REMEMBER ME is a turgid excuse for a perceptive character study/romance that pins its hopes on a twist that is not so much a jolt as an affront. Not to give anything away, at least not more than the film itself in its opening moments, but suffice to say that the main action takes place… Read More »
NEXT THREE DAYS, THE
Based on the infinitely superior French thriller, POUR ELLE, THE NEXT THREE DAYS is a road kill of a thriller. Flattened beyond recognition as being its particular genre, and with all its vital, life-giving juices mercilessly squished out of it. Whats left is a pulpy mess that is by turns painfully protracted and irritatingly stupid. Russell Crowe,… Read More »
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Before they devolved into a campy excuse for a quick buck, THE PLANET OF THE APES franchise was a nicely rendered and clever conceit for commenting on the human condition by having apes stand in for us. RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, the prequel that explains how it all happened, is a worthy… Read More »
DREAM HOUSE
There are fine moments in DREAM HOUSE, but not enough so that the easily parsed story and oddly soporific direction fail to become insurmountable hurdles. Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts, and Rachel Weisz give performances that are visceral without being obvious, performances that amplify the sense of foreboding and suspense that should be coming from the… Read More »
IN TIME
IN TIME is a better idea for a movie than it is a movie. The conceit is a clever one, and more, ahem, timely it could not be. In an alternate universe very much like our own, science has cracked the problem of ageing, and everyone is genetically programmed to stop the aging process at… Read More »
R.I.P.D
Its not enough that R.I.P.D. is bad, its also derivatively bad while also being mind-numbingly boring. Whatever wit or smarts or silliness the Dark Horse graphic novel of the same name by Peter Lenkov possesses, it is not found in this screen adaptation that is neither fun nor funny. In a messy pastiche of GHOSTBUSTERS,… Read More »
NOAH
In the old days, biblical epics were produced as much to have an excuse for prurient excess as for the moral lesson to be imparted by the retelling of a familiar tale of good and evil. Darren Aronofsky’s NOAH is about as far from that trope as it is possible to get and still be… Read More »
ANTWONE FISHER
Denzel Washington may just win himself another Oscar nomination this year, though this time out it will be for directing ANTWONE FISHER, one of the most moving films of this or any other year. Not that his performance is anything but sterling, but the nuanced performance he coaxes from Derek Luke, who plays Fisher is… Read More »
RECRUIT, THE
Its such a neat idea for a flick — an intricately plotted tale of spies playing both sides against the middle with a gazillion twists and turns and no one, especially the audience, quite knowing where the middle is until the end. And one day, if were good, well get a flick like that. For… Read More »
BULLETPROOF MONK
With a title like BULLETPROOF MONK, it’s not like we can expect a film that will be on the short list for next year’s Oscar. Still, fans of Chow Yun-Fat will find enough here to keep them happy. Chow is the eponymous Tibetan monk, charged with keeping safe a scroll that could spell apocalypse if… Read More »