Jesus (Chicago actor Michael Pena), left, protests his innocence on a murder charge to attorney Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey) in “The Lincoln Lawyer.” If you think “The Lincoln Lawyer” refers to Abraham Lincoln, forget that. Mick Haller hardly qualifies as an honest lawyer. He’s shifty, manipulative, selfish, slick and oily. The Lincoln he admires the […]
Monthly Archives: March 2011
‘Paul’ a close encounter of the cheesy kind
Paul the alien (voiced by Seth Rogen) and Graeme (Simon Pegg) perform the cliched “tandem scream” in the disappointing sci-fi comedy “Paul.” The planet Earth has so many science-fiction geeks and alien conspiracy buffs that if “Paul” reaches just 5 percent of them, the comedy should hit cosmic box office receipts in record time. I […]
‘Limitless’ visuals pop in drug drama
Lindy (Abbie Cornish) renews her interest in Eddie (Bradley Cooper) after he becomes addicted to a self-improvement drug in “Limitless.” It’s an action-packed superhero comic book! It’s a cautionary drug-addiction drama! It’s a cynical neo-noir thriller! It’s a … a … what the heck is it? Neil Burger’s “Limitless” doesn’t defy conventions. It embraces all […]
Common sense an alien concept in ‘Battle: Los Angeles’
A U.S. Marine staff sergeant (Aaron Eckhart) tries to rescue a family during “Battle: Los Angeles.” It’s been a long time since we’ve had an old-fashioned, dumbed-down, apolitical war movie masquerading as an alien invasion drama, but “Battle: Los Angeles” fits the bill quite nicely. War movie? Actually, “Battle: Los Angeles” is more like a […]
‘Red Riding Hood’ a Twilighted foray into a fairy tale
Valerie (Amanda Seyfried) is almost torn between two lovers in the gothic fantasy “Red Riding Hood.” Famed werewolf hunter Father Solomon (Gary Oldman) summons together the good people of the medieval village of Daggerhorn to give them the bad news: A werewolf is stalking the village, and because werewolves revert to human form during the […]
Marooned ‘Mars’ needs more than moms
Gribble (voiced by Dan Fogler) advises Milo (Seth Green) on how to handle Martians in the 3-D animated action-comedy “Mars Needs Moms.” This could be the first time in the history of science fiction movies that the humans are scarier than the Martians. If you’ve seen commercials for the 3-D movie “Mars Needs Moms,” you […]
‘Rango’ stands tall in the saddle as a Wild West spoof
A pet lizard with a vivid imagination (voiced by Johnny Depp) finds himself stranded in the desert in “Rango.” Just when we all thought Pixar might be the top rung on the animated feature film ladder forever, along comes Gore Verbinski’s radical neo-retro-three-dimensional-non-3-D-Western-tribute-spoof “Rango,” starring Johnny Depp as a thespian lizard deputy. As Depp’s chameleonic […]
‘Take Me Home’ as immature as its characters
Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) has a tough time finding his niche in life during “Take Me Home Tonight.” What a waste. “Take Me Home Tonight” could have be a crass comedy that still gave strength and reassurance to anxious college graduates spit out into a world where immaturity, fear of the future and incapacitating self-doubts […]