Screen
Payoff never comes in ‘The Canyon’
When newlyweds in movies insist on taking their honeymoon in...
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...
BIFF: Alive Inside
Alive Inside confirms what many of us already knew: The healing, soothing power of music has been underestimated by the medical community for decades. This moving documentary focuses on individuals in nursing homes who have Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, and who ...
Rom-com surprise
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...
Mama, have mercy
Horror films are often peppered with moments in which you wish your protagonists were just a little more bright or had planned things out a little better — “Don’t go into that basement” and “Don’t open that door.” Even the beloved Shining leaves moments of, “Damn it...
Singing on the ice
I admired much of the original Happy Feet (2006), but five years later, I’m still considering suing its makers for emotional distress...
Kaiju goo goo
Oscar-winning fish pornographer Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim was a just-fine endeavor hailed as near-sexually-satisfying by a vocal community blessed/cursed with low expectations. Pacific...
Hocus poke-my-eyes-out
Like a scathing satire of the Soviet Union or a mockumentary musical on grunge, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone sets its eyes on an expired target of cultural derision nobody gives a fuzzy rabbit about anymore. Dressing Steve Carrell in a Siegfried and Roy bedazzled ...
Race scar drivers
Here in ’Murica, when we watch cars go round in circles while Kid Rock’s “Bawitaba” plays in the background, we have the decency to let the walking billboards who are driving vehicular billboards have a roof on their car. That way, they only die sometimes, as opposed...
