review roundup Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Just three wide releases this weekend: A deep-south drama about an angry man and his unhappy captive, a nose-pickin' comedy about morons on motorcycles, and a lengthy crime flick about a true-life serial killer.

Black Snake Moan -- 63 positive / 38 negative at RottenTomatoes.com

Pro: "In fact, I pretty much enjoyed the whole movie, with some incredulity and a few half-snorts." -- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times

Con: "It's an exploitation film fraught with faux-sincerity, and ultimately it's utterly ridiculous." -- Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times

Pro: "If you stick with it, you'll see that its excesses are earned and that this is a heartfelt, thoughtful piece." -- Kevin Laforest, Montreal Film Journal

Con: "Its consciously far-fetched, out-there notions of the things damaged people do in the name of love are reductive and go only so far." -- Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

Bonus! "The film succeeds because underneath all the symbolism and the outrageous window dressing, we can glimpse real people in the characters." -- Jette Kernion, Cinematical

Wild Hogs -- 12 positive / 68 negative at RT.com

Pro: "These "Mild" Hogs get by on being good-natured, and willing to trade a little star power for the chance to ride and get paid for it." -- Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

Con: "The movie never rises to the level of the professional, much less the comic." -- Stephen Hunter, Washington Post

Pro: "Plays as a pleasingly broad diversion, provided one's level of anticipation is properly adjusted downward." -- Brent Simon, FilmStew.com

Con: "It does absolutely nothing, save for what you know it will do, and it does this with only an absolute bare minimum of exertion, with absolutely no exceptions." -- Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

Bonus! "You can't help but wonder whether folks like Macy, Liotta and Travolta lost a bet." -- Erik Davis, Cinematical

Five wide releases this weekend, and perhaps the final frame in which we're offered little but studio holdovers and lost causes. Dig into a haunted house story, a historical drama about abolitionists, a family-friendly inspirational piece, a Jim Carrey psycho-thriller and the big-screen debut of some very silly police officers. (And don't forget about the Oscars tonight!)

The Abandoned -- 3 positive / 8 negative at RottenTomatoes.com.

Pro: "Rallies in the end and has a satisfying, fittingly unsettling conclusion." -- Staci Layne Wilson, Horror.com

Con: "A punishing dose of zombie Chekhov for lifetime Fangoria subscribers." -- Jim Ridley, L.A. Weekly

Pro: "It's the pervasive sense of fatalism and decay that saves Cerda's debut feature from being yet another poky haunted-house chiller." -- Ken Fox, TV Guide

Con: "Reflects a filmmaker so lost in the details of his creation, he's neglected his obligation to forward momentum." -- Brian Orndorf, eFilmCritic.com

Bonus! "A fairly uninteresting story told in exceedingly spotty fashion." -- Scott Weinberg, Cinematical

Amazing Grace -- 52 positive / 23 negative at RT.com.

Pro: "This biopic of abolitionist crusader William Wilberforce gains much of its own force from the supporting characters." -- Josh Larsen, Sun-Times

Con: "A movie about the slave trade with hardly an African face in sight." -- Michael Booth, Denver Post

Pro: "As a portrait of political engagement, the movie is substantial and absorbing." -- Gary Thompson, Philadelphia Daily News

Con: "It's hardly compelling viewing." -- Desson Thomson, Washington Post

The Astronaut Farmer -- 61 positive / 40 negative at RT.com.

Pro: "Shows just how much you can accomplish with $12 million and more imagination than most big-studio releases can muster these days." -- Lou Lumenick, New York Post

Con: "Should be grounded for the twisted lesson it tries to impart." -- Claudia Puig, USA Today

Pro: "Works precisely because it's bereft of modern cinema's cynicism." -- Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice

Con: "It's one of those movies that yearns for a time that never really existed and ends up a chilly museum exhibit." -- Bill Muller, Arizona Republic

Bonus! "What makes the movie special are the personal touches." -- Jeffrey M. Anderson, Cinematical

Welcome to President's Day Weekend, where the multiplexes are stocked with a few pounds of new product, including an FBI espionage drama, a family-friendly kidventure flick, another Tyler Perry concoction, a flashy supehero epic and a sweet 'n' sunny rom-com. Dig in!

Breach -- 80 positive / 22 negative reviews at RottenTomatoes.com.

Pro: "There are some neat, almost delirious scenes of suspense, most of which play against cliche." -- Ty Burr, Boston Globe

Con: "A movie that urgently asserts itself as a spy thriller, but can never quite escape the Bureau's true preoccupation with who is getting the window offices." -- Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News

Pro: "While Breach plays effectively as a cat-and-mouse espionage thriller, its real drama derives from the murky moral and ethical frontier it crosses." -- Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

Con: "The big suspense sequence revolves around whether Hanssen will notice that his briefcase has been moved a smidgen, hardly on a par with Goldfinger giving 007 a laser beam vasectomy." -- Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Bonus! "Has real excitement and true craft behind it, which is just one part of the reason why it's such a pleasure to watch." -- James Rocchi, Cinematical

Bridge to Terabithia -- 66 positive / 12 negative at RT.com.

Pro: "A painfully grounded tale of the stripping away of naivete that is adolescence, and how heartbreakingly excruciating an experience that can be." -- MaryAnn Johnason, The Flick Filosopher

Con: "One wonders if the makers of Bridge to Terabithia actually have something against all the people who loved reading Katherine Paterson's award-winning book as children." -- Chris Barsanti, FilmCritic.com

Pro: "Mark my words: it is that rarified breed of masterpiece with a shelf life destined to span many generations." -- Dustin Putnam, TheMovieBoy.com

Con: "The whole affair has been unnecessarily coated in computer-generated magical kingdom fairy dust, no doubt in deference to the perceived needs of a young audience in a post-big screen "Chronicles of Narnia" environment." -- Mary F. Pols, Contra Costa Times

Bonus! "A heartfelt, respectful and remarkably well-done film." -- Kim Voynar, Cinematical

It's at about this time of year that the hardcore moviegoers start wondering why they're being punished. Don't worry, friends! March is coming! Just hold on through weekends filled with tacked-on slasher prequels and Eddie Murphy detritus and we'll soon be discussing movies like 300, Sunshine and ... The Hills Have Eyes Part 2! Until then...

Hannibal Rising -- 15 positive / 79 negative at RottenTomatoes.com

Pro: "Webber directs with a steady hand and consistent tone, whether it's a frenetic battle scene or a slow-building confrontation at a market." -- Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle

Con: "Feels as stodgy as a museum case, and it seems so hastily cobbled together one feels vaguely ripped off by the ticket price." -- Jeremiah Kipp, Slant Magazine

Pro: "Harris, who adapted the screenplay, and director Peter Webber are faithful to his book. Strong production values, a lush score and scenic locations work seal the deal." -- Bruce Westbrook, Houston Chronicle

Con: "Both too familiar in portraying Hannibal as a Dracula-like aristocrat monster, and crud in its exploitation of wartime atrocities." -- Liam Lacey, The Globe and Mail

Bonus! "You can spot the characters who will become Lunchables from a mile away, since they have been crudely drawn to rub up against Hannibal's tastes established in earlier films..." -- Ryan Stewart, Cinematical

The Lives of Others -- 54 positive / 5 negative at RT.com

Pro: "The accelerating plot twists are more than just clever surprises; they reverberate with deep and painful ironies..." -- David Ansen, Newsweek

Con: "I, for one, tremble at the thought of what this young director does for an encore." -- Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly

Pro: "The skillfully acted and directed "The Lives of Others" is a timely warning about governments that seek to repress dissent." -- Lou Lumenick, New York Post

Con: "A pair of superb performances from Muhe and Koch are consistently undermined by the unreasonably overlong running time and leaden atmosphere." -- David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews

Bonus! "The performance stands out in a well-crafted film full of solid acting; both Mühe and The Lives of Others are unforgettable." -- Martha Fischer, Cinematical

Norbit -- 8 positive / 73 negative at RT.com

Pro: "Murphy's eyes, his facial expressions as Rasputia, her stare, the way she carries herself -- all of this is hysterically funny, a portrait of someone deluded about herself in every possible way." -- Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Con: "It's a thoughtless, cancerous, viral, irresponsible pollution whose existence speaks ill of the society that produced it and of any society that would endorse or defend it." -- Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central

Pro: "There are so many great individual moments that the movie coasts by on its infectious good cheer." -- Jim Hemphill, Reel.com

Con: "A breathtaking display of moronic insensitivity." -- Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle

Bonus! "It's easy to like Norbit the character; it's hard to like Norbit the movie." -- James Rocchi, Cinematical

Next week: Breach, Bridge to Terabithia, Daddy's Little Girls, Ghost Rider and Music and Lyrics

OK, so you made it through last week (with nothing more than The Hitcher) without your weekly review roundup, but I'm back from Sundance and just itchin' to get through this newest batch of ... January ... releases. Ugh, I can't even feign excitement with movies this lame. But wait ... is one of 'em actually good? Let's sift through those pros and cons.

Blood and Chocolate (2 positive / 21 negative reviews at RottenTomatoes.com)

Pro: "There's something refreshingly low-tech about (this) werewolf romance." -- John Larsen, LarsenOnFilm.com

Con: "The dialogue ranges from cliches to lines that are so impossibly ridiculous that it must be intentional." -- Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle

Pro: "Better than it has any right to be." -- Josh Tyler, CinemaBlend.com

Con: "A neutered Underworld without the vampires, action, and heavy CGI." -- Staci Layne Wilson, Horror.com

Bonus! "At least it's not yet another remake filled with the same old tricks." -- Jeffrey M. Anderson, Cinematical

Catch and Release (17 positive / 60 negative at RT.com)

Pro: "A romantic dramedy that gets it exactly right, gives us people who live and breathe and are as absolutely convincingly real as people you know." -- MaryAnn Johanson, The Flick Filosopher

Con: "The story is essentially ridiculous, and the directing debut of Erin Brockovich screenwriter Susannah Grant is a crashing failure." -- Bill Muller, The Arizona Republic

Pro: "You laugh and you cry, as the cliche goes. You get involved." -- Bruce Kirkland, Toronto Sun

Con: "The dull script is mostly to blame. We just never get a sense of who these people are." -- Jennie Punter, Globe and Mail

Bonus! "The best thing Catch and Release has going for it is a dialogue-heavy script that Grant obviously labored over." -- Jette Kernion, Cinematical

Epic Movie (Did not screen for press: 0 positive / 8 negative at RT.com)

Pro: NONE!

Con: "Almost nothing sticks. There's barely a laugh in this thing." -- Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

Pro: NADA!

Con: "A miserably scattershot, heavy-wheezing, comedically-challenged waste of time." -- Brian Orndorf, eFilmCritic.com

Bonus! "If all a movie can give you is a small handful of stray and listless chuckles, well, I don't really think that's a movie worthy of your eight dollars." -- Scott Weinberg, Cinematical

You think this weekend is light? Next Friday gives us only one new release: that remake of The Hitcher. But this weekend we get a festival-type indie, a giant croc fest and a foot-stompin' dance flick. Expanding from its platform release is Luc Besson's Arthur and the Invisibles, plus we also have a review of Verdict on Auschwitz, a documentary which opens today in NYC.

Alpha Dog (53 positive / 41 negative at RottenTomatoes.com)

Pro: "It's a piece of mainstream entertainment that doesn't require the viewer to disengage the brain to enjoy it." -- Jim Hemphill, Reel.com

Con: "For all of the credibility of the performances (or at least the teens), it all feels like recycled social commentary." -- Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Pro: "Director Nick Cassavetes has a blast with scenes of testosterone-fueled aggression (until it's time to repent), working the subwoofer in a way that'll surely boost DVD sales among boys with bedroom posters of Tony Montana." -- Rob Nelson, Village Voice

Con: "You know you're in trouble when a guy from *NSYNC is the best thing in a movie." -- MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher

Bonus! "A film that's a tad too long, too drawn-out and too over-the-top." -- Erik Davis, Cinematical

Primeval (Did not screen for press; currently has only a few reviews at RT.com, all negative)

Pro: N/A

Con: "The camera is jolted around so much that it's almost impossible to tell what's going on. That's okay for a movie trailer, but it becomes unwatchable for a full-length feature." -- Kevin Carr, 7M Pictures

Pro: N/A

Con: "Those seeing this movie just for the crocodile might feel let down, and others might be surprised that the movie might have worked just as well or better without it." -- Edward Douglas, ComingSoon.net

Bonus! [Pending; I'm seeing the movie later tonight.]

Stomp the Yard (15 positive / 41 negative at RT.com)

Pro: "By no means great drama, but if you don't feel like cheering half a dozen times, check yourself for low blood pressure." -- Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Con: "Is it really so hard for filmmakers, and particularly screenwriters, to give us something new in the way of a story?" -- Claudia Puig, USA Today

Pro: "The dance sequences are so exciting, so captivating, so full of life, it's almost possible to forget you've seen this movie a hundred times before." -- Josh Rosenblatt, Austin Chronicle

Con: "A silly bit of teensploitation that presents a world in which there isn't a single problem imaginable that can't be solved by winning the big dance contest in the final reel." -- Peter Sobczynski, eFilmCritic.com

Bonus! "I don't think I would have liked Stomp the Yard half so much in an empty theater or on DVD; it's definitely a film to catch on a weekend night with a big crowd." -- Jette Kernion, Cinematical

The Review Roundup will be taking next Friday off, partially because it's Sundance season, but mainly because (like I said) The Hitcher is allllll we're getting next weekend.

Welcome to the first weekend of the new year! You know what that means, dontcha? That's riiiiight: Amazingly crappy movies! Yes indeed, what with all the Oscar-type movies cascading into their platform releases and the studios holding all their high cards until Spring (and Summer) -- it's junk-a-thon time at the local multiplexes. Case in point: The very first weekend of movies: Two certifiable dungpiles and one "inspirational drama" that's getting a few kind words, if only by default.

Code Name: The Cleaner (2 positive / 42 negative at RottenTomatoes.com)

Pro: "It's always fun to see Liu beat on some bad guys. Check your disbelief at the door and you'll get just what you expect." -- Michael Ordona, The Los Angeles Times

Con: "Wastes so much energy on parsing out a convoluted plot that its stars' brightest moments are saved for the blooper reel in the closing credits." -- Scott Tobias, The Onion AV Club

Pro: "It is a slight piece of entertainment that does entertainment on a basic level." --Stefan Halley, Pop Syndicate

Con: "The spectacularly implausible plot is dropped on moviegoers in boulder-size chunks during speed-talking monologues." -- David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer

Bonus! "Even with low expectations, however, I was disappointed in this movie." -- Jette Kernion, Cinematical

Freedom Writers (45 positive / 25 negative at RT)

Pro: "A simple, straightforward and surprisingly affecting story of one woman who managed to make a difference." -- Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly

Con: "Sometimes art imitates life. And sometimes life goes to Hollywood and disappears completely." -- Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star

Pro: "Delivers the expected messages about hope and the ability to change one's destiny, and does it in a manner that it is emotionally and intellectually satisfying." -- James Berardinelli, ReelViews.net

Con: "Hits all the expected marks, with no cliché left behind." -- Robert Keser, Slant Magazine

Bonus! "Swank's passion and personality suck you into the story right from the start, and knowing that the script is based on real stories makes it meaningful and inspirational." -- Kim Voynar, Cinematical

Happily N'Ever After (3 positive / 50 negative at RT)

Pro: "Characters are painted broadly enough for the vocal cast to have a heap of fun, especially Weaver, who clearly relishes the opportunity to play a heartless diva." -- Tom Keogh, Seattle Times

Con: "Not counting derivative, obnoxious, poorly animated, and woefully unfunny, what Happily is most of all is dull." -- David Cornelius, eFilmCritic.com

Pro: "This most recent po-mo take on fairy tale may be "Shrek"-lite, but it is just cute enough." -- Nell Minow, Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies

Con: "Unhappily unsuccessful as either low-budget, time-filling kiddie fare or satire aimed at adults." -- Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

Bonus! "The couple of times I laughed during the film, it was in utter disbelief at one awful line or another." -- Kim Voynar, Cinematical

Next weekend: Alpha Dog, Primeval and Stomp the Yard

Happy Holidays to all and to all a ... few good movies. I've been asked to step in and semi-resurrect our regular old Review Roundup feature, which works out pretty well considering I usually spend most Fridays (and some Wednesdays) poring through all my favorite critics, agreeing with some and questioning the basic sanity of others. But since the release date schedules get extra jumbly during the year-end holiday season, I figured I'd spend my first column covering, well, everything. Let's start with the ones that actually opened yesterday ...

The Good Shepherd

Pro: "It's not a tub-thumping anti-CIA screed, but at the same time it's not a gung-ho patriotic extravaganza about the moral certainty of our side." -- Stephen Hunter, Washington Post

Con: "This is featherweight entertainment, sans visual elation and moral consequence-like Munich for Beginners." -- Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine

Pro: "The bottom line is that The Good Shepherd is engaging cinema. The length is a drawback, but not a big one since the movie earns the majority of its 165-minute running time." -- James Berardinelli, ReelViews.net

Con: "De Niro's vision seems unfocused and ill-executed. It seems as though he had a thousand good ideas about what a spy film should be that didn't quite coalesce into a singular product, but he crammed 'em all in there regardless and tossed the editing shears into the garbage." -- Phil Villareal, Arizona Daily Star

BONUS: "A truncated American tragedy, noticeably half-finished and undercooked, but often tantalizing for the promise that clearly lay buried in the material, like unbroken codes." -- Ryan Stewart, Cinematical

Night at the Museum

Pro: "Trying to get kids to go to a museum over their holiday vacations might be a little easier after seeing Night at the Museum, a family-friendly comedy that tries to entertain while educating - and often succeeds, at least with the former." -- Mack Bates, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Con: "A volley of contented cackles greeted the final third of Night at the Museum, a pea-brained fantasy-comedy with a riot of kid-pleasing special effects." -- Jan Stuart, Newsday Magazine

Pro: "What do you know, not only is this a delightful popcorn movie, Ben Stiller is actually really good in it." -- Kevin LaForest, Montreal Film Journal

Con: "The possibilities for building an intriguing and original story around this concept -- the Museum of freakin' Natural History comes alive every night! -- are endless, and they chose this. That is downright criminal." -- MaryAnn Johanson, The Flick Filosopher

BONUS: "Lots of pure imagination, with an extra helping of the most fun you might have at the theater all year." -- Erik Davis, Cinematical

We Are Marshall

Pro: "Warm and big-hearted, We Are Marshall succeeds as a tribute because it respects its subjects. It succeeds as a movie because it doesn't confuse respect with lifelessness." -- Jessica Reaves, Chicago Tribune

Con: "Director McG, known for the whiz-bang acrobatics of his Charlie's Angels movies, applies a warm, shiny veneer to everything here which prevents any emotion from getting through." -- Christy Lemire, San Francisco Gate

Pro: "The film is injected with a refreshing energy whenever McConaughey is on-screen, balancing some of the inherent sadness of the story." -- Kevin Crust, Los Angeles Times

Con: "No matter how earnest the intentions are, however, the harsh truth is that We Are Marshall is shockingly empty, one-dimensionally written, and finally unconvincing." -- Dustin Putnam, TheMovieBoy.com

BONUS: "A film that walks a tightrope with tricky subject matter, and somehow makes it to the other side." -- Ryan Stewart, Cinematical

Now let's skip back over the past week or so and see how the other holiday break also-rans fared with the critics...

Ok, last week I understood why there was only one movie going into wide release. After all, what studio would be stupid enough to risk throwing a major property into the opening weekend of X-Men: The Last Stand? This week, though, I don't get it. Hello people, it's The Break-Up! Sure, it might be good (few think it actually is), but really -- since when is Jennifer Aniston a reason to flee?

• The Break-Up: If you really want this movie to be good, read James' review first -- because he's pretty much the only one who really likes it (the other critics are hacks). Many of his fellow writers find the movie neither particularly funny, nor very appealing; several are troubled by the fact that you never really see Jen and Vince happy together, and therefore have no reason to want their relationship to work out. Or, for that matter, to think that it ever could. That criticism aside, however, pretty much everyone finds at least one supporting actor to praise (though of course they can't agree on who is good and who is annoying), so that's something.
  

Pickings are a little slim in the new release department this weekend, evidently because everyone saw X-Men: The Last Stand coming and, quite wisely, headed for the hills. (Among those brave enough to challenge Wolverine and friends, incidentally, is Al Gore, whose An Inconvenient Truth opens on four -- Count 'em, four! -- screens today. Given the press assault the movie's makers have launched over the past two weeks, you'd have thought it was debuting in every multiplex on earth.)

• X-Men: The Last Stand: Give how much in agreement critics are about the movie's strengths and weaknesses (most of which Kim pointed out this morning), you'd think they would have been just as obvious to the studio and that they might have, you know, fixed some of the latter. But, sadly no. Because, as we all know, the movie will make buckets of money whether it has too many characters or not. And people will buy tickets no matter how irritating it is that the movie consistently neglects its interesting theme of outsidership for Giant! Action! Sequences!. Some critics (like the ever-charitable Roger Ebert) can overlook the nonsense and still enjoy the movie for the big, fluffy summer picture it is, while others (like Ryan, and my man Mick LaSalle) have had it up to here with the retreaded plot and its underdeveloped characters.

And, since I have so much space this week, I'll leave you with a quote from Mr. LaSalle, in which he quite effectively sums up the non-comic geek take on the X-Men:

The Last Stand follows the pattern of the other X-Men films. There are a few terse conversations, followed by explosions, followed by Halle Berry causing a storm, followed by Hugh Jackman sprouting blades from his knuckles, followed by Famke Janssen killing people by thinking about it, etc. In between, we see Patrick Stewart looking worried.