"There's only one thing we can do to thwart the plot of these albino shape-shifting lizard BITCHES!"

ROBERT DOWNEY JR.

A SCANNER DARKLY

2006

(PG-13)

1/2

Jon Favreau's long anticipated 'IRON MAN' film adaptation soars to highly entertaining heights thanks in large part to Robert Downey Jr.'s virtuoso title role performance and for the film's preponderance on wit, intelligence, and a finely tuned and patiently told origin story.

Posted May 5, 2008

(R)

zero stars

Director Michael Haneke's 'FUNNY GAMES' - a needless shot-for-shot remake of his own 1997 Austrian film - is a sickening, vile, and reprehensibly hypocritical film going experience that shares the same damning traits of the American films it feebly tries to chastise.

 Posted May 5, 2008

(R)

1/2

While it retains some of its prequel's carefree exuberance and intelligent and sly comedy about racism and bigotry, 'HAROLD AND KUMAR 2' is too submerged in gross-out gags and routine debauchery to be on a worthy follow-up to the breezy and fresh original stoner comedy.  

 Posted April 28, 2008

(R)

1/2

With shoddy direction, an incomprehensibly wretched screenplay, and a lead performance by Al Pacino that never achieves any emotional velocity, '88 MINUTES' is a sure-fire black mark on his legendary resume and easily one of the worst films of 2008.

Posted April 28, 2008

PLANET OF THE APES:

40th Anniversary Retrospective Review

(G)

40 years after its initial release, the original 1968 'PLANET OF THE APES' remains one of the more entertaining and trend-setting sci-fi films of its decade and highlights the late Charlton Heston in a legendary performance of masculine bravado and intensity.

   Posted April 28, 2008

(R)

As yet another proud and noteworthy continuance of producer Judd Apatow's recent reinvention of the romantic dramady genre - alongside introducing a great new comic mind in writer/star Jason Segel - 'FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL is a masterfully ingenious comedic achievement.

   Posted April 21, 2008

(PG-13)

'THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM' will no doubt appease very young viewers and chop-sockey fans that have been dying for a Jet Li/Jackie Chan team-up, but the resulting film around the pair is a tired, derivative, and tediously dull martial arts fantasy.

Posted April 21, 2008

(R)

'STOP-LOSS', Kimberly Peirce's first film since her auspicious directorial debut nearly a decade ago, is a searing, poignantly filmed and acted, and powerfully forceful account and attack on the highly questionable policies of the US military during times of war.

Posted April 21, 2008

(PG-13)

1/2

Director George Clooney's third filmmaking effort, 'LEATHERHEADS', reveals his appreciation for the slapstick screwball farces of the 30's and 40's, but its silly and goofy energy and spunky performances are lessened by the film's lack of consistent hearty laughs.

Posted April 7, 2008

(PG-13)

Simon Pegg and co-star Dylan Moran are unmitigated riots in 'RUN, FAT BOY, RUN' but this David Schwimmer directed and Pegg scripted  romantic comedy about an underdog marathon runner suffers from bland and overused genre formulas, clichés, and wooden characters.

Posted March 31, 2008

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