Screen
Learning the wrong lessons
An employee of the Chicago public school system, 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...
The poetry of cinema
Though an obscure class or two on film studies or screenwriting sometimes appears on the course list at Naropa University, the Buddhist-inspired Boulder school has no film studies major. However, since 1999, Naropa has enjoyed the presence of the novelist, singer-...
‘Lantern’ not illuminating
Just when I thought that the summer was going to be defined by great films, I watched Green Lantern. Based on a storyline that’s more suited for Saturday morning cartoons than a cinematic production, the film had the awkward feel of a children’s made-for-TV ...
Getting lazy about slackers
The Art of Getting By is a screen romance that echoes its title: It gets by. Barely. It’s another wan tale of an anti-social teen who finds himself irresistible to the sweetest, prettiest girl in school. But the film has flashes of wit and some interesting teen ...
Seduced by Paris
I feel like the Parisians kind of get me,” says Gil Pender in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, an early clue to this character’s cluelessness...
Throwback cinema
Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams know how to craft a splendid story, and Super 8 was a joy to watch. There were great special effects, but the characters were also delightful and the story unfolded slowly and intriguingly...
One for the fan boys
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 super-heroism. Plus it includes January...
Mary Poppins meets Charles Bukowski
T.J.needs a friend. His mom has just died in a traffic accident. His dad, Paul, has withdrawn into a haze of tranquilizers and group-therapy blather. His grandma is kind but housebound. The school bully likes pushing him facedown onto urinal cakes. The woman in his...
Comedians review reels of forgotten treasure
Nick Prueher would never wish his career on anyone...
‘Panda’ not going extinct any time soon
It takes somewhat longer for the awesomeness to turn all that awesome. And you can’t really replicate that element of surprise that the first movie had going for it: a fan boy panda that gets to team up with his martial arts heroes...
