movie reviews

June 21, 2012

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell

Directed by: Timur Bekmambetov

And you thought Honest Abe spent most of his time wrestling the Confederacy and trying to free the slaves. Ha! The bestseller list teaches a different history. It was the spawn of Twilight our 16th President was after. Seth Grahame-Smith, following his 2009 book success with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, came up with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and hit the charts again, this time by mashing up vamps with real Lincoln history. It was a fun escapist read. The movie version, with a script... | More »

Brave

Kelly Macdonald

Directed by: Brenda Chapman and Mark Andrews

No one seems to review a Pixar film without comparing it to other Pixar films. OK, Brave isn't The Incredibles or Toy Story. So? It's still a rousing, gorgeously animated good time. Merida, voiced by a fine, feisty Kelly Macdonald, is a Scottish Katniss Everdeen, a red-haired princess more into bows than boys. When a witch turns Merida's loving mom (Emma Thompson) into a sometime grizzly bear, Brave takes dark, dazzling turns. The beasts of the Scottish wild are no match for Me... | More »

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Steve Carell, Keira Knightley, Patton Oswalt

Directed by: Lorene Scafaria

Yes, it's the end of days, something about an asteroid hurtling toward Earth. In three weeks, boom, it's over. No second chance. Steve Carell plays Dodge, an insurance exec whose wife dumps him for a last fling at life. Unlike his wife and horny buddy (that's you, Patton Oswalt), Dodge doesn't want to go sex-nuts. Dodge goes to work where there's no need to go. Then he hits on the idea of finding his first love. Penny, played by Keira Knightley, hits on the idea of g... | More »

To Rome With Love

Penélope Cruz, Roberto Benigni, Alec Baldwin

Directed by: Woody Allen

Can Woody Allen do for the Eternal City what he did for the City of Light in his Oscar-winning script for Midnight in Paris? Don't get greedy. To Rome With Love lacks the overarching theme of time and regret that distinguished Allen's last romantic comedy, but it has pleasures galore. Start with a voluptuous Penélope Cruz as a hooker trying and failing hilariously to pass herself off as the wife of a new groom (Alessandro Tiberi) to fool his conservative family. Move on to th... | More »

June 14, 2012

Rock of Ages

Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin

Directed by: Adam Shankman

Built on hair-metal hits from the 1980s, Rock of Ages has been confounding critics and wowing audiences from Los Angeles to Broadway since it first opened in 2005. It had to become a movie. OK, maybe it didn't. But director Adam Shankman (Hairspray), working from a script by Justin Theroux, Chris D'Arienzo and Allan Loeb, wisely takes little notice of the plot about how country girl Sherrie (Julianne Hough) and city boy Drew (Diego Boneta) fall in love while trying to hit the music ... | More »

Your Sister's Sister

Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mark Duplass

Directed by: Lynn Shelton

Relationships are killers, and this tough, tender, deeply satisfying romantic comedy from writer-director Lynn Shelton (Humpday) is also bruisingly funny. After his brother's death, Jack (Mark Duplass) takes an offer from his platonic friend Iris (Emily Blunt) to chill at her family's island cottage. Expecting solitude, Jack finds Iris' older sister, Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt), nursing her own wounds after breaking up with her girlfriend of seven years. A tequila night ends with... | More »

June 7, 2012

Prometheus

Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace

Directed by: Ridley Scott

The ending isn't squishy scary or deeply satisfying. Bummer. Otherwise, Prometheus – especially in its spellbinding first hour – kicks ass so hard and often that it's impossible not to be thrilled by it. For starters, the look of the film is an enveloping amazement, with director Ridley Scott using 3D with the fierce finesse of a master. Scott gives us a world to get lost in. Then there's Michael Fassbender. The Irish-German actor is brilliant as David, an andr... | More »

Safety Not Guaranteed

Aubrey Plaza

Directed by: Colin Trevorrow

Sometimes a movie comes out of nowhere and wins you over. Safety Not Guaranteed is that kind of unexpected gift. At first, the story smacks of quirk: A loner (Mark Duplass) places an ad for a partner to join him in traveling back in time ("Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed"). Tracking the story are Seattle journos Jeff (Jake Johnson), Arnau (Karan Soni) and Darius (Aubrey Plaza), who falls for the big guy. Director Colin Trevorrow and writer Derek Connolly keep the film hummi... | More »

Bel Ami

Robert Pattinson, Uma Thurman, Christina Ricci

Directed by: Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod

Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart's partner in life and Twilight, has also had a difficult time breaking free of his vampire roots (see Remember Me and Water for Elephants). Unfortunately, Bel Ami, an adaptation of Guy de Maupassant's 1885 novel of social ambition, bathes him in a dark romanticism that evokes Edward Cullen. As Georges Duroy, a former cavalry officer in Algeria now eager to lead the good life in belle-epoque Paris, Pattinson gives the role a beauty eaten away by gree... | More »

May 31, 2012

Snow White and the Huntsman

Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth

Directed by: Rupert Sanders

You don't need a voice in a mirror to tell you which recent Snow White movie is the fairest of them all. Snow White and the Huntsman has Mirror Mirror beat by a mile. Director Rupert Sanders made his bones in commercials and Xbox games, and his debut feature is a visual marvel. Not in the way of the chirpy, witless, postcard-ready Mirror Mirror, in which Lily Collins played an unthreatening Snow and Julia Roberts merely swanned around as the Evil Queen. Sanders' take on the classic ... | More »