Screen
That ship cray: ‘Noah’ ain’t bible school, y’all
They gave the guy who made Requiem for a Dream $150 million to make a movie about Noah’s ark. Huh?! In Requiem, writer/director Darren Aronofsky had Jennifer Connelly connect with another woman via an unforgettable shared “experience.” So, if any exec at Paramount ...
Not awful, at least
Compared to 27 Dresses, The Ugly Truth and Killers — The Ugly Truth and Killers being extra-specially evil benchmarks of how low modern romantic comedies can go — Life as We Know It does not crush your soul, does not turn Katherine Heigl into a shrill pain in the ...
A thriller minus the thrills
When Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, Ciaran Hinds and this year’s breakout actress, Jessica Chastain of The Tree of Life and The Help, can’t make much out of a political thriller, you know something’s off with both the political and the thriller components...
Reel to Reel | Week of March 29, 2012
21 JUMP STREET See full review on page 47. Rated R. At Century, Colony Square and Twin Peaks. — Los Angeles Times/MCT ACT OF VALOR After the rescue of a kidnapped CIA operative leads to the discovery of a terrorist plot against the U.S., a team of Navy Seals is ...
Fairy tale, retold
Encased in a coffin, waiting to be brought back to life: That’s how Snow White spends a good portion of the folk story that bears her name. There’s no such downtime for the princess in the snappy retelling Mirror Mirror, a fractured fairy tale that occupies the ...
It (almost) never works
Since American media sexualizes almost everything except sex, Hollywood romantic comedies about two people making hey-hey without any big plans for any big future rarely come easily or operate from a spirit of carnal delight. The strain of being hip and loose, yet ...
Confusing hacktion
Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes? Is The Daily Show a news program with some comedy in it or a comedy program with some news in it? Is Blackhat a bad movie with a lot of good parts or a good movie with a lot of bad parts? The world may ...
Poor 2013: Films in the coming year
Listen, 2013, you look cool. You really do, with your new Superman movie and lack of Twilight...
Sequel, heal thyself
Pretend you were excited for the big screen version of 21 Jump Street. Yeah, nobody believes you. Writers Michael Bacall and Jonah Hill teamed up with directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller for the most hilarious, self-aware adaptation of a Richard Greico ...
