What better actor to play a hard-drinking billionaire playboy than Robert Downey, Jr.—whose own well-publicized brushes with the law inform every scene he’s in? The actor’s real-life troubles serve as a kind of shorthand to the lead character on display, and it helps make “Iron Man” the smartest kind of dumb comic book movie.
What we have here […]

Posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 | 2 Comments »

With a title like “Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay,” it would seem that the makers of its equally ridiculously-titled predecessor “Harold and Kumar go to White Castle” had returned with a more politically flavored sequel—one that expanded the racial stereotype humor of the first to and set their comic sights a little higher.
But […]

Posted on Friday, April 25th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

This is truly the worst type of film to review. “88 Minutes” is neither the worst film I’ve ever seen, nor is it in any way notable, remarkable, or original. This movie is why some critics use a rating system that allows them to call this what it is…a rent-it-on-DVD-some-sad-lonely-night-out-of-boredom-or-sheer-desperation movie. Or better yet, it’s […]

Posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Director/star Morgan Spurlock’s new documentary “Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?” is a lot like singer/songwriter Ben Folds’ solo debut record, “Rockin’ the Suburbs.” If that sounds like a strange analogy, let me explain.
Spurlock, whose 2004 movie “Super Size Me” blindsided the fast food industry and the box office, making a huge splash […]

Posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 | No Comments »

Jason Segel follows Seth Rogen as the next Judd Apatow-produced regular to be an unlikely leading man and show off solid writing chops—this time, in the same movie. Following the forgettable “Drillbit Taylor,” this raunchy and sweet romantic comedy shows that as long as Apatow keeps mining the cast and crews of his old TV […]

Posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

The first thing I will promise from this review is that there will be no bad football puns—no “Clooney fumbles at the goal line,” no “quarterback runs wrong play from pigskin playbook,” no “director scores a touchdown but misses the extra point.” I just won’t do it, you hear? I won’t stoop to that level, […]

Posted on Thursday, April 10th, 2008 | 2 Comments »

Martin Scorsese already has one definitive rock concert film under his belt, and with his new Rolling Stones documentary “Shine A Light,” which chronicles the legendary band’s two-night stand at New York’s Beacon Theater, he delivers another.
“Shine A Light” actually provides the perfect bookend to 1978’s “The Last Waltz”—a movie that featured The Band performing […]

Posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 | No Comments »

In “21,” the lastest feature from “Legally Blonde” director Robert Luketic, Jim Sturgess (“Across The Universe”) plays Ben Campbell, a genius at M.I.T. who has been accepted to Harvard Medical School, but doesn’t know how he’s going to pay for it. So, right off the bat the premise is flawed.
I’m going to go out on […]

Posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 | 1 Comment »

Perhaps it’s suitable that MTV films has partnered with Paramount to bring us the story of U.S. soldiers who return home from the current war in Iraq and are very changed people. After all, it is the young generation that’s doing their duty; being sent to fight in that uneasy, messy conflict. (Earlier this week, […]

Posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 | 5 Comments »

It’s common knowledge that Judd Apatow and his merry band of improv comedians have helped to make movies like “Knocked Up” and “Superbad” way better than your average batch of raunchy comedies while simultaneously seeming more authentic. When Seth Rogen and his friends get in a room together to do improvise the hell out of […]

Posted on Friday, March 21st, 2008 | No Comments »