Movie Reviews: News, Information and Reviews
An employee of the Chicago Public Schools system, the ha-cha seventh grade educator Elizabeth portrayed by Cameron Diaz in "Bad Teacher" blows most of her classroom time showing her students (whose names she never learns) movies such as "Lean on Me," "Stand and Deliver" and "Dangerous Minds" while she nurses a hangover or longs for her next bong hit.
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 10:00:00 -0700
'Conan O'Brien Can't Stop' — 1.5 stars Maybe this review is more about me than about Conan O'Brien, but I really couldn't get past the odor of self-congratulation emanating from nearly every scene in "Conan O'Brien Can't Stop." Director Rodman Flender's backstage account follows O'Brien and company on a 32-city performance tour, the one O'Brien put together last year after his separation from NBC. That separation, nicely compensated but no doubt embarrassing to O'Brien (who lost out to Jay Leno, time slot-wise), prevented the comedian and talk show host from doing any TV, radio or Web-based entertaining for six months.
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 07:00:00 -0700
'Green Lantern' -- 2 stars Green just isn't the superhero color this year.
Thu, 16 Jun 2011 07:01:00 -0700
'The Trip' — 3.5 stars In its sidewinding, frequently riotous fashion "The Trip" muses on friendship, commitment, narcissism and the onslaught of middle age, but it's really about specific, smaller questions such as: Who does the better Michael Caine impersonation, Steve Coogan or Rob Brydon?
Thu, 16 Jun 2011 11:12:00 -0700
Call it an alien hybrid mash-up of 'E.T.' meets 'Stand by Me.' Too bad it's not as good as either of those two classics. Time to phone home, J.J. and Steven. The poster for the new movie "Super 8" is dominated not by an image but by two equally prominent names: writer-director J.J. Abrams and producer Steven Spielberg. Hybrids may be all the rage for cars, but this melding of two cinematic sensibilities, though effective at moments, is finally not as exciting or involving as it we'd like it to be.
Thu, 9 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700
'Beautiful Boy' 2.5 stars "We decided to use a campus shooting and yet write nothing about it."
Thu, 9 Jun 2011 07:05:00 -0700
Michael Fassbender lends gravitas to a predictably middling X-Men prequel -- 2.5 stars Primarily for dues-paying "X-Men" club members in good standing, rather than anyone wandering by a multiplex wondering if the prequel stands on its own, "X-Men: First Class" settles for moderately engrossing second-class mutant superheroism. Plus it includes January Jones as Emma Frost, here depicted as Austin Powers' dream shag, and Rose Byrne as a perpetually aghast CIA operative.
Thu, 2 Jun 2011 07:03:00 -0700
This 3-star film tracks aspects of the life of famed designer Yves Saint Laurent According to his longtime lover and business partner Pierre Berge, the designer and global name-brand Yves Saint Laurent adored haute couture "but he was never fooled by it." He took it seriously, but just enough, Berge says. At the same time, he says, "a couturier brings to mind the fame, the triumphs, the applause, the catwalk. But that's not all. It's a terrible profession."
Thu, 2 Jun 2011 10:46:00 -0700
Kristen Wiig breaks out? We'll see, but Bridesmaids delivers the laughs -- 3 stars There's a reason "Bridesmaids" isn't called "The Bridesmaid." Kristen Wiig, the star and co-writer (along with Annie Mumolo) of director Paul Feig's comedy, has a self-effacing streak running right alongside her deadly deadpan streak. Even when she's playing the lead, she's not really playing the lead.
Thu, 12 May 2011 06:56:00 -0700
'Everything Must Go' — 2.5 stars The alcoholic son of an alcoholic, sales manager Nick Porter was born in a Raymond Carver short story called "Why Don't You Dance?" published in the 1981 Carver collection "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love." The story, which takes place at a yard sale among one man's stuff and his regrets, has been expanded into "Everything Must Go," from debut feature film writer-director Dan Rush. Will Ferrell, mining the minimalist vein he explored in "Stranger Than Fiction," does a valiant job in a picture that, admittedly, is only so big and only medium-sharp.
Thu, 12 May 2011 06:57:00 -0700