American driver Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) tries to dig himself out of a bad situation in the claustrophobic drama “Buried.” “Buried” takes place inside a coffin. No cutaways. No flashbacks. For 95 minutes. Just an American truck driver buried in a coffin somewhere in Iraq. The only things in there with him are a crummy […]
Monthly Archives: September 2010
‘Legend of the Guardians’ is one strange bird
Soren (voiced by Jim Sturgess) leads the owl brigade to the rescue in “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole.” “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” is one strange bird. It’s an animated fantasy obviously intended for children, yet it depicts genocidal violence perpetrated by gladiator-like birds of prey locked in death […]
Greed isn’t good: ‘Wall Street’ sequel sells out
Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), left, takes on a young Wall Street trader (Shia LaBeouf) in “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.” In Oliver Stone’s sequel “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” financial uber-villain Gordon Gekko goes soft, the characters around him go soft in the head, and the director who hard-balled capitalism in his 1987 drama “Wall […]
Dull ‘You Again’ revisits high school horrors
A family (Jamie Lee Curtis, Kristen Bell and the immortal Betty White) star in the revenge-themed comedy “You Again.” “High school was a horror movie!” Marni shrieks. “And this weekend was the sequel!” Actually, if Marni could see her own movie “You Again,” she would realize high school was nothing compared to the horror that […]
‘Alpha and Omega’ no leader of the (3-D) pack
The poorly animated “Alpha and Omega” features the voice talents of Hayden Panettiere and Justin Long as the lupine title characters. Early this summer when I was a guest on the now-defunct, local CBS morning news show “Monsters and Money,” I was asked about the future of 3-D movies. I said that the biggest danger […]
Give this teen sex comedy an A for effort, at least
Olive (Emma Stone) narrates her own version of how she earned a scarlet letter in the high school comedy “Easy A.” Emma Stone possesses soft, come-hither eyes that could drink in the oceans, a sexually playful, raw, husky voice that could melt icebergs, and a feminine fragility that summons forth the protector in males. “Easy […]
True grit: Affleck makes tough but tender ‘Town’ his own
Two pals (director Ben Affleck, left, and Jeremy Renner) pose as cops to rob Fenway Park in the crime drama “The Town.” “The Town” is a slickly constructed heist thriller that dares to suggest that a person born in violence and brokenness can yearn for something better and can muster the strength to break the […]
‘I’m Still Here’ mockumentary plays audience for chumps
Actor Joaquin Phoenix takes the microphone to reinvent himself as a hip-hop musician in Casey Affleck’s “I’m Still Here.” If Casey Affleck’s new movie “I’m Still Here” had been a genuine exploration of Oscar-nominated actor Joaquin Phoenix’s wacked-out journey to become a white hip-hop star, it would have been a shocking, revelatory glimpse into the […]
‘Going the Distance’ proves not all can follow the Judd Apatow formula
Garrett (Justin Long) meets Erin (Drew Barrymore) in a bar in “Going the Distance,” a romance about faraway lovers. Erin and Garrett have been separated for too long while working in different cities, so they decide to indulge in some phone sex. But after thrashing out the embellished details of their fantasized tryst – car […]
Over-the-top ‘Machete’ cuts through grindhouse conventions
Danny Trejo plays “Machete,” a legendary ex-Federale with a deadly attitude, originally created for a fake movie trailer. “Machete” is a deliriously daffy tribute to the over-the-top, 1970s grindhouse features flooded with excessive nudity, sex, violence and hilarious tough-guy dialogue. Its villains include a cruel Mexican drug lord, a corrupt U.S. senator and a militia […]