2004

[6] Zack Snyder (300, Man of Steel) made his feature directorial debut with this remake of George Romero’s 1978 classic zombie sequel. This time around the rag-tag team of survivors holed up in a mall during the zombie apocalypse includes Sarah Polley (The Sweet Hereafter) and Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction), but you don’t get to know either of them nearly as well as you got …

[7] Director Chris Terrio tackles a New York City slice of life flick that follows five different characters through the course of 24 hours. There’s a pretentiousness about the way in which the characters end up being related, but it’s a great looking film with a remarkable cast that makes it worth while. James Marsden, Elizabeth Banks, and Glenn Close are especially watchable here, playing …

[4] Director Renny Harlin’s cut of this film is more quickly-paced and energetic than Paul Schrader’s (both films feature the same story and most of the same cast), but it has the misfortune of stepping in a big pile of silly toward the end. Is that Beelzebub or Bugs Bunny we’re supposed to be cowering before? Stellan Skarsgard is great as a younger Father Merrin (Max …

[6] Emile Hirsch (Milk, Killer Joe) stars in this sex comedy about a high school boy who falls in love with a porn star who moves in next door. Talk about a movie constructed around wish fulfillment! Things are complicated when the young woman’s porn producer ex-boyfriend comes looking for her and wants to take her back. For a sex comedy, things get a big …

[6] Brad Pitt simply isn’t very convincing outside his own time and place. This limitation was used to intentional comedic effect in Inglourious Basterds, and to unintentional effect in Troy. It doesn’t help that his character isn’t the most interesting — that would be Eric Bana’s. It also doesn’t help to have Orlando Bloom in your movie. Pretty much ever (Lord of the Rings being …

[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 …

[6] A small, isolated village of puritan-like people come under siege by a killer in their midst, as well as woodland monsters that may not be what they seem… Whether or not you like M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village ultimately hinges upon two big conceits (or twists, if you will). I’m okay with the first, as it comes organically from the hopes and fears of …

[4] I enjoyed Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut because it lampooned many things. It was like a greatest hits collection of the South Park TV show, and the songs were all far more amusing than they had any right to be. So I went into Parker and Stone’s Team America: World Police with similar expectations and was very disappointed. …

[7] Five disparate stories intertwine in absurd ways in this bizarre but beautifully executed Tarantino-esque flick from Japan. The main story, by a narrow margin, focuses on a man who keeps killing and burying his wife only to find her home again, ready for their next lethal sparring match. Then there’s the exploits of a British hitman (Vinnie Jones) who is obsessed with asking people …

[7] Jamie Foxx stars as an L.A. cab driver forced to chauffeur a hitman played by Tom Cruise. Director Michael Mann (Heat, Last of the Mohicans) works from a solid script by Stuart Beattie that balances action and suspense with plenty of great character moments. The film builds nicely, with Foxx’s character instigating a few surprising turns of events. Cruise’s character is the icy, heartless …

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