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 […]
Author Archives: Dann Gire
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 […]
Comic ‘Hall Pass’ not the Farrellys’ best
Married pals Fred (Jason Sudeikis), left, and Rick (Owen Wilson) can’t believe their wives gave them a “Hall Pass” to have sex with other women for a week, penalty-free. Only one scene in the Farrelly brothers’ new comedy, “Hall Pass,” resonates with insight into how the sexual immaturity of men can fray the romantic bonds […]
Teen angst well-played in ‘Number Four’
Alien adolescent John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) exhibits some unusual powers in “I Am Number Four.” It’s not easy being teen. Especially if you’re also an extraterrestrial humanoid who has klieg lights in your palms and possesses Harry Potter-like powers to move objects by sheer will. D.J. Caruso’s fun but derivative teen angst fantasy “I Am […]
‘Just Go With It’ a crass mess
Katherine (Jennifer Aniston) pretends to be the future ex-wife of Danny (Adam Sandler) the plastic surgeon in the rom-com “Just Go With It.” To understand how brain-numbing and manipulative this insufferably crass and icky rom-com is, some cinematic genealogy would be in order. “Just Go With It” is a remake of the Oscar-winning 1969 comedy […]
Furious action propels ‘The Eagle’
Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum) tries to survive a surprise attack in 120 A.D. Britain in Kevin Macdonald’s “The Eagle.” I know it sounds crazy, but I wanted to see what the two main characters in the ancient Roman adventure “The Eagle” were going to do after the movie instead of watching what they actually did […]