This film is an incredibly ridiculous supernatural thriller, that falls apart the minute it’s over, as you start to fill in the badly done pieces. It works okay for a while, good enough to keep you watching and wanting to know how it ends. But once some of the film’s mysteries start to unravel, you feel dumber for continuing to watch it. The film only works because of some blatant plot-holes and leaps in logic, that don’t make sense even in a world where Sandra Bullock’s life jumps back and forth between days of the week...[more]...

Honestly when I saw the first previews for this film, I thought I’d skip it all together. It didn’t look good, didn’t seem fresh in any way. But my son hadn’t seen a movie in theaters in a few months, so we we’re dying to take him to anything. Maybe it was my low expectations, but I found myself truly enjoying Kung Fu Panda from beginning to end and actually came away thinking the film was a minor animation classic. It’s as good as, or better than some of the lesser Pixar films, and way better made than the Shrek or Ice Age films...[more]...

Will Ferrel seems content in continuing to make the same film over and over until the well runs dry. We as an audience continue to lap up what he’s serving, so he’s able to continue to do so, not forcing him to move on to something greater. But I must admit that his films remain funny, he’s such an offbeat, lovable character that his shtick has yet to grow old. Although I’m not sure how many more trips to the well I can take...[more]...

After watching Russell Crowe in hero mode a few nights back in American Gangster, it was fun to see him in all-out bad guy mode. He’s one of the few actors around that has the gravitas to make you fully believe him in either role, and it’s fun to watch him stretch those impressive muscles. Here in 3:10 to Yuma, he plays one of the great western villains in Ben Wade. Until a third act slip-up nearly ruins his character and the entire movie. (Which, I’ll write about in full spoiler mode below.) I was enjoying the film and his character so much up till that point, that despite the total flaw, I tried to overlook it and enjoy the film for all its other great moments...[more]...

I can’t believe that the whiny lead character from Swingers, ended up directing the biggest film of the summer. It’s amazing; and goes to show you never know what people’s hidden talents are. Jon Favreau, A guy who had limited range as an actor, is now one of the top directors in Hollywood, and after Iron Man, can have his pick of projects. But it’s well deserved, he showed great comedic timing with his Christmas film Elf, made a better version of Jamanji with Zathura, and shows he has an adept talent with action in Iron Man. I was really surprised by how well rounded the film is, and I think that’s why it connected with audiences so well. We’ve become so sick of the mindless action scenes and huge explosions, that when there’s a character to connect to behind it, it becomes much more enjoyable...[more]...

I really dig anti-romantic-comedies. Love is such a powerful emotion, that when it turns bad, it can truly ruin your life. So it’s cathartic to watch fictional characters go through it so convincingly, instead of the typical romantic comedy where the characters find their perfect love and everything ends with a happily ever after. And sure, Forgetting Sarah Marshall gets around to that by the end, but it finds its where there in a completely different fashion than the usual film...[more]...

The Matrix is my all time favorite film. I believe it's about the most perfect film ever made. (At least for my tastes.) It beautifully blends a mind-bending sci-fi story, with jaw-dropping action scenes, through brilliant, top-notch filmmaking. I became a Wachowski Brothers fan for life the moment I walked out of seeing The Matrix for the first time. I don't care that the sequels didn't live up to the original. I still enjoy them as decent follow-ups, they also have excellent action scenes and continue the story that I fell in love with. I think that the films were rushed out too quickly and that's what sullied what they had built. But I still think in time, as kids grow up with these films, without the great expectations from the first one, instantly able to pop in the sequels after watching the first, that the films will become a classic trilogy on level with Star Wars for my generation. I honestly think that The Matrix Revolutions is a much better film than Return of the Jedi, it's only a matter of nostalgic perception...[more]...

This is an absolutely beautiful film, gorgeously photographed, with sets and costumes too die for, perfectly acted, an impeccably well told piece of history. You really couldn't ask for a better made film. That said, I struggled getting through it. It's long, slow moving and very depressing...[more]...

I absolutely adored Noah Baumbach's last film The Squid and the Whale; it perfectly and realistically captured the drama of going through a divorce through a child's perspective. His first film Kicking and Screaming is a 90's classic, and very well sums up what it was like to be a young adult during that moment in time. So I was hoping and expecting more from Margot at the Wedding; a strangely unfocused film, with some very intense performances from Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh...[more]...

I've never been that big of a vampire fan; too many weaknesses, too much romance, too little ferociousness. Getting bit on the neck, then getting to live forever, never seemed that threatening to me. (I've always preferred werewolves, though there isn't nearly as many films about them.) My favorite vampire film has always been Near Dark, it's gritty and violent, with a little more realistic approach to them as another species. When I saw the trailer for 30 Days of Night, it conveyed a dark edge; it was the first vampire film I was stoked to see in over 10 years, since the Tarantino and Rodriguez mash-up From Dusk Till Dawn. Once it came out, I didn't hear anybody have anything good to say about it, but I still had to check it out for myself...[more]...

The Invasion of the Body Snatchers in all its incarnations is one of my favorite sci-fi stories. I remember seeing the original on TV when I was a kid, it left a large impression on me, because it was the first time I'd ever seen a movie where the good guys lost. The 2nd one is also very good. The third one, made during the 90's;The Body Snatchers is good cheesy fun. The idea of our loved ones being taken over by something alien, their body still being there, but their mind belonging to somebody else, is a wonderful plot device; and it seems worthwhile to remake every 10 years or so, because there are constantly new generational themes you can attach to it...[more]...

In a decade where the art of the romantic-comedy seems to be lost, Waitress proves to be a fresh breath of air. I don’t remember the last romantic-comedy released that was as equally entertaining for men and women. They are either, ridiculously sappy and unrealistic, trying to bring out the real girlie-girls, or they’re gross-out comedies pretending to be love stories, where all the stupidity may be funny, it doesn’t lend itself to romance. Rare is the film that can be truly funny, while retaining a realistic love story; one that doesn’t pander to the lowest common denominator, like some horrible dime store romance novel...[more]...

I saw this film in the theater back in 2004 and enjoyed it, but didn’t love it. Some of it was to ridiculous, the ending in particular, and it never seemed to fully gel to make a fully compelling film. I never thought much about it after that, though every once and a while I kept thinking I should revisit it, since it was now from the “visionary mind” of Guillermo del Toro, who was relatively unknown then. That urge caught up to me when I saw the trailer for Hellboy 2: Golden Army; I decided to watch the directors cut of the film, hoping that it might be a more rounded film...[more]...

For a few years during the 90's the Farrelly brothers were on top of the comedic world. Their first film, Dumb & Dumber, introduced us to a new brand of comedy; a mix of sweet slapstick humor and over-the-top grossness. They continued in the right direction with Kingpin. Then completely nailed it with There's Something About Mary, where every joke seemed to be firing on all cylinders...[more]...

I was stoked when I first heard about this movie. Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later), is one of the most interesting filmmakers working these days. And to hear that he was making an ambitious sci-fi film, was music to my mind. There aren't enough smart sci-fi films, it's a genre too little explored. Most sci-fi films follow the Star Wars mode; adventure films in a sci-fi setting, which is fine, I enjoy them as well. But I like to see films, that generate new ideas about what may lie ahead for mankind...[more]...

Paul Thomas Anderson has been one of my favorite directors for over 10 years now. His second film Boogie Nights was so perfect, so crazily wonderful that I instantly knew he was a filmmaker that would forever be remembered. His follow-up Magnolia was also a brilliant piece of filmmaking, his version of a rambling Altman film. With his fourth film Punch-Drunk Love, it was almost like he was taking some time off, doing something small and fun, it was far less ambitious than his previous films, but also very well made and a fully interesting film. There Will Be Blood is probably my favorite film of 2007, an incredible masterwork, something that I didn't even believe he was capable of. Which in my eyes, moves him among the all time greats, with only five films under his belt. My only complaint is that it takes him two to three years to make a new film, but they're well worth the wait...[more]...

I was pretty jazzed by the original teaser for Cloverfield. It looked like a well done mix of Godzilla and The Blair Witch Project, which intrigued me. Plus the fact that J.J. Abrams was producing it; pretty much everything he touches these days, is at the very least entertaining. The film got pretty hyped in the days leading up to it, I was hoping that we didn't have another Snakes on the Plane situation on our hands, where the hype far outweighed the quality of the film...[more]...

I'm writing this after the Academy Awards, even though I saw the film about a month before. (Yeah, I'm way behind.) I'm glad that all it won is Best Screenplay, I think Diablo Cody has a fresh new voice, so it was somewhat deserved. But I would have been seriously pissed if it had won best picture, I was mad that it was even nominated. Sure it's a cute little film, but it's not mind-blowing. What I'm worried about is all the Juno clones we can expect in the next few years; sassy girls, speaking hip, through some life changing situation...[more]...

This is one of those movies, that looked so middle of the road, that I really had no interest in it. I enjoy Robin Williams for the most part, but this looked like his same old shtick warmed over. Barry Levinson is a decent director, but he hasn't done anything truly memorable in almost two decades. It looked like all the same jokes I've seen in other political comedies like Wag the Dog or The Daily Show. I really only bothered with it, because I try to see everything, it'd been sitting on our DVR for a few weeks, and I was in the mood for a comedy. Luckily it turned out better than I thought...[more]...

Making a comedy compilation based on the Ten Commandments, is a wonderful idea. Actually pulling it off, is much tougher. The comedy group The State does an okay job with it in The Ten. Some of the skits are brilliant and had me laughing throughout, some of the other skits, not so much. But if you're a fan of offbeat comedies, you should check out the film for yourself...[more]...