There will not be a better film this year, animated or other, than HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. It’s a rip-snorting story flawlessly animated on every level that seamlessly blends humor, both subtle and broad but never gross, with heart. Lots of heart. Translated from Cressida Cowells novel of the same name, the filmmakers show… Read More »
SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD
With SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD, George Romero has finally answered the prayers that his fans didnt know they were praying. The zombie-meister has produced a zombie western, and done so without missing a beat in picking up a thread from his last flick, DIARY OF THE DEAD. As with that most excellent flick, its not… Read More »
CYRUS
A man, a woman, her son. It’s a situation of jealous hostility explored many times, but never more honestly, more painfully, or with bigger laughs than in Jay and Mark Duplass CYRUS. Made with an improvisational style that perfectly evokes the awkward immediacy of three people working through a new relationship that changes all their… Read More »
DESPICABLE ME
In DESPICABLE ME, the direct honesty of childhood innocence, in the form of three orphan girls, goes head to head with the evil machinations of a super villain feeling his evil competition nipping at his heels, usually with marine life. The result is a smart, funny, and perceptive animated film that dresses up its unabashed… Read More »
SORCERER’S APPRENTICE, THE
THE SORCERERS APPRENTICE starts with so much promise. Nicolas Cage as Balthazar, the eccentric and eponymous sorcerer on a quest to find Merlins heir and with him conquer the evil sorcerers bent on ruling the world by first destroying it. Jay Baruchel as Dave, the sweet but stuttering science geek and, as a magic dragon… Read More »
ANTON CHEKHOV’S THE DUEL
A learned man with a small mind munches a banana while explaining the theory of evolution, totally unaware of the irony. It is one of the finer examples of how screenwriter Mary Bing has distilled the essence of Anton Chekhov in her engrossing adaptation of his novella, THE DUEL. The arch ironies, the piquant comedy,… Read More »
DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS
The greatest crime committed by DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS, and there are many, is that it might prevent the viewers who have suffered through it to never discover the original, Francis Vebers delicious LE DINER DE CONS, on which it was based. An original of which the re-makers have completely missed the point. Of course, Americanizing… Read More »
CHARLIE ST. CLOUD
CHARLIE ST. CLOUD is a middling, innocuous film, rife with woozy golden sunlight and swelling syrupy music invoked to create the emotions that the film itself fails to ignite. For all the distraught characters, the film itself deftly sidesteps any attempts to explore the further reaches of passions, of romance or of grief, instead opting for… Read More »
THE OTHER GUYS
A rambling script that never quite takes the aim it meant to at the rarified world of high finance proves little impediment to THE OTHER GUYS, an uneven comedy redeemed by the inspired casting of Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as cops with nothing in common paired up on a career-making case. Forget the brief,… Read More »
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD, adapted from the graphic novel of the same name by Bryan Lee O’Malley, redefines the cinematic linear narrative by frog-marching it straight into the psyche of the post-adolescent zeitgeist. A slick synthesis of graphic novel and cinema, it becomes much more that just he sum of its parts, it becomes… Read More »
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