07/17/2008

The Dark Knight (PG-13 )

Warner Bros.

Ledger's joker is no joke. He's a chaos-seeking human missle and the best bad guy in film history.

The Dark Knight is an intense, brilliant film but it's also one of the best films I have seen in 10 years, and easily the best of its kind.

Mamma Mia! (PG-13)

Mamma Mia! is more for fans of Swedish pop group Abba than for fans of the Tony-winning Broadway musical.

07/10/2008

Journey To The Center of The Earth (PG)

Handout.

Journey To The Center Of The Earth is directed on shaky ground by Eric Brevig.

Journey To The Center of The Earth is a sloppy remake of a popular 1959 film based on the Jules Verne classic novel. Brendan Fraser plays the goofy scientist who leads his last minute expedition inside the mouth of a volcano, and the gimmick here is that the film is in 3-D.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (PG-13)
Hellboy II is more of the same, meaning it's neither better nor worse than the original.

Gunnin' for That #1 Spot (PG-13)

Oscilloscope Pictures

Gunnin' for That #1 Spot is a well-made, often exhilarating documentary about a legendary basketball game that took place two years ago at Rucker Park in Harlem.

07/02/2008

Hancock (PG-13)

Handout.

Hancock is directed with a wink towards superhero movies by Peter Berg.

Hancock is a serious, uneven film starring Will Smith as an alcoholic superhero. That's right, an inebriated crime fighter, who causes damage and makes a mess wherever he goes, simply because he's a drunk.

07/03/2008

Will it be Willow or Will this weekend?
Will Smith is the reigning cinematic king of the Fourth-of-July movie going weekend, this time showcasing Hancock, an alcoholic superhero who makes a mess wherever he goes - a not-so-helpful drunk. But Will is not the only Smith looking for box office gold this holiday. Kit Kittredge: An American Girl expands into national release and look closely, there's Will Smith's daughter, Willow, playing one of the main characters.

06/26/2008

Wanted (R)

Handout.

You might call this The Terminator meets The Matrix meets La Femme Nikita

Wanted is an often breathtaking, unusual new action film from an exciting new director. James McAvoy plays a reluctant assassin recruited by Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie to join a secret fraternity.

WALL·E (G)
WALL·E is another brilliant animated film from Pixar that begins on an abandoned, burned-out Earth — except for one highly-dedicated robot left behind to clean up the mess.

06/19/2008

The Love Guru (PG-13)

Handout.

The Love Guru is rated a vulgar, insulting PG-13 but deserves an R.

The Love Guru scrapes the bottom of the cinematic barrel for funny man Mike Myers, this time playing an American-born guru, studying in India but hired by the Toronto Maple Leafs to help their top player. His wife has left him and it's affecting his game.

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (G)
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl is a watchable G-rated kids' film that takes place during the Great Depression and stars Abigail Breslin as an investigative-minded 12-year-old who wants to be a journalist and help people.

Get Smart (PG-13)
Get Smart is a big dumb disappointing comedy, flat as a pancake, with tired worn-out jokes.

06/12/2008

The Incredible Hulk (PG-13)

Universal Pictures

The Incredible Hulk is leaps and bounds above the last film of the same name. This one stars Edward Norton as Dr. Bruce Banner, a scientist in search of anger management and a cure for what transforms him into a furious green giant.

The Happening (R)

20th Century Fox

Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel star in The Happening.

The Happening is the low point in the film-making career of M. Night Shyamalan, the director of The Sixth Sense. His latest stars Mark Wahlberg as a high-school science teacher who figures out people are killing themselves every time a tree shakes and the wind blows. That's right: It's a suicide movie connected to the environment.

06/05/2008

Kung Fu Panda (PG)

AP

Kung Fun Panda is rated a kid friendly PG.

Kung Fu Panda is a funny endearing new animated comedy featuring the voice of Jack Black as a bumbling Panda bear who dreams of being a Kung Fu warrior. All of a sudden, his wish comes true when chosen by his village to train with the best.

You Don't Mess With The Zohan (PG-13)

AP

Zohan is nothing more than a 30 minute comedy in a two hour format.

You Don't Mess With The Zohan begins with promise and ends in cinematic disaster as Adam Sandler writes and stars as Zohan, an Isreali agent who fakes his own death so he can sneak off to America and become a hairdresser.

Bigger, Faster, Stronger (PG-13)
Bigger, Faster, Stronger is an exhilarating, in depth, enlightened documentary about the use of steroids in America. Christopher Bell talks to everyone, looks at every angle, including his two brothers who are steroid users. From Schwarzenegger to Hulk Hogan, to amateur and pro athletes, this is one of the best films ever made about physical abuse and personal choice.

05/28/2008

Sex and The City (R)

AP

Sex And The City is for and about adult women, and be warned, the R rating is for plenty of language and nudity.

Sex and The City is the "Mother" of all chick flicks, a two hour and twenty minute dazzler of girl talk and high fashion, reuniting the four Manhattan women from the HBO series with Sarah Jessica Parker just about perfect at the center. All your relationship questions will be answered, but more importantly, what are they wearing?

05/21/2008

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (PG-13)

AP

Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is rated a mild PG-13.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Skull is terribly flawed, a bit of a mess, and still easy to like. Harrison Ford, now 65, doesn't get in and out of the cave as easily as before, but as the iconic Indiana Jones, adventure always seems to find him.

05/29/2008

More thoughts on Sex and The City

AP

Carrie is played on the mark by Sarah Jessica Parker.

Sex And The City finds it's inspiration from four outspoken, completely different women living in and out of Manhattan, but what sets these women apart from all the other chick flick drama queens, is their ability to carry on a conversation and stick together through thick and thin. Based on the popular HBO series, Carrie, played on the mark perfect by Sarah Jessica Parker, is planning a high-profile wedding with her on again-off again suitor named Big, played-well by Chris Noth. Will they or will they not make it to the alter? That's the big question in this two hour and twenty minute dazzler.

05/15/2008

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (PG)

AP

Prince Caspian is made a slight notch below The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.

For the first hour, The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a slow and talky film that takes the British children back to Narnia, where things have changed and aged more than a thousand years.

How The Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer (R)
How The Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer is an emotionally ambitious, highly provocative, and uneven new film about three generations of Mexican American women all living under one roof and experiencing some sort of sexual awakening.

Before The Rains (PG-13)
Before The Rains takes place in India and is a beautifully made, adult melodrama about a British colonial and his scandalous love affair with his Indian servant.

05/08/2008

Redbelt (R)

AP

Chewitel Ejuofor plays a martial arts instructor in Redbelt.

Fans of David Mamet have a reason to rejoice, Redbelt is one of his best films, starring Chewitel Ejuofor as a martial arts instructor who finds himself involved in all kinds of chaos including a hot-headed policeman, a movie hero played-well by Tim Allen, and a screen load of con men.

Speed Racer (PG)

AP

Emile Hirsch plays the legendary cartoon racer.

Speed Racer is a big bad boring movie that talks the audience into a cinematic coma and never recovers. Emile Hirsch from Into The Wild plays the legendary 60's TV cartoon racer with a good family and a knack for racing.

What Happens In Vegas (PG-13)

AP

Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz

What Happens In Vegas is a poorly written, dumbded down, highly predictable romantic comedy starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher.

Then She Found Me (R)
Then She Found Me is a good film written, directed by, and starring Oscar-winner Helen Hunt, divorcing Matthew Broderick, dating a quirky Colin Firth and re-united with her birth mother, a talk show host played-well by Bette Midler. It's all terribly confusing for this single woman who desperately wants to have a baby.

04/30/2008

Iron Man (PG-13)

AP

Robert Downey Jr. plays billionaire Tony Stark/Iron Man.

Iron Man is a big time summer movie surprise filled with eye-popping effects, cracker jack dialogue, and interesting characters. Robert Downey Jr. gives one of the best performances of his career as the arrogant billionaire, Tony Stark, forced to create an Iron Suit to save his life.

05/01/2008

As It Is In Heaven (NR)

Guidelive.com

As It Is In Heaven is a wonderful sentimental Oscar-nominated film from Sweden about a world famous music conductor who suffers a heart attack and returns to his boyhood village to mend his heart by conducting the local church choir.

Summer Movies 2008

Iron Man

The summer movie season officially begins Iron Man with Batman, Mama Mia, and Indiana Jones on the way. Summer movies are often over-hyped and mildy disappointing but that's not true for Iron Man. This is a wonderful summer action film that took me by surprise.

The Visitor (PG-13)
The Visitor stars Richard Jenkins as Walter Vale, an emotionally detached college professor who arrives in New York City for a lecture and finds a startled couple living in his flat. Rather than move out, they move in, become friends, and it changes their lives.

04/24/2008

Deception (R)

AP

Hugh Jackman plays an arrogant attorney who introduces Ewan McGreggor to a sex club.

Deception is pretentious, boring film with a bad generic title and big name stars. Hugh Jackman plays an arrogant attorney who introduces a mild-mannered accountant (played by Ewan McGregor) to a private sex club.

Priceless (PG-13)

Samuel Goldwyn Films

Audrey Tautou plays a woman who only dates rich men.

Priceless is a beautifully photographed, but slightly disappointing, comedy from France starring Amelie's Audrey Tautou.

The Life Before Her Eyes (R)
The Life Before Her Eyes is a sad, well-made film that begins with a Columbine style school shooting. Evan Rachel Wood and Eva Amurri play as the school girls who's lives are forever changed that day, and Uma Thurman as one of the girls grown up and guilty.

Baby Mama (PG-13)

AP

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler

Baby Mama is an uneven comedy; funny one minute and predictably flat the next. Tina Fey stars as a 37-year-old business executive who is unable to get pregnant, so she hires a surrogate played by Amy Poehler. The two Saturday Night Live alums argue and laugh their way through pregnancy in an effort to entertain and inform.

04/17/2008

Young@Heart (PG)

Fox Searchlight

Young@Heart is an absolutely luminescent documentary that follows the rehearsal process of 24 chorus members who sing the lyrics to rock songs. Oh, and all the performers are between the ages of 74 and 92.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (PG)

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a fascinating documentary starring intellectual conservative Ben Stein and his personal attempt to explain the existence of life.

The Forbidden Kingdom (PG-13)

The Forbidden Kingdom is an elaborate, watchable, mess of a movie starring two of Hollywood’s legendary martial arts actors: Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

04/10/2008

Smart People (R)

AP

Smart People is a sometimes funny, sometimes sad, new film about highly intelligent people.

Smart People is a sometimes funny, sometimes sad, new film about highly intelligent people who are highly dysfunctional in real life. Dennis Quaid plays a tenured college professor living at home with his cynical, brainiac daughter, played-well by Juno's, Ellen Page.

Shine A Light (PG-13)

AP

Shine a Light won't disappoint if you are a Stones fan.

Rock and roll fans run to the theatre, better yet, the Imax theatre, to see and hear Shine A Light, Martin Scorsese's docu-concert of The Rolling Stones performance almost two years ago at the packed out Beacon Theatre in New York City.

04/03/2008

Snow Angels (R)

Warner Independent Pictures

Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale

Snow Angels is an honest, difficult, new film starring Sam Rockwell and Kate Beckinsale as a married couple with a young daughter, separated, living in the cold north, and angry at themselves and each other. Another insightful part of this often disturbing film centers on a teenaged romance played-well by Michael Angarano and Olivia Thirlby. They add balance and sensitivity to this highly stressful film.

03/27/2008

Run Fat Boy Run (PG-13)

AP

Simon Pegg plays a man who leaves his bride at the alter, only to enter a marathon a few years later to try and win her back.

Run Fat Boy Run fits in neatly as this weeks third uneven film, this one a British comedy about a loser who runs away in a panic on his wedding day, only to enter a marathon a few years later to win back his bride, played by Thandie Newton.

21 (PG-13)

AP

Kevin Spacey plays their instructor and Jim Sturgess plays the counting wizard.

21 is uneven and a mildly disappointing film based on a great idea and a good book. It tells the true story of five MIT students who created a card counting system and made millions playing blackjack in Vegas. Kevin Spacey plays their instructor and Jim Sturgess plays the counting wizard.

Stop Loss (R)

AP

The film begins flawlessly, but ultimately misses the mark.

For the first half Stop Loss is a brilliant, gut-wrenching, Texas made movie about patriotic Americans protecting our country and at war in Iraq. Then the film falls apart and becomes a preachy, heavy-handed message movie that tells you what to think.