Movie Review: “Prom Night”

“Prom Night” is a surprisingly effective teen-skewing thriller that soft-pedals graphic violence (in marked contrast to the R-rated 1980 original) while generating a fair degree of suspense. Well cast and solidly crafted, latest genre product from Screen Gems struck B.O. paydirt, taking in $22.7 million in its opening weekend as it clicked with teens — including couples preparing for their own senior-year celebrations — and early twentysomethings. “Priom Night” is an in-name-only remake of the post-”Halloween” slasher movie that solidified Jamie Lee Curtis’ status as scream queen of the polyester era.
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Movie Review: “Street Kings”

Ten minutes into “Street Kings,” the film bluntly shows us what to expect for the next 100.

It’s probably safe to say that no fiction writer ever created bad cops as bad as James Ellroy’s. In Street Kings, a squalid and bloodthirsty policier based on an original story by the author of L.A. Confidential, Tom Ludlow (Keanu Reeves), a veteran LAPD vice cop, trash-talks racist garbage to a gang of Korean hoods, then storms their lair and shoots them dead with a fury that would leave Dirty Harry scrambling for his tattered copy of the Miranda rights. In the process, Ludlow rescues two girls that the gang had been hawking to pedophiles — and so, on the film’s terms, he’s a hero. But with heroes like this, who needs scumbags?
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Movie Review: “Nim’s Island”

There’s a difference between skewing toward young audiences and targeting dimwits of all ages, and too often this adaptation of Wendy Orr’s 1999 novel veers toward the latter. As directed by the husband-and-wife team of Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett (”Little Manhattan”), who share scripting chores with Joseph Kwong and producer Paula Mazur, “Nim’s Island” is much easier on the eyes than it is on the ears. It’s the sort of movie that compels its characters to recap plot points that weren’t exactly mind-bending the first time, read messages aloud even when the words are perfectly legible on screen, and never miss an opportunity to overstate the obvious.
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Movie Review: “Leatherheads”

It’s always been hard to interest modern moviegoers in the early days of even the most popular sports — “A League of Their Own” seems the well-liked anomaly in the field — and Clooney goes about it here by giving a ‘20s story a ‘30s feel a la the madcap romantic comedies made by Howard Hawks, George Cukor, Frank Capra and others during the genre’s heyday.
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Movie Review: “Stop-Loss”

Serving in Iraq is difficult enough for a young soldier, but serving over and over again is unimaginable for most of us out of uniform. Yet many in the armed forces are being asked to do just that, given the shortages of man power in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The resulting toll on relationships here at home is the subject of “Stop-Loss,” a new film by director Kimberly Peirce (“Boys Don’t Cry”). “Stop-Loss,” which stars Ryan Phillippe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, avoids the politics of war and focuses on the soldiers’ stories as they cope with the demands of the government upon their lives as they’re asked to serve multiple tours. As the ads remind, the film is not anti-war, it’s pro-soldier. And soldiers deserve to have their stories told, over and over.

Opening minutes crackle with energy, Read more

Movie Review: “Shutter”

“Shutter” brings audiences yet another black-haired, pale-faced, wraithlike ghost girl comes crawling back to terrorize the living. The first English-language feature for Japanese horror specialist Masayuki Ochiai (”Infection”) is a blandly cast and crafted remake of the same-titled 2004 Thai picture that itself emulated J-horror norms, which seemed a lot fresher back then. Low on real scares, atmosphere and character (both human and directorial), this mediocre film looks to do commensurately pedestrian business.
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Movie Review: “Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns”

Even during scenes in which her co-stars are overplaying to the cheap seats in the back rows, Angela Bassett brings a welcome counterbalance of emotional truth and artful precision to her performance as Brenda, a resilient single mother living in a Chicago housing project in “Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns”.

Brenda’s already in dire financial straits when a factory closing leaves her unemployed. Mostly for lack of anything better to do, she responds to an out-of-the-blue summons to attend the funeral of the father she never knew in a small Georgia town.
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Movie Review: “Drillbit Taylor”

A junior-league “Superbad” with an aftertaste of “The Pacifier,” “Drillbit Taylor” is a just passable pubescent comedy with a modest laugh count by Apatow factory standards. Tale of three dorky high school freshmen who hire a would-be pro bodyguard to protect them from campus bullies brandishes enough rude and pranky adolescent humor to connect with the target audience, Read more

Movie Review: “Doomsday”

If mankind ever indeed does go to hell in the future, it’s less likely to be because of alien invasions, natural catastrophes or killer viruses than an overdose of postapocalyptic sci-fi thrillers, the latest example of which is this cheesy entry from director-screenwriter Neil Marshall. Squandering the estimable cinematic credibility the filmmaker garnered with his last effort, the spooky horror film “The Descent,” “Doomsday” comes all too close to approximating its title.
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Movie Review: “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who”

This CG-animated adaptation of “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!” is a delight, brimming with colorful, elastic characters and bountiful wit.

To take nothing away from Fox and its Blue Sky Studios, much, much, much of this owes directly to the book published in 1954 by Theodore Geisel’s alter ego, Dr. Seuss. So credit the filmmakers for knowing a good thing when they see it. The film captures all the charm of the book from its rhyming text to its themes and fantastical characters.
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