While I didn’t find myself overwhelmed with the insanity of last year’s hit “Bridesmaids,” its absurd length and dramatic decline is a Caribbean vacation compared to the forced acid bath of “Bachelorette.” Shockingly unlikable and unfunny, this latest round of women behaving badly is crippled by unnecessary excess, botched characterizations, and a ...
Adapted from the 1973 novel by Patrick White, “The Eye of the Storm” is a film about vicious behavior committed by exhausted people. It’s not an easy sit, teeming with venom and chaotic states of mind, but there’s a wonderful focal point in the three lead performances from Charlotte Rampling, Geoffrey Rush, and Judy Davis. Providing exemplary work ...
While I’m not up on my science fiction writing as most people, from my viewpoint, “Robot & Frank” is a fairly original idea massaged wonderfully by director Jake Schreier. It’s a funny movie, but not really a comedy. It’s melancholy, but far from depressing. It’s mischievous, but grounded in realism. A hodgepodge of moods built around an unlikely s...
One would think that a movie produced by World Wrestling Entertainment would contain a little more theatricality, a little more bang for the buck. “The Day” is a post-apocalyptic actioner from the sports entertainment factory, and despite a plot that dabbles in cannibalism and supplies a sizeable body count, there’s little here that invigorates the...
What’s most frustrating about “The Possession” (not to be confused with last week’s “The Apparition”) is that it’s filled with potential. It’s a distinctive story of demonic ownership with a specific cultural tilt, yet the production seems hesitant to follow through with its chilling ideas for terror. Instead, “The Possession” is locked in mediocri...
Sure to raise pulse rates and incite shockwaves of disbelief, “Compliance” is an exceptional example of provocative filmmaking, taking viewers on a 90-minute-long journey of humiliation, manipulation, and good old fashioned stupidity. It’s a riveting watch, with a stranglehold of suspense expertly maintained by writer/director Craig Zobel, who acce...
“The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure” is the brainchild of Kenn Viselman, a marketing wizard behind “The Teletubbies” and “Thomas the Tank Engine” who decided to strike out on his own, overseeing a family film geared toward the short attention spans of pre-schoolers. Billed as “interactive,” “Big Balloon Adventure” encourages young viewers ...
It’s difficult to recommend “Lawless” to the average moviegoer. It’s a film that contains scenes of pure evil, with lacerating violence to back up its arguments, making it extremely troubling for those with sensitivity to screen brutality. Thankfully, there’s a consistently impressive effort inside its grim ambiance, embellishing its Depression-era...
Marketed as a sinister picture with heavy demonic overtones, “The Tall Man” turns out to be something quite different, absent a juicy genre hook to immediately pull viewers in. That’s not to say the film is successful, but its intentions are unique, hoping to approach formulaic scares with moralistic twist. It’s a shame the feature isn’t terribly i...
“The Victim” has been routinely referenced as a classic grindhouse production, out to charm fans of sleazy, violent entertainment. However, writer/director/star Michael Biehn doesn’t put his best perverted foot forward with this lackluster, budget-minded suspense picture. Underdeveloped and occasionally directionless, “The Victim” is actually quite...
The trailer for “The Apparition” contained more story than the picture it was promoting. In fact, I think the trailer for “The Apparition” is actually more of a movie than “The Apparition.” A wildly incoherent effort that spends most of its running time avoiding its own plot, “The Apparition” is one of those major studio releases that is so stunnin...
After his lackluster turn in the recent “Magic Mike,” it’s encouraging to watch star Matthew McConaughey dig his teeth into something positively evil like the character of Joe Cooper. A cop drenched in Texas swagger, Joe is a man you wouldn’t want to cross, yet he carries a seductive, strangely respectful aura about him that’s almost appealing. It’...
The rush in “Premium Rush” only arrives in short bursts, often after lengthy offerings of exposition I doubt most ticket buyers will care about. A chase film that consistently torpedoes its momentum, the picture is frustrating sit, finding co-writer/director David Koepp insisting on a story that matches the intensity of the pursuit. He fails to fin...
It’s hard to believe it’s been a decade since the release of “Like Mike,” leaving “Thunderstruck” ample room to pick up where the teen-centric sports fantasy left off. However, while “Like Mike” at least made a faint attempt to conjure curiosity concerning the iffy magic dust it was spreading, “Thunderstruck” doesn’t even attempt to pinpoint its ba...
“Cosmopolis” requires viewers to set aside their every thought, perhaps every motor function too, and focus on the enormous exchanges of knotted dialogue launched between comatose characters. There’s no possible way to appreciate the movie in a half-hearted manner, yet writer/director David Cronenberg isn’t exactly inviting outside interest in this...
A great car chase movie should inspire the viewer to leap out of the theater when the end credits hit, sprint through the parking lot, dive into their automobile, and burn rubber back home, dodging imaginary bad guys on the way. It should trigger a dormant recklessness that’s frowned upon in daily life, creating a surge of pedal-to-the-metal daydre...
There has been a rash of supernatural stories with period settings in recent years, with “The Woman in Black” a box office smash just this last February. “The Awakening” contains familiar working parts, carrying a somber tone of torment in a secluded English setting, and while the material doesn’t win points for originality, co-writer/director Nick...
I was a great admirer of Sylvester Stallone’s “The Expendables,” released two years ago. A brutal throwback to the sweat-stained, no-nonsense actioners of the 1980s, the picture was undeniably rough around the edges, yet contained a slick appreciation for genre necessities and broheim comfort. After its unexpected box office success, we’re now face...
“The Odd Life of Timothy Green” forces an enormous amount of whimsy down the throat of its audience in the early moments of the picture, though it doesn’t take very long to develop a taste for the sweet stuff. Heartfelt and genuinely magical, this Disney release is perfect for a family moviegoing outing, touching on themes of parenthood for adults,...
In 1970, an album titled “Cold Fact” was released in America. A product of a Detroit-based man known only as Rodriguez, “Cold Fact” (and its single “Sugar Man”) went out into the world with an expectation of success, wowing those in the industry who were knocked flat by Rodriguez’s skills as a songwriter and performer, revitalizing the folk rock ge...
Those used to the animated movie routine of princesses and anthropomorphized animals might find themselves shocked by “ParaNorman.” A macabre adventure that pays tribute to zombie cinema while working out its own scares and iffy stabs at irreverence, the picture is a stunningly animated effort carrying unexpected bite, taking its horror reverence s...
“Sparkle” is a film that should’ve snapped together beautifully. Boasting a promising director in Salim Akil (“Jumping the Broom”), an earnest performance from star Jordin Sparks, and period setting drenched in the miracle of the Motown sound, the feature is also a remake of a 1976 Joel Schumacher-scripted cult hit, which came to inspire the Broadw...
After the release of 1997’s “The Rainmaker,” legendary director Francis Ford Coppola retreated into his folds of own mind, giving up the Hollywood filmmaking routine to construct personal stories and indulge visual kinks. After “Youth Without Youth” and “Tetro,” Coppola returns with “Twixt,” a bizarre mosaic of grief, mystery, murder, creativity, a...
“Celeste & Jesse Forever” is an independent production about a marriage in crisis. It’s not the most original concept, but the script attempts to disrupt the norm by greeting the heartache after the domestic divide. It’s the post-marriage movie about marriage, endeavoring to find a sincere take on separation while it stumbles through hoary scenario...
“Bindlestiffs” is a backyard production from young filmmaking novices that lucked into a distribution deal when Kevin Smith took a shine to the picture’s juvenile hostilities and no-budget aspirations. It’s a heartening story of Hollywood discovery that every indie production dreams of, yet the pixie dust seems wasted on “Bindlestiffs,” a motor-mou...
“The Imposter” is a picture that carries authentically trembling suspense, though it’s perfectly at ease dishing out nuggets of information gradually to perfect its atmospheric grip. It’s a riveting feature once the pieces of this true-crime case come together, but it’s not a perfect film, which seems like a letdown when taking into account the psy...
While “The Babymakers” isn’t technically a Broken Lizard production, it might as well be. Outside of the fact it features only two members of the troupe, the picture furthers the wheezy, crude sense of humor that’s stained such films as “Beerfest,” “Super Troopers,” and “Club Dread.” Looking to toy with the anxiety of infertility, “The Babymakers” ...
“The Campaign” seems like a sure thing. With stars Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis trading insults in a political satire timed to coincide with an upcoming presidential election, the feature has potential up the wazoo, especially with these two talents and their capacity for screen mischief. Despite initial promise, “The Campaign” often feels li...
Although it seemed as though we saw the last of Jason Bourne five years ago in “The Bourne Ultimatum,” franchise-best box office and stellar reviews proved there was still plenty of life in the ongoing story of a C.I.A. assassin on the run from cops, superiors, and himself. The appearance of “The Bourne Legacy” isn’t a surprise, yet the fact that i...
For a mainstream release, “Hope Springs” has some very profound ideas to share about the wilds of marriage and the labor of personal communication, packaged in a broad comedy-drama that enjoys the pressures of discomfort, especially communicated by the likes of Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones. The odd couple makes for a believable pair of wounded ...
