Swords, sorcery, and…Stewart. The idea of making a fairy tale “dark” isn’t so ridiculous in retrospect– the Disney versions of these stories are like toothpaste commercials compared to what the Brothers Grimm jotted down so long ago. But “dark” doesn’t mean “good”, and Snow White and the Huntsman proves that quite ably. Continue reading »
A daring foray into an ongoing real-world disaster, accented by some great, spooky, atmospheric imagery, doesn’t do anything more with its concepts than serve up sub-standard horror driven by amazingly bad decision-making skills. Continue reading »
Peter Berg’s latest offering is irredeemably terrible. Continue reading »
My review should make it immediately, abundantly clear, but I really didn’t like Tim Burton’s latest gaudy, Gothic opus, a re-interpretation/adaptation of the 1960s/70s TV show Dark Shadows. Diehard fans who worship at the Nightmare Before Christmas director’s altar will probably find themselves quite dazzled by what he’s done here, and in fairness I think … Continue reading »
The Avengers didn’t have to do much to impress me. Being as honest as possible, Joss Whedon’s attempt at making a respectable entrance into the 2012 summer season with the capstone picture of Marvel Studios’ long-gestating superhero bonanza just needed to be tolerable to get a pass from me. Put bluntly, C-level material alone would … Continue reading »
There’s a near-fatal overload of ideas bouncing around in the hulking frame of Nick Stoller’s The Five-Year Engagement, his follow-up to 2010’s Get Him to the Greek. Primarily a comedy, the film examines not simply marriage—as the title dictates—but the reversing and alteration of gender roles in modern relationships, which I admit sounds high-minded … Continue reading »
While the Independent Film Festival Boston doesn’t end until this Wednesday, my time out at the Somerville and Brattle theaters has run out– but I’ve got a handful of reviews up over at Go See Talk and two more in the tank that I’ll post in the next couple of days! I had a blast … Continue reading »
The Raid kicks ass. I almost want to leave the review at those four lone words; they convey all of the meaning needed to either sell you on The Raid or inform you that your time would be better spent elsewhere. But I can’t get away with that sort of smirking plebian criticism, and besides, … Continue reading »
With Cabin in the Woods, Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon have crafted the new yardstick by which all horror films released in its wake will be judged. That analogy’s somewhat mild and unseasoned. More accurately, they’ve saturation bombed the genre with barb-filled ordnance wrapped up in one enormous love letter, launching a payload containing their affections … Continue reading »
You may remember some weeks back that I happened into an opportunity to participate in a round table interview the effervescent Joseph Kahn regarding his second feature film, the multi-genre mind-bending slasher-time travel-teen drama-comedy-kung fu-cultural commentary bonanza, Detention. Well, it’s Friday the 13th– and that means that not only am I barring my doors to keep … Continue reading »
For fans of FX spectacles, monster mashes, Roman mythology, and the God of War video game series, you’re in luck– the sequel to 2010′s Clash of the Titans remake hits theaters today. While I don’t think it’s a total loss, I found Wrath of the Titans to be lacking in a firm direction, never really fitting into a … Continue reading »
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to sit down with three local area critics for a round table interview with the wonderfully loquacious and energetic Joseph Kahn to talk about his latest film, the genre-blender Detention. Without hesitation, I’ll say that this happens to be one of my favorite releases of the year to date, and if … Continue reading »
Well, we’re almost into April, and I can only imagine that in the coming thirty days we’ll see the campaign promoting the May 2nd release of The Avengers ramp up in a big way. Marvel’s unleashed some new screen caps here and there to follow up the truly horrible poster released at the end of February and … Continue reading »
There’s so much surrounding The Hunger Games– socially, artistically, politically– that it’s hard to know where to start in writing a review about the latest pop-cultural literary and cinematic phenomenon. It feels somewhat gauche to begin by comparing Gary Ross’ adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ award-winning young adult novel to Twilight, to which it owes something of a … Continue reading »
Casa de mi Padre is remarkably difficult to categorize. On the one hand, it’s eighty minutes of bizarre, absurdist, surrealist humor bent on taking potshots at immeasurably melodramatic telenovelas as well as the works of Sam Peckinpah. On the other, there’s still very little cinema to which it has a direct analogue. Take, for example, Friday’s other … Continue reading »
Well, that changed my mind significantly. My wariness of and distaste toward the upcoming fantasy epic, Snow White and the Huntsman, isn’t exactly a well-kept secret. As with most properties, I’m put off at the idea that something as innocent as a children’s fairy tale needs to be doused in a grim and gritty sheen to … Continue reading »
Phil Lord’s and Chris Miller’s genius-level TV-to-movie adaptation, 21 Jump Street, has no right being as good as it is, but it’s easily the best comedy released so far this year and it could well be counted among the top five by the time we’re talking about year-end business. Hill’s in top form here, but Channing … Continue reading »
Watching Andrew Stanton’s adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ seminal science fiction pulp novel, A Princess of Mars– here blandly labeled John Carter– is equivalent to a genre-fueled out of body experience. You’ve seen this film before. You’ve seen it in Star Wars (both the original trilogy and the prequel films), you’ve seen it in Avatar, … Continue reading »
