Reviews

Like the popular syndicated radio show that bears its name, Robert Altman’s new film “A Prairie Home Companion” occupies its own unique time bubble. Nostalgic for an idealized version of wry family entertainment that probably never quite existed, it embodies all that is strong in character about the Midwest, or at least what should be. […]

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I must concede from the get-go that I think Superman may be the least cool superhero ever. His story has never grabbed me the way Batman or Wolverine do, not to mention the whole “all-powerful unless too close to a rock” thing never ceases to annoy me. For that reason alone “Superman Returns” was not […]

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One really never knows what you’re going to get with an Adam Sandler flick. You could get lucky and end up with a modern classic like “The Wedding Singer” or make a nonrefundable withdrawal of two hours of your life suffering through “Mr. Deeds.” The new Sandler film “Click” is a pleasant surprise. It’s not […]

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Usually I don’t read reviews of a movie until I’ve finished writing my own.  The frightening new global warming documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” has been in limited release for about a month now, and I’ve just seen it. This means that there are plenty of people in bigger cities who have already posted their reviews. […]

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When you see a movie poster with Jack Black in a Mexican wrestling costume you really ought to know what you’re in for. If not, and you were hoping for – I don’t know…an elevated comedy experience – it would be a bit like waltzing into the Ben and Jerry’s and demanding a car battery. […]

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Ever since “Napoleon Dynamite” was elevated to major cult favorite status, people’s expectations for writer/director Jared Hess’ follow-up effort have been high.  That movie is here, and “Nacho Libre” throws in the raucous energy of Jack Black and the unusual setting of a Mexican monastery and low-rent wrestling arenas. On paper, you’ve got an intriguing […]

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I am obsessive about films and music. If I like an album, I don’t just listen to it once or twice and move on, I’ll listen to it endlessly for weeks, sometimes months on end. Just ask anyone at my work if they want to listen to Death Cab for Cutie’s “Transatlanticism” or Jay-Z’s “Black […]

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In the low-budget yet endlessly stylish neo-noir “Brick,” the familiar posture of disaffected youth manifests itself in the most bizarre way. The problems of high school cliques are not new, and like any generation, the kids of bleak and sunny San Clemente, California have developed their own distinctive slang. It just happens to be delivered […]

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It shouldn’t come as a monumental shock that the new movie “The Break-Up” is actually about…wait for it…a break up. In spite of the slightly misleading previews that tout the film as a quirky romantic comedy, “The Break-Up” is a worthwhile gem, one that avoids many of the typical pitfalls of relationship stories and manages […]

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Gretchen Mol is ebullient and charming as “The Notorious Bettie Page” in an affectionate new biopic of the quintessential 1950s pin-up queen, directed by Mary Harron (“American Psycho,” “I Shot Andy Warhol”). If the real Bettie Page is as elusive and naïve as the film’s wandering screenplay would have us believe, then it’s a good […]

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Having fought atop the Statue of Liberty and inside the White House in the first two “X-Men” movies, it is fitting that the climactic battle scene of “X-Men: The Last Stand” takes place at another American landmark– Alcatraz. The legendary former prison serves not only as another iconic image for the series, but also as […]

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