movie reviews

February 17, 2012

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Nicolas Cage

Directed by: Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor

Nicolas Cage is at his bugfuck best. Not in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, a dishwater dull sequel to the hellishly bad 2007 original, but in a special appearance a few weeks back on Saturday Night Live in which Andy Samberg brilliantly played Cage and Cage did a Cage so wonderfully demented you could forgive him anything, even Bangkok Dangerous. Citing the Cage rule for Cage movies, the actor clearly stated that "every line of dialogue must be either whispered or screamed." That definitel... | More »

February 16, 2012

This Means War

Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hardy, Chris Pine

Directed by: McG

A trio of appealing actors (Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hardy and Chris Pine) is trapped in an action-spiked romcom (the guys are CIA agents vying for the same cute product analyzer) death-sentenced by a lack of humor, heart and a coherent reason for being. I could say more, but do I really need to? | More »

February 10, 2012

Rampart

Woody Harrelson

Directed by: Oren Moverman

As Dave Brown, a sexist, racist, trigger-tempered police officer carving out his own definition of justice on the mean streets of 1999 Los Angeles, Woody Harrelson climbs to the top of the acting mountain. It's a monumental portrayal of a cop in meltdown – bruisingly brilliant and coiled to spring. Director Oren Moverman (The Messenger), who co-wrote the script with James Ellroy, is a filmmaker with rare skills. He can let us inhale the toxic atmosphere of crime and corruption and... | More »

Safe House

Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds

Directed by: Daniel Espinoza

Denzel Washington is way too fine an actor to hide his talents in standard-issue action claptrap like Safe House. As the film drags on, the mischievous glint in Washington's eyes grows dim as if he, like us, is fighting to stay awake. Who can blame him? Washington plays Tobin Frost, a rogue CIA agent sent to a safe house in Cape Town, South Africa, where a newbie agent, Matt Weston (Ryan Reynolds), is meant to slap him down to size on the orders of bosses played by Vera Farmiga, Brendan ... | More »

The Vow

Rachel McAdams, Channing Tatum

Directed by: Michael Sucsy

Failing the arrival of The Notebook in 3D (please make that never happen!), here's the default date-night movie for Valentine's weekend. The Vow is a sopping hankie of a romance for women who love to suffer and the men who love them. Consider than a fair warning to those who'd rather will themselves into a coma than take The Vow. Luckily the film's stars, Rachel McAdams and the often shirtless Channing Tatum, are attractive distractions from a plot that's been marinat... | More »

In Darkness

Robert Wieckiewicz

Directed by: Agnieszka Holland

An Oscar nominee this year for Best Foreign-Language Film, In Darkness tells the true story of Leopold Socha (the excellent Robert Wieckiewicz), a Polish sewer worker and thief in the Nazi-held city of Lvov who takes money to hide a group of Jews underground. Based on Robert Marshall's nonfiction book In the Sewers of Lvov, the film offers a warts-and-all portrait of victims and saviors, forgoing the heroism inherent in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List. Polish director Agnie... | More »

February 2, 2012

Chronicle

Dane DeHaan

Directed by: Josh Trank

Just when I was ready to effing scream if I had to sit through another found-footage chunk of FX out of the Blair Witch/Paranormal Activity playbook, along comes Chronicle to make me a believer. Despite a gimmicky premise, Chronicle fuels its action with characters you can laugh with, understand and even take to heart. Major props to screenwriter Max Landis and director Josh Trank for this mesmerizing mind-bender. Chronicle starts with high school senior Andrew (Dane DeHaan, looking like a y... | More »

The Woman in Black

Daniel Radcliffe

Directed by: Joseph Watkins

Moving onward from Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe acquits himself admirably as Arthur Kipps, a Victorian-era widower and father racked by a grief that may cost him his job as an attorney and earn him the wrath of an evil spirit who may be after Arthur's four-year-old son (Misha Handley). That's the premise of The Woman in Black, a truly haunting and hypnotic ghost story that earns its chills old-school through artful atmospherics and no switching to the torture porn default position... | More »

W.E.

Andrea Riseborough, Abbie Cornish

Directed by: Madonna

Madonna directs again! Oh, no! Oh, yes! A hard lesson should have been learned after Filth and Wisdom, but here's Madge one more time doing something for which she is eminently unsuited – directing. Madonna's tenacity deserves praise, unlike anything else in this torturously torpid costume drama, except the costumes which gleam with period elegance. There is an idea here. Madonna and co-screenwriter Alek Keshishian (director of Madonna: Truth or Dare) are telling the true stor... | More »

January 27, 2012

Man on a Ledge

Sam Worthington, Elizabeth Banks

Directed by: Asger Leth

Sam Worthington is on a ledge. Is he ready to jump off Manhattan's Roosevelt Hotel because he's measuring how far his career has fallen since starring in Avatar? Nah. Nothing that interesting. He's playing an ex-cop who's escaped prison to prove his innocence by showing he’s been framed by a dirty-rat tycoon (Ed Harris, way too good for this crap). While the cop's brother (Jamie Bell) works the case on the ground and a negotiator Elizabeth Banks) tries to talk&n... | More »