The Other Guys has, arguably, the funniest first thirty minutes of any film this year. Had the rest of the film been as consistently funny, I may have needed oxygen. The problem: the following hour isn’t nearly as funny, or even as clever. The screenplay doesn’t have enough gas, resorting… Continue reading
Who is Salt? The trailers have been posing this question for months, and it’s not likely you’re going to leave with a whole lot of defined answers. Salt is a gloriously preposterous espionage action/thriller, owing its very existence to the Bond and Bourne franchises. As directed by Philip Noyce, working… Continue reading
Edge of Darkness is a below-average thriller that is kicked up a notch by a stellar performance from Mel Gibson. Those expecting Taken 2, however, are going to be gravely disappointed. This is not the action movie you think you’ve seen in the trailers. Some vigilante justice is served, but… Continue reading
Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes arrives with particular disappointment, and this is coming from someone who doesn’t have any unbreakable attachment to the character of Sherlock Holmes. Those that do: beware. You’re bound to be even more appalled by this over-written, over-edited, and only moderately entertaining “re-imagining” (oh, how that is… Continue reading
Perhaps no other filmmaker understands the working class as much as Mike Judge. His 1999 home video hit, Office Space, has become virtually a documentary since its release ten years ago. Anyone who works from a cubicle farm understands why. In Extract, a noticeably less-focused effort with scattershot laughs, Judge… Continue reading
Public Enemies is Michael Mann’s best film since 1995’s Heat, but it’s not without its faults. What is refreshing is to see an old-school gangster flick with a stellar cast. This is a very intriguing portrait of John Dillinger, the famed bank robber and the FBI’s first-ever “Most Wanted” man.… Continue reading
Here’s the simplest way to put it: if you liked the over-the-top, brutal finale of Pineapple Express, you’ll most likely find yourself enjoying Observe and Report, a file that is plenty mean-spirited in its own right. Sometimes aiming for straight gross-out gags and other times targeting oddly-timed and prolonged verbal… Continue reading
I suppose there’s no good time to release The International these days. After all, who wants to watch a movie about corrupt banks that siphon money for nefarious purposes at the expense of their clients? Sounds a lot like real life to me. While the subject matter does hit a… Continue reading
There are many facts of life, but one is that Hollywood will be making Bond films until the end of the time. That much I have conceded. That reality was a much darker one after, say, Die Another Day, but after the upstart that was Casino Royale, Bond is now… Continue reading
Is it possible to not recommend a movie headlined by Robert De Niro and Al Pacino? One would think it to be an impossible feat, but leave it to screenwriter Russell Gewirtz and director Jon Avnet to muck up the whole works. There’s nary a bad thing to say about… Continue reading