Express is Quentin Tarantino meets Cheech and Chong, a hyperviolent action flick crashed into a buddy comedy. The mish-mash may be an acquired taste, but it’s a winning combination for me. Seth Rogen and James Franco carry this movie to victory as a process server and pot dealer on the run from a hitman (Gary Cole) and a crooked cop (Rosie Perez). Rogen …
[4] A maudlin pseudo-documentary about a socially awkward girl’s quest for true love. Um, gag? Charlyne Yi, adorable in her weird Knocked Up cameo, is tediously boring here. The concept for this movie is confounding — part of it is Yi interviewing people (badly) about love, and part of it is about her real-life relationship with actor Michael Cera. But some of their scenes are …
[6] The best thing about Up in the Air, the new film from Juno director Jason Reitman, are the three performances by ever-reliable George Clooney, gorgeous Vera Farmiga, and plucky Anna Kendrick. But don’t see this movie expecting a comedy, because Juno it’s not. In fact, it’s pretty depressing, and not just because it’s about a man who fires people for a living. While it’s …
[8] When it comes to graphic novels brought faithfully to cinematic life, 300 is one to beat. It’s the simple story of how three hundred proud Greek soliders stood valiantly against overwhelming Persian forces in the Battle of Thermopylae. More than anything, 300 is an exercise in style, and with its equal doses of bloodshed and ripped male torsos, it’s probably one of the most …
[6] Disney Animation puts a science-fiction twist on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story. The mix of 2D and 3D animation is interesting, especially when you stop to marvel at an animator’s mastery of perspective when 2D characters are seen running through 3D environments while the ‘camera’ moves all around them. The overall design of Treasure Planet is incoherent, though — you never see two of …
[6] Meteorites strike a small Australian fishing village and begin turning the citizens into zombies. It may not sound all that fresh or original, but Undead is a bit more than it seems. Twin Australian brothers Michael and Peter Spierig (Daybreakers) continue the low-budget horror legacies of Sam Raimi and Peter Jackson in their first feature film, Undead. Their humor and inventiveness are very much …
[8] Two brothers plot to rob their parents’ jewelry store, sending their lives and the lives of their loved ones into a tragic, downward spiral. Sidney Lumet (Network, Dog Day Afternoon) directs his final film with a stellar cast in this melodramatic thriller. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the scheming brother who holds a grudge against their father, while Ethan Hawke plays the more insecure younger …
[7] Two high school buddies discover a girl chained to a table in an abandoned mental hospital. At first she appears dead, but she’s actually one of the “living” dead. And she’s all theirs… Yes, just when you thought zombies had been completely used up as cinematic metaphors, along comes Deadgirl, a provocative and deeply disturbing exploration of the slippery slope between male sexual impulse …
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