Review: THE CROODS Survives by its Wits

Nicolas Cage and Emma Stone head the voice cast of Dreamworks' latest animated odyssey, following the world's last surviving family of Neanderthals as they venture forth into an untamed and unexplored prehistoric world. Gorgeous visuals, frantic pacing and a... More »
  

SXSW 2013 Review: THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE Pits Magic Against Stunts

Jim Carrey easily steals the spotlight in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone away from leading man Steve Carell, but it doesn't take a magician to understand why. As the titular character, Carell is the straight man, a wildly successful Las Vegas... More »
  

SXSW 2013 Review: EVIL DEAD Commits Firmly to Disturbing Brutality

This is not a review of an old movie. Yes, Fede Alvarez clearly owes a great deal to horror maestro Sam Raimi, who penned and directed the original The Evil Dead back in 1981, and yes, Alvarez's film is a... More »
  

Review: OZ THE GREAT AND THE POWERFUL Deflates on Arrival

The most magical part of Sam Raimi's Oz the Great and the Powerful ironically doesn't even take place in the titular fantasy-land, but rather in the dreary, black-and-white real world. Like The Wizard of Oz, to which this film is... More »
  

Review: EVERYTHING OR NOTHING - THE UNTOLD STORY OF 007

When Stevan Riley's new documentary, made as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of James Bond in film, wasn't included as part of the big bumper blu-ray boxset that was released at the same time Skyfall hit cinemas, I was... More »
  

70s Rewind: THE KLANSMAN Seeks Revenge On KKK, But Fails Miserably

Revenge is the thematic tissue that connects Dead Man Down, the English-language debut of director Niels Arden Oplev (opening this week), and The Klansman, Terence Young's disastrously bad picture that escaped into the world in late 1974. As a young... More »
  

TV Review: COMMUNITY S4E04 Alternative History Of The German Invasion (Or, It's Nice To See Greendale Again)

One thing that has clearly been lacking thus far in this season of Community is quality time spent on the campus of Greendale Community College. In many ways the study room is just as central to this show as the... More »
  

Review: 21 AND OVER Makes Binge Drinking A Laughing Matter

Since I didn't go to college and didn't get drunk in my early 20s, some movies are less fathomable to me than others. Case in point: 21 & Over, a mixed-message spiritual cousin to The Hangover, whose writers make their... More »
  

Review: JACK THE GIANT SLAYER Boldly Slashes Forth, Free Of Irony

Color me surprised, because if Jack the Giant Slayer isn't quite the best movie of the year so far, it's at least a damn good one.It's fair to say the movie had a stink about it. It was meant... More »
  

TV Review: COMMUNITY S4E03, Conventions Of Space And Time (Or, When Fan Service Doesn't Work)

Since most of tonight's episode takes place in and around the Inspector Spacetime "InspectiCon", I guess now is as good a time as any to talk a bit about fandom, Community and my credentials for reviewing the show.Community fans may... More »
  

Review: SNITCH Doesn't Reveal Anything Except Its Good Intentions

A well-meaning but lumbering drama that feels like an extended prologue in search of an action movie, Snitch represents a good-faith attempt by Dwayne Johnson to stretch himself as an actor. Johnson became an action star based on his affable,... More »
  

TV Review: COMMUNITY S4E02, Paranormal Parentage (Or, A Visit To Pierce's Mansion On Halloween Proves Hollow)

Bad Analogy time: The second episode of this season's Community is like wearing a new pair of jeans for the second time... once they've been washed. They are now not as stiff, a bit more comfortable, but you're not 100%... More »
  

Review: SAFE HAVEN Adds Another Bland Mess to the Nicholas Sparks Rap Sheet

Oh, sure, it's popular to make fun of Nicholas Sparks movies. It's very "cool" and "trendy" to pile on the insults every time a new one is released, three or four times a year. But do you want to know... More »
  

Review: BEAUTIFUL CREATURES Is Perkier, More Fun Than Most Teen Romances

There's a lengthy, dragging middle section of the supernatural teen romance Beautiful Creatures that threatens to sink the whole enterprise. Tellingly, it's when the nuts and bolts of the plot kick in: as the witch's pivotal 16th birthday approaches, good... More »
  

Review: A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD is Dead on Arrival

Bruce Willis revisits old school New York City cop John McClane for a fifth time, teaming up with his son in Moscow to battle some evil Russian terrorists, but the results are far from satisfying.It's a depressing time for old... More »
  

TV Review: COMMUNITY S4E01, History 101 (Or, Dan Harmon Has Left The Building, And Yes There Is A Void, But All Is Not Lost)

And so it was on February 7th, after many months of delays, that the first episode of Community without creator Dan Harmon as showrunner aired. As the clock struck 8pm, fans across North America held a collected breath in the... More »
  

Review: A GLIMPSE INSIDE THE MIND OF CHARLES SWAN III Offers Only Fleeting Pleasures

Any film with a title as obnoxious as A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III seems resolutely unconcerned with actually getting wide audience acceptance. I've watched the film, and even interviewed the director, and still have a hell of... More »
  

Review: SIDE EFFECTS May Include Whiplash From Jarring Change In Tone

The important thing to know about Side Effects -- which Steven Soderbergh says will be his last theatrical film for a while, maybe forever -- is that whatever you're thinking it's going to be, it probably is not that. Pardon... More »
  

Review: IDENTITY THIEF Steals from Better Films, Comes Up Short

You have to admit, it takes some guts to rip off a hundred other movies and then call the result Identity Thief. That sort of brazenness would be admired by the scoundrel at the center of this wearying, derivative comedy,... More »
  

Sundance 2013 Review: WE ARE WHAT WE ARE Is Tastefully Macabre

Let's get this out of the way right off the bat: We Are What We Are is not a remake. Differing greatly from the original Jorge Michel Grau Spanish language version, the creative team of Jim Mickle (writer/director) and Nick... More »
  
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