Movie Review: The Happening

One might charitably describe “The Happening” as a transitional work for M. Night Shyamalan. In an attempted rebound from the critical and commercial calamity of “Lady in the Water,” the writer-director has scaled back most of his characteristic touches — the contorted horror/fantasy mythology, the “gotcha” twist ending, even his trademark cameo — instead serving up a patchy, uninspired eco-thriller whose R rating (a first for Shyamalan) looks more like a B.O. hindrance than an artistic boon. After an initial bloom of interest, the Fox release will likely wilt quickly in the summer heat. Read more

Movie Review: You Don’t Mess With the Zohan

Using the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a backdrop doesn’t come close to capturing the surreal mix of cartoonish comedy, “Give peace a chance” platitudes, puzzling cameos and big-penis jokes that add up to not much in Adam Sandler’s latest outing as star/producer/co-writer. The off-the-wall comedy of Robert Smigel and Judd Apatow leaves a mark on the script, but it would require a talent of Peter Sellers’ magnitude to conquer this material, and he’s not around. Box office should be initially brisk, courtesy of the Sandler faithful, but beyond that, “Zohan” is a mess and then some. Read more

Movie Review: Sex and the City

For a series so steeped in romance, the eagerly awaited “Sex and the City” movie feels a trifle half-hearted. Although there’s pleasure in seeing HBO’s fabulous four reunited, writer-director Michael Patrick King doesn’t fully bridge the gap between TV and film — delivering major story flourishes but, too often, playing like a regular episode bloated to five times its customary length. Best in its small moments, the movie should find receptive gal pals congregating for the mother of all viewing parties, but appeal beyond that core should present New Line with less of a storybook finish than it doubtless would like.
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Movie Review: What Happens In Vegas

 

“What Happens in Vegas” is a film that views marriage as a combat sport.  Forced into a temporary marriage of inconvience, characters played by Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz, come out fighting.  They play every dirty trick on each other, until, yes, they fall in love.  However, the film is only interested in the dirty tricks.  The love stuff is shrugged off with a sneer.
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Movie Review: Iron Man

 

“Iron Man,” directed by Jon Favreau (“Elf,” “Zathura”), has the advantage of being an unusually good superhero picture. Or at least — since it certainly has its problems — a superhero movie that’s good in unusual ways. The film benefits from a script (credited to Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway) that generally chooses clever dialogue over manufactured catchphrases and lumbering exposition, and also from a crackerjack cast that accepts the filmmakers’ invitation to do some real acting rather than just flex and glower and shriek for a paycheck. Read more

Movie Review: Baby Mama

 

Although it certainly sets the stage for some fertile comedy, “Baby Mama” — which pairs successful Philadelphia exec Tina Fey with her decidedly white-trash surrogate, Amy Poehler — never fully delivers.

Backed by a crackerjack supporting cast, including Sigourney Weaver and Steve Martin, the new millennium take on “Baby Boom” serves up plenty of smart, knowing laughs early on, but by the time it hits the third act (or would that be trimester?), it barely crawls to the finish line.

In his feature directorial debut, screenwriter Michael McCullers knows how to craft a decent zinger, but his loopy brand of urbane humor really cries out for the skills of a seasoned comedy director with a proven knack for crucial things such as pacing and momentum.
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Movie Review: Forgetting Sarah Marshall

 

Written by actor Jason Segal (Knocked Up Undeclared, Freaks and Geeks), Forgetting Sarah Marshall is the kind of romantic comedy straight men can get behind and not just because Segel unveils his manliness more times than you can count (actually four full-on frontal nudity shots, but who’s keeping count?). Forgetting Sarah Marshall belongs to the sub-genre of romantic comedies that turn on losing then finding love with the “right” person (as opposed to the “right-now” person). It is the type of comedy that centers on putting characters in socially awkward situation after socially awkward situation (e.g., Meet the Fockers, Meet the Parents).
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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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