Cloud Atlas is a sprawling, ambitious drama with a strong cast, intriguing science-fiction elements, solid production values and impressive visuals. But it’s also a big mess without a unifying theme. Six stories set in time periods varying from 1850 to the […]
Continue reading »Category: Recent Releases
Flight (2012) ☆ ☆ 1/2
Sometimes you walk into a movie theater expecting a certain kind of movie and walk out having seen something completely different. It can be disconcerting, and even create a negative reaction just because it something unexpected. This is the reaction […]
Continue reading »Alex Cross (2012) ☆ ☆
If Summit Entertainment is hoping that Alex Cross is going to start another popular film franchise (the almost finished Twilight series is theirs), that hope is misguided. James Patterson’s inimitable forensic psychologist-detective was played in two previous films (Kiss the Girls, Along […]
Continue reading »Here Comes the Boom (2012) ☆ ☆ ☆
I would never have thought that a movie that combines elements of Mr. Holland’s Opus and Rocky could be so entertaining, even though I really like those two films. Here Comes the Boom is a funny and heartwarming mix of downtrodden school […]
Continue reading »End of Watch (2012) ☆ ☆ 1/2
As yet another in the parade of gritty modern cop thrillers — almost all of them set in the City of Angels — End of Watch distinguishes itself only in the palpable partnership established between fellow cops Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) […]
Continue reading »Argo (2012) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
Among my favorite aspects of cinema occurs when someone unearths a particularly fascinating bit of history and then recreates that history in a well-made movie. When this happens history comes alive as drama that transcends personal experience to reveal ourselves […]
Continue reading »Hotel Transylvania (2012) ☆ ☆ ☆
Most kids love the old, classic monsters, and I am no exception. Those old classics, somewhat re-imagined, are all present in Hotel Transylvania — Dracula, the Mummy, the Werewolf, Frankenstein’s Monster (simply but incorrectly named just plain Frankenstein), the Invisible Man — along […]
Continue reading »Looper (2012) ☆ ☆ ☆
Although the premise of Looper is beset by a strange logic all its own which raises all sorts of questions without ever really addressing them, it is remarkably consistent, which is a huge plus. The story must be consistent, or otherwise […]
Continue reading »Dredd 3D (2012) ☆ ☆ ☆
Recalling with disappointment the Sylvester Stallone 1995 adventure dud Judge Dredd and recognizing in the preview for this movie a distinct similarity to an earlier action film this year called The Raid: Redemption which really impressed me, I was not expecting much […]
Continue reading »Won’t Back Down (2012) ☆ ☆ ☆
Inspirational or political propaganda? That is the dilemma of Won’t Back Down, a fiercely passionate diatribe about the poor state of public education in America. On one hand, there is no denying that the film’s heart is in the right […]
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