2010’s

[7] 127 Hours is the true story of a man who accidentally slips into a rocky crevasse in the Arizona desert where he’s trapped for days and must resort to desperate measures in order to survive. After the first fifteen minutes and before the last ten, the film takes place almost entirely within the stone entrapment, where actor James Franco and director Danny Boyle (Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire) keep …

[4] Jake Gyllenhaal plays a pharmaceutical rep and Anne Hathaway plays a free-spirit with the onset of Parkinson’s. They get together and take us with them on a dreary tale that’s more sad than funny, kinda boring, and lacking much forward momentum. What’s most remarkable is the amount of time the romantic leads spend naked (like, REALLY naked).

[6] Marginally the best entry in a franchise I never cared about. Some nicely staged action sequences – the Dubai tower scaling and dust storm chase are pretty wicked. I’d like to have been more invested in the characters. Part of the problem might be that Tom Cruise bugs me when he’s in a vanity role like this one (wish he’d do more stuff like …

[6] Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara star in the second adaptation of the Stieg Larsson novel about a journalist and a computer hacker who work to solve the mystery of a missing woman. Is there perhaps something wrong with the fact that The Social Network is more exciting than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo? People looking at computer monitors and holding board meetings shouldn’t be …

[7] Inner-city teenagers band together to protect their south London neighborhood from an alien invasion. This one’s for fans of monster movies, with interesting creature effects and a talented young cast. It kinda bugs me that the heroes (or anti-heroes) are all petty thugs and pot heads, but I guess that’s one of the things that distinguishes this flick from other monster fare. Leading man …

[6] Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Seth Rogen are intrinsically likable enough to make this goofball movie watchable. Pegg and Frost star as two guys vacationing to Roswell, New Mexico, the UFO capitol of the world. Once there, they meet an alien named Paul (voiced by Rogen) who has escaped Area 51. The three embark on a road trip to return the alien to his …

[6] Marvel continues putting its superheroes in line, all leading toward its big Avengers free-for-all. This one focuses on the origins of the Avengers team leader, a weakling WWII soldier named Steve Rogers who volunteers to be part of an experimental ‘super soldier’ program that pumps him up into the shape of beefy Chris Evans. Evans endears you to Captain America more than the script or …

[7] I’ll get straight to the point: This is the saddest goddamned motherfucking movie ever made. If you want to cry your eyes out forever and ever, watch Never Let Me Go. Okay. Now, with that out of the way… Director Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) takes on the award-winning Kazuo Ishiguro novel about three young friends who grow up together under close supervision in …

[8] The teenaged children of a lesbian couple seek out their sperm donor and wackiness ensues. Actually, it’s not all that wacky, and that’s what’s refreshing about The Kids Are All Right. The film steers clear of good/bad absolutes and offers up an ensemble of characters a little more sophisticated than Hollywood rom-coms tend to offer. And while the moms may be gay, I think …

[5] A charmless, mediocre retelling of the 1985 cult favorite about a high school boy who discovers a vampire has moved in next door. Despite being penned by Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Marti Noxon, the script moves far too fast, passing every opportunity to build tension or suspense. Colin Farrell is better than usual as the vamp, but he can’t conjure half the swagger …

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