movie reviews

August 11, 2011

30 Minutes or Less

Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari, Danny McBride

Directed by: Ruben Fleischer

I have no faith in myself to speak cogently about what goes on in this fractured farce. But I do have faith in director Ruben Fleischer. Yes, I liked Zombieland that much and am eager for his next, The Gangster Squad with Sean Penn. OK, I'm drifting. The facts: Jesse Eisenberg goes crazy cuckoo but will not win an Oscar nod, like he did for The Social Network, as Nick, a pizza guy who delivers in 30 minutes or less. Promises are forgotten as two scuzzballs, immortally scuzzed by Nick Sw... | More »

Glee: The 3D Concert Movie

Chris Colfer, Lea Michele

Directed by: Kevin Tancharoen

Confession: I'm losing my religion when it comes to Glee. Ryan Murphy's hit TV series produces so many highs, like Rachel and Kurt's to-die-for duet on the Broadway set of Wicked, that the frequent lows can be forgiven even by non-Gleeks. Still, I'm calling bullshit on this 3D concert movie. In June, most of the cast began a summer tour that would allow the fans to genuflect. You heard me. The movie plays like an evangelical prayer meeting, though I'd hold the hallelu... | More »

Final Destination 5

Tony Todd, Nicholas D'Agosto

Directed by: Steven Quale

It's the dog days of summer, the best time to kick back at your ice-station multiplex and get the living crap scared out of you. Damn you, Hollywood, for scamming us with the same tired tricks. Final Destination 5 starts with an R-rated 3D bang as wanna-be chef Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto) has a vision that a collapsing bridge will kill his peeps. Then it all happens in blood-splattering detail, just like in every FD flick. Sam and seven pals, including girlfriend Molly (Emma Bell), chea... | More »

August 9, 2011

The Help

Viola Davis, Emma Stone

Directed by: Tate Taylor

A deeply touching human story filled with humor and heartbreak is rare in any movie season, especially summer. That's what makes The Help an exhilarating gift. It could have been a disaster. Kathryn Stockett's debut novel riled a few critics. The gall of Stockett, a white woman from Jackson, Mississippi, to think she could get inside the heads of black maids serving white folks during the early 1960s. The dialect ("Yes, ma'am," "sho-nuff," "Law have mercy") probably helped Stoc... | More »

August 4, 2011

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Andy Serkis, James Franco, Freida Pinto

Directed by: Rupert Wyatt

Hollywood has already grinded out Planet of the Apes movies by the thousands — OK, there's only been six, but Tim Burton's leaden 2001 reboot of the classic 1968 original made it feel like a copycat invasion. Anyway, what I'm saying is that Rise of the Planet of the Apes made a monkey out of me. I was certain it would suck. Instead, the movie rises and, at times, even soars. This is all — and I do mean all — thanks to what human actors in league with computer ... | More »

The Change-Up

Jason Bateman, Ryan Reynolds

Directed by: David Dobkin

Another body-switching comedy? Seriously? From the peaks of Big and Freaky Friday to the low of Vice Versa — Face/Off being my guilty pleasure — we've seen it all. Really. We have. The makers of The Change-Up tell us we've never seen the R-rated comedy version. Now it's here, and what The Hangover screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore have cooked up with Wedding Crashers director David Dobkin is nonstop raunch that decides too late that it needs to grow a heart. ... | More »

Bellflower

Evan Glodell, Jessie Wiseman, Tyler Dawson

Directed by: Evan Glodell

Here's a movie that starts in your face and, amazingly, keeps coming at you. That's a good thing. Writer-director Evan Glodell's explosive debut feature is a thing of toxic beauty. Glodell plays Woodrow, a young blood with no place to go. So he and his buddy Aiden (Tyler Dawson) obsess over drinking, sex, Mad Max muscle cars, and building weapons of (they hope) mass destruction. The flamethrower they construct is an ideal start for their plan of leaving the world in ashes. Thin... | More »

The Whistleblower

Rachel Weisz, David Strathairn, Vanessa Redgrave

Directed by: Larysa Kondracki

Many films these days claim to be ripped from the headlines. The Whistleblower really is. Rachel Weisz excels as Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nebraska cop and single mom who thought a 1999 United Nations peacekeeping job in Bosnia might solve her financial problems. Kathryn arrives in Sarajevo to aid the local police in stopping sex trafficking and then finds that the cops, the diplomats and even U.N. employees are a major part of the problem. She finds allies in Madeleine Rees (Vanessa Redgrave), hea... | More »

July 28, 2011

Cowboys & Aliens

Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig

Directed by: Jon Favreau

There's one mad, wicked scene in this seriously underspiced Old West barbecue when UFOs swoop out of the sky using wires to lasso cowboys off their horses and suck them into their vessels for God knows what. That we never see the guts of the what is part of the frustration that nags at the wussified PG-13 Cowboys & Aliens. It looks slick, pricey and starry – Indiana Jones teams up with James Bond for a gunfight with space demons. But even Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig can'... | More »

Attack the Block

John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker

Directed by: Joe Cornish

Aliens rip the bloody hell out of gangbangers in the London projects. Done on the indie cheap with untold riches in ballsy imagination, this knockout creature feature busts the Hollywood chops of Cowboys & Aliens. It's hot, fierce, funny, vicious and ready to bite, baby. Attack gets its teeth from writer-director Joe Cornish, in a smashing debut. Keep an eye on John Boyega, 19, a fireball with serious acting skills. He plays Moses, the leader of a gang that mugs a nurse (Jodie Whitta... | More »