Movies

Review: The Dictator

Surprisingly sweet
Though his PR campaign might suggest otherwise, Sacha Baron Cohen has actually made (with director Larry Charles) a sweet movie, not unlike Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator , if less sentimental.

By: PETER KEOUGH | May 16, 2012

Review: God Bless America

Bobcat Goldthwait tackles vapid celebrity culture
The latest dark comedy from Bobcat Goldthwait tackles both vapid celebrity culture ( i.e. , Paris Hilton, the Kardashians, and American Idol ) and the indignity of being an office drone.

By: TOM MEEK | May 17, 2012

Review: Battleship

Why not?
Hasbro's Transformers have made a mint; why not make a movie out of Battleship ?

By: ANN LEWINSON | May 18, 2012

Review: Dark Shadows

Tim Burton's best film since Ed Wood
By the time Dark Shadows gets to the opening credits, it is already Tim Burton's best film since Ed Wood , but then I've always had a soft spot for the Moody Blues' "Nights in White Satin."

By: PETER KEOUGH | May 11, 2012

Review: The Five-Year Engagement

Nicholas Stoller's inventive, funny, and sometimes subversive romantic comedy won't revive that benighted genre, but it does offer hope.

By: PETER KEOUGH | May 01, 2012

Review: Marvel's The Avengers

Awkward first steps
Even for a hard-ass like Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), head of the ultra-secret S.H.I.E.L.D agency, getting a billionaire genius in a metal suit, a scientist with a bad temper, a cryogenically preserved WWII warrior, a Norse god, and two secret agents (how did they get in?) to play nicely together can take a while.

By: PETER KEOUGH | May 06, 2012

Review: The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Dry romp on the high seas
Peter Lord, animator behind claymation staples Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run , directs this very British, very dry romp on the high seas during the time when Britannia did indeed rule the waves.

By: TOM MEEK | April 24, 2012

Review: Chimpanzee

Disney-distributed documentary
Following in the footsteps of African Cats , this Disney-distributed documentary combines breathtaking wildlife footage with silly, self-conscious voiceover narration aimed at preschoolers.

By: MILES HOWARD | April 24, 2012

Review: The Raven

John Cusack as Poe
If only Poe could find the solution to the mystery in his own texts! Or if the filmmakers made any use of them.

By: PETER KEOUGH | April 26, 2012

Review: The Lucky One

Scott Hicks's adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks bestseller
Who knew that PTSD is the secret to an ideal boyfriend?

By: PETER KEOUGH | April 18, 2012

Review: Lockout

Guy Pearce rises above the rest
Every once in a while, an actor can single-handedly hoist a film to near greatness, despite a banal script and subpar direction.

By: MICHAEL C. WALSH | April 18, 2012

Review: The Three Stooges

Funny and faithful
The Farrelly Brothers' Three Stooges pastiche, while not poifect, is funny and faithful, recreating slap-shtick (and sound effects!) and adding sharp one-liners.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | April 23, 2012

Review: Think Like A Man

Cleverer than your average rom-com
I guess you can never judge a book by its cover, even if it is Steve Harvey's obnoxiously titled Act like a Lady, Think like a Man.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | April 18, 2012

Review: The Cabin in the Woods

Down the rabbit hole -- er, cabin
Youth will be served — as victims — in three movies in the theaters this week (four if you include the re-release of Titanic in 3D): The Hunger Games, Bully, and The Cabin in the Woods, the last being the most ingenious, entertaining, and sadistic.

By: PETER KEOUGH | April 12, 2012

Review: L!fe Happens

Not much happening in L!fe Happens
In the opening scene of Kat Coiro's comedy, roommates Kim (Krysten Ritter) and Deena (Kate Bosworth), eager one-night stands waiting in their beds, both reach for a condom in the communal stash. But only one remains, and Deena grabs it.

By: PETER KEOUGH | April 11, 2012

Review: American Reunion

The Pie returns
Just as predictable and appetizing as Jason Biggs's penis in a pie, the newest addition to the raunchy American Pie franchise comes to audiences half-baked by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | April 11, 2012

Review: Detention

The Breakfast Club meets Scream 2
A knife-wielding maniac plots his exploits off of a popular slasher film. If you were to call out Joseph Kahn for unabashedly ripping this plot straight from Scream 2 , he'd probably take it as a compliment.

By: MICHAEL C. WALSH | April 12, 2012

Review: Goon

Ode to the brawl
A Slapshot-worshipping, proudly raunchy ode to hockey's enforcers, Goon repeats a mock-poetic motif of blood and teeth wafting slo-mo towards the ice.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | April 12, 2012

Review: Mirror Mirror

The least magical adaptation of a fairy tale ever made
Had Tarsem Singh given his dwarves names that described his film they might be: Ugly, Creepy, Murky, Listless, Pathological, Sadistic, and Inane.

By: PETER KEOUGH | April 03, 2012

Review: The Wrath of the Titans

Sword & sandal frenzy
The folks who gave us the bombastic 3D remake of Clash of the Titans unleash Jonathan Liebesman's Wrath , and it's sensational — if you like being stuffed into a trash can and rolled down a hill.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | April 10, 2012

Review: Being Flynn

Father complex
If you're a fan of Nick Flynn's stunning 2004 memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, you're probably concerned about whether Being Flynn director Paul Weitz will do justice to Flynn's exploration of grief, homelessness, and father-son relationships on the streets of '80s-era Boston.

By: THOMAS PAGE MCBEE | March 28, 2012