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results for: the Movies category
1-25 (of 29 matches)
Movies
New Openings
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Staring Nicholas Cage, a crooked cop with a drug problem.
Pirate Radio
A historically faitful retelling of a group of rockers who took to the high seas to broadcast music of rebellion to mainland Britain.
Planet 51
An alien, Captain Charles "Chuck" Baker lands on Planet 51 believing that he was the discoverer of the planet. To his his surprise, he is not.
Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
A young inner city woman finds redemption in a school for kids with problems.
The Blind Side
Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, and Kathy Bates star in this movie about football star Michael Oher's journey from a once-homeless to a star football player.
Twilight: New Moon
The next installment in Stephanie Meyer vampire series.
2012
Those crazy Mayans finally get their day! So does John Cusack! Explosions galore!
William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
Directors Emily and Sarah Kunstler delve into the life of their late father, civil rights lawyer William Kunstler. Throughout the movie, Emily and Sarah realized how much risk their father took so that justice could be served.
Continuing and Repertory
Amelia
Hilary Swank plays a pilot or something, that once flew around the world. Amelia? Airhead? Earhart! Amelia Aerhart! Will it be better than The Aviator? See for yourself!
AN EDUCATION
An Education feels much more mature than most coming-of-age movies, and will buoy anyone who still remembers what it's like to take that first peek into life beyond parents and textbooks. The story takes place in 1960s London and might not have worked as well without Carey Mulligan, a relative newcomer whose face belies 16-year-old Jenny's every emotion as the heretofore well-behaved and Oxford-bound schoolgirl is seduced by David (Peter Sarsgaard), a man approximately twice her age. David's effortless ability to enchant has a dark side, which is what makes Jenny's involvement with him as much a lesson as a whirlwind romance. But the witty script and excellent performances never sink the film to a black-and-white portrait of a conniving man tricking an innocent girl. Director Lone Scherfig's lone misstep is in the film's final chapters, which are reduced to a cheesy montage and wrapped all too quickly. Even so, its loveliness can't be erased. (TO)
Astro Boy
Depending on how you look at it, Astro Boy is either one of the coolest things to happen to animation, based simply on its merits, or one of the worst, based on its legacy of aliens having sex with school girls. You decide!
BRIGHT STAR
Grand-scale pining is best left to literature, or maybe a three-minute pop song. When you dramatize and stretch the yearning to feature length, however–well, someone else's woe is too often the audience's tedium. Jane Campion offers ornate inertia in Bright Star, a story about John Keats' (Ben Whishaw) last days and his romance with headstrong seamstress Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). Fanny isn't wowed by Keats' writing but doesn't hate it, either–and combined with his waves of dark hair and swoony eyes, it's enough for her to fall hard. Their early days of courtship are Bright Star's better half. This being 1818, flirtation comprises little more than clever banter and flirty looks, both of which Cornish and Whishaw load with new-love butterflies. But when the relationship hits some roadblocks–first Keats' lengthy vacation with Brown and later the illness that would kill him–the film feels like Twilight disguised in frills. (TO)
Capitalism: A Love Story
Michael Moore does it again, this time going after banks and people who love to make lots and lots of money. Which is everyone, apparently, except him.
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
VAMPIRES! JOHN C. REILLY! What could possibly go wrong? NOTHING!
Couples Retreat
An all-star cast of Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Faizon Love, Jon Favreau, Malin Akerman, and Kristen Bell go on a retreat to fix their marriages. Disaster ensues, then violence, then love. Or something like that.
THE DAMNED UNITED
The Damned United is less a sports flick than a true-story biopic about a man with "mad ambition." You get the sense that Brian Clough (Michael Sheen, seemingly still in his Frost/Nixon character) would be as tenacious in any field, even though he says in an interview that soccer is "a beautiful game [that] needs to be played beautifully" and starts his first day coaching a top-rated team by accusing the players of cheating their way to championships. No one at Leeds wants him there; their loyalty lies with former coach Don Revie (Colm Meaney, the character actor with a ruddy mobster's face), whom Clough dislikes not only because he believes his on-field tactics are suspect but also because Revie once snubbed Clough by not shaking his hand. The film is also quite unlike a sports flick because melodramatic success isn't part of the equation–it's more about personalities and relationships, which ensures that viewers don't have to love soccer (hello?) to find the film engaging. The arrogant getting their asses handed to them is a familiar story, yes, but also one that the filmmakers and Sheen relay deftly enough to make it worth re-telling. (TO)
Disney's A Christmas Carol
Jim Carrey continues to pervert legacies of authors dead and gone.
THE HANGOVER
Within the first two minutes of The Hangover, you see Zach Galifianakis' ass. And, later, you'll see an old man's ass. And an Asian's. And then Galifianakis' again. That's a lot of asses for one comedy–which may as well be the tag line for Todd Phillips' attempt to recapture the goofy/filthy fun that was 2003's Old School. But this time, the director had no hand in writing the script, leaving it to co-writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore to up the crude and oh-no-he-didn't! factors in this story about a Las Vegas bachelor party gone awry. And considering the pair are best known for penning tepid romcoms Four Christmases and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, well, maybe they're not quite ready to wield pedophile and 9/11 jokes just yet. Phillips, though, employs the film's sole stroke of genius when he cuts from the Jager-shot'd start of their escapade to the messy morning-after, when pals Alan (Galifianakis), Phil (Bradley Cooper), and Stu (Ed Helms) wake up to a destroyed hotel suite and a missing groom (Justin Bartha). This nugget of mystery at least keeps the story interesting even if you find the humor tedious. And then, during the credits, a photo montage finally shows you what went down. This inspired Hail Mary is by far the best part of the movie. (TO)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The legend of the Boy Who Lived continues to evolve. Anyone who was first enchanted by the series' newbie-wizards charms and has been following the films shouldn't be surprised by Half-Blood's keenest characteristics: It boasts mysteries, but little wonder. The kids -- predominantly Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson) -- are no longer cute, but, like, *cute.* And the humorousness of magic-gone-wrong has been replaced by the broadness of hormones-gone-crazy. Of course, there are also darker matters, involving Harry nemesis Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton), Professor Snape (Alan Rickman), and their possible ties with the evil Lord Voldemort. There's more depth to J.K. Rowling's sixth Potter novel than is shown in the 153-minute film, but even in its simplified presentation, nonreaders may not grasp much beyond Dumbledore and Harry vs. Draco and Evil, with a couple of Quidditch scenes in between. Remarkably, this doesn't hinder the movie's pace; between the love stories and Harry's vague need to triumph, there's plenty to keep the audience interested. (TO)
Inglourious Basterds
Somewhere between Jackie Brown and Death Proof, Quentin Tarantino became a parody of himself. But when a character delivers the final line in his latest, the World War II-era Inglourious Basterds–"This may be my masterpiece"–it feels as if Tarantino is giving the audience a wink and himself a pat on the back. Because you'll likely realize that not once during its 150-plus minutes did you look at your watch. And that, though it's not quite on par with the genre-busting breath of fresh air that was Pulp Fiction, Tarantino's seventh film is just as assuredly paced and remarkably more mature. Though his usual tics are toned down–after spinning out of control in Death Proof–the film about seeking revenge on Nazis still bears his stamp. You'll see the German scalps that American solider and head Basterd Lt. Raine (Brad Pitt) demands from his troops being hatcheted off heads, and shoot-outs are vicious and thorough. There's a smattering of Royale With Cheese-esque banter, such as when "Jew Hunter" Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) talks at length about the differences between hawks (which he compares Germans to) and rats (those would be Jews). More distinctive is the script's humor: Pitt gets to deliver most of it, even if his mugging gets excessive. It all adds up to a tremendously satisfying package that may not project youthful exuberance, but still oozes talent. (TO)
Law Abiding Citizen
Jamie Foxx, Gerard Butler, and Colm Meaney star in this film about a man who takes justice into his own hands after a sociopathic serial killer is granted mercy by the courts.
New York, I Love You
Shia LaBeouf, Bradley Cooper, and Natalie Portman star in this ode to "the most loved city in the world."
Saw VI
Remember when horror movie franchises ended with a third installmen? No, you don't, because horror makers have never been content to leave a brand the hell alone after trampling it into the ground. Like Rob Zombie's brilliant remakes of the Halloween movies, the new Saw VI will probably give you indigestion. Unlike Rob Zombie's movies, you will in no way be grateful.
Skin
The story of a black girl born to white parents in South Africa during apartheid.
The Stepfather
A remake of the 1987 classic, featuring Dylan Walsh.
