Screen
Too many Ds
When you remake a movie that originally starred Sylvester Stallone and Rob Schneider, it’s not a challenge to clear the bar that was set. Limbo-ing beneath it, however, would require a shrink-ray gun. So it is the faintest of all possible praises to say that Dredd 3D...
Hocus poking
If you were to divide your ticket price by the number of semi-nude male pelvic thrusts in the faces of women spectators, each hump costs you less than a penny. At times during Magic Mike XXL, I felt like I needed a “horny translator.” That is to say, when Channing ...
Reel to reel | Week of December 12, 2013
All is Lost Robert Redford is brilliant in his role as a nameless man who must survive after his sailboat sinks leaving him lost at sea. Rated PG-13. At Colony Square. The Armstrong Lie In 2008, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney (We Steal Secrets: The ...
‘Armored’: Terrible tough guys
Ever wonder what kind of guy drives an armored car full of cash? Yeah, I never did either, but that’s the environment that Armored presents us with: a bunch of edgy, tough-guy losers who somehow have ended up as employees of Eagle Shield Security...
Special effects addicts only
If you’re a fan of special effects and seek entertainment on the big screen, a few hours of escape and some righteous butt-kicking and loud explosions, and if you’ve already enjoyed Transformers and have forgiven Michael Bay for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen...
Bland, flavorless cheese
Sand dunes at sunset, summer lovin’ (had me a blast!), a third-act medical crisis and a clutch of letters designed to be read aloud in voice-over: Another month, another adaptation of a Nicholas Sparks romance. This month’s is called The Last Song, starring Miley ...
On her own terms
Amy Schumer tries everything. Especially when it comes to shooting a one-night stand for her movie...
Mastering the mob mentality
In 1997 Sicilian-born filmmaker Marco Amenta made an hour-long documentary about Rita Atria, the young woman who risked her life by ratting out various members of the Sicilian mob — including members of her own family — pulling the strings and the triggers in the ...
The dreaded ’20’
It´s a close call, given the lousiness and the scolding tone of much of her material, but Anna Faris survives What’s Your Number? with eccentric comic charm intact. Dumb film; smart comedienne...
Poorly timed gun fetishization
Slipping into a funk while watching half of Los Angeles get shot up in the second half of The Green Hornet, I was struck by the sheer unluckiness of this film’s timing...
All the president’s meh
Although he may still be a panty dropper to the baby boomer set, Robert Redford looks like he needs a good nap. The bags under his eyes are scene-stealing, uncredited supporting actors in The Company You Keep, a ’70s-style thriller about investigative journalism that...
Alexander Payne’s sweet stakes
I like Alexander Payne. I really do. His ability as a director to mine for subtle laughs others would leave buried is as pleasant as his now-signature genre of “middle-aged-and-older men having muted epiphanies.” I guess I just miss the Citizen Ruth/Election-era ...
















