[7] The Box is weird, anachronistic, and indulgent, but I’d be lying to say I didn’t dig it. This is the third film from writer/director Richard Kelly, who created a cult phenomenon with Donnie Darko, but then flopped big time with the scatter-brained Southland Tales. The Box is intrinsically retro, based on an episode of the original Twilight Zone TV series (“Button, Button”, written by …
[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 …
[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 …
[4] A dude (Matthew Perry) gets an opportunity to go back in time (where he’s played by Zac Efron) to better appreciate his life. I’m not sure what it would take to overcome a scenario as stale as the one at play here, but for a dug-up corpse, it’s not as rank as I thought it would be. Zac Efron shows (eating a little crow …
[6] This story of a widower struggling to be a good father to his two boys refrains from indulging in too much sentimentality, but never fully shakes that “Lifetime Movie” feeling. Clive Owen and young George MacKay are very good, and the Australian setting makes for a beautiful backdrop — overall, the movie’s all right. It just isn’t anything we haven’t seen before. With Laura …
[6] Michael Moore’s latest isn’t as witty or well-crafted as his previous work, but it still provokes an interesting conversation about its subject matter, the dark side of capitalism. The most interesting (and horrifying) parts are a segment about blue chip companies taking out life insurance policies on their employees and naming themselves as the beneficiaries (ie, making money off their employees’ deaths), and the …
[7] Sam Rockwell plays a lone astronaut working at a lunar drilling station in Duncan Jones’ solid feature film debut, Moon. Moon is a story in the classic sci-fi tradition, spurred by Rockwell’s encounter with a mysterious stranger who shatters his understanding of reality. None of the concepts in Moon are especially original or groundbreaking, but Jones’ approach to the material is fresh and sure-handed, …
[4] This is the first miss for Judd Apatow, coming off a string of memorable comedy hits like The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up. Funny People features the usual array of wacky Apatow characters, but the personality and relationship patterns are disappointingly familiar. Funny People is obviously an attempt to make a deeper, more sophisticated film, but in the end, the only thing …
[5] You know the drill: a family moves into a new home, weird shit starts happening, SURPRISE. Ghosts. A Haunting in Connecticut is a so-so haunted house movie with some interesting concepts and hackneyed execution. The mother-son relationship between Kyle Gallner and Virginia Madsen is almost strong enough to keep you invested, but the movie ultimately aschews character and becomes desperately preoccupied with plot twists …
Copyright © 2024 | Theme by MH Themes