Imagine the kids from Stand By Me discovering ET with an appetite. I just saved you ten bucks. I loathe marketing campaigns that promise you one type of movie and then deliver something different (The Town is another example). The acting is fantastic...the FX excellent...it's the alien/monster that disappoints. It felt like an afterthought and … Continue reading SUPER 8

This popcorn comedy is R-rated, so it has the requisite bodily fluids and gross-out laffs. But a constellation of comic actors in their element lifts it up a notch. There's a sluttishness to Cameron Diaz, a slightly-beaten beauty that makes her ideal for the role, and she plays well with Jason Segel, whose relationship with … Continue reading BAD TEACHER

It's not that BAD TEACHER isn't funny. It is. I laughed out loud, a lot. And since this is rated R, not all of the jokes were in the trailer. Cameron Diaz is beautiful and funny. Phyllis Smith and John Michael Higgins are hysterical in supporting roles. And Jason Segel is hilarious. But the whole … Continue reading BAD TEACHER

Screamingly, achingly funny. Tears of laughter were literally rolling down my cheeks throughout this English bro-mance. The creative team of Steve Coogan and Michael Winterbottom has struck again, this time with Coogan's most personal film yet -- one that plays with reality inside a mirror reflecting a mirror that depicts "reality". Yes, we're back in … Continue reading THE TRIP

I'm having trouble starting this review. Maybe I need a muse. Something like Paris. Yeah, Paris as a motivator for your art. No one has ever thought of that, right? While it is a well-worn premise, Woody Allen's take on it is totally unique in MIDNIGHT IN PARIS. Owen Wilson's tortured Gil wants to be … Continue reading MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

That this is Joel Courtney's first and only IMdB credit is difficult to believe. Along with the far more experienced Elle Fanning, these two remarkable actors carry on an adolescent romance so touching and softly modulated, you almost forget you're watching -- a monster movie! But as in Cloverfield, the little-seen monster is the MacGuffin; … Continue reading SUPER 8

Steven Spielberg used to own a special genre of movie. They were populated by wide eyed kids or adults who possess a certain innocence and wonder, and aliens who are scary, but with a heart (see ET or CLOSE ENCOUNTERS for examples). But Steven has moved on to other(not necessarily better) things, but not to … Continue reading SUPER 8

When the geeky, fanboy in me heard they were making X-MEN: FIRST CLASS is was afraid. Afraid of another WOLVERINE. Afraid they had stretched this series too far to make anything resembling a quality film. I should not have been afraid. If it had just been about the visual effects and its faithfulness to the … Continue reading X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

A move about a God kicking butt with a mighty hammer should be a lot more fun than THOR. Certain scenes work almost as well as Iron Man (enjoyed the fish out of water parts) but others flounder like Hulk (giant popsicle people trying to steal a glow in the dark brick?) I'm guessing they … Continue reading THOR

HANGOVER 2 is just like the first one...so what?! That seems to be the biggest HANGUP critics have with this one...and that's a shame. Anyone who liked the original will like this one too. Same formula, same characters, big laughs, bigger payoffs. After watching this, you will never look at mushrooms or listen to Billy … Continue reading HANGOVER 2