GAMER, released without the benefit of a press screening, is a big, loud mess that loses its few good ideas in a morass of convoluted storytelling that it has, sadly, confused with stylish innovation. It posits a world in the near future where gaming has lost its virtual quality. Sim-worlds are inhabited by real people… Read More »
2012
With 2012 you got your big special effects, you got your overwrought melodrama, you got your colorful supporting characters, a passel of kids of varying cuteness, outrageous puns, and a plucky dog. What you got here is blockbuster of a popcorn flick that delivers on ending the world as we know it and takes a… Read More »
BOONDOCK SAINTS — ALL SAINTS DAY, THE
For those who wondered what became of the MacManus brothers, Michael and Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus) and their Da (Billy Connelly after the credits rolled on THE BOONDOCK SAINTS back in 1999, there is finally a sequel, and a brash and bracing piece of work it is. Stylish, tongue-in-cheek, and audaciously operatic, it… Read More »
OLD DOGS
OLD DOGS has a strong cast fighting a script that is labored, stale, and obvious. That cast is led by John Travolta and Robin Williams, both of whom are no strangers to comedy, nor to miscalculations when it comes to choosing scripts. They are Charlie and Dan, pals and business partners of 30 years. While… Read More »
TERMINATOR SALVATION
For all the explosions, gunfire, firestorms, and manly gnashing of teeth, TERMINTATOR SALVATION has an overriding weariness to it. The franchise, while robust box-office wise, has essentially been telling the same story now for a quarter of a century. A tale of time-travel, murderous cyborgs, and a father born decades after his son’s conception is… Read More »
2009 TOP TEN LIST
Once again its time for me to rebel against the arbitrary nature of picking just ten films to single out for excellence in any one year. This was a year when animated films became more than a genre, and the list reflects that. It was also an excellent year for documentaries, and the ones Ive… Read More »
SHERLOCK HOLMES
Guy Ritchies approach to the SHERLOCK HOLMES is predictably, but delightfully, bombastic. Which is not to say that this lushly produced, stylishly realized film is not perfectly entertaining. A clever script that is not quite as sharp as it should be is redeemed by a pair of superb performances by Robert Downey, Jr, as the… Read More »
THE BOOK OF ELI
THE BOOK OF ELI is a laughably earnest exploration of religion in the decline and fall of civilization. It also wants to explore the way religion can also uplift a civilization, or at least members of it, but it evinces a theology of such a violent and disturbing nature that the advantages of religion are… Read More »
THE BOOK OF ELI
THE BOOK OF ELI is a laughably earnest exploration of religion in the decline and fall of civilization. It also wants to explore the way religion can also uplift a civilization, or at least members of it, but it evinces a theology of such a violent and disturbing nature that the advantages of religion are… Read More »
SPY NEXT DOOR, THE
To his credit, Jackie Chan has decided to grow old gracefully. Instead of action heavy films, he has graduated to a gentler sort of cinematic enterprise, action light, as it were, and, at least since THE TUXEDO, has accepted the occasional help from CGI and wires to achieve his still impressive stunt work. His latest… Read More »
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