Action heroines pack a punch in ‘Sucker Punch’
NEW YORK — Black undies? Or white? It was a choice that confronted writer/director Zack Snyder while making “Sucker Punch,” a mostly female action fantasy starring Emily Browning as a gun-toting, sword-swinging killer deceptively named Babydoll.
‘Wimpy Kid’ lives up to its name
With approximately 50 million copies of his “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” graphic novels in circulation, author Jeff Kinney has a loyal following of readers who’ve outgrown Dr. Seuss but aren’t ready for Harry Potter.
Pegg, Frost magic takes a detour in ‘Paul’
When you’re really good at something, the time comes when the ghosts of your earlier accomplishments are your toughest competition.
Inarritu’s weighty, laborious ‘Biutiful’
Those concerned that a 21⁄2 hour movie titled “Biutiful” might bear some of the attributes typically characterized as “pretentious” will not be reassured by the opening, whispered dialogue, with the camera trained only on two sets of intertwined hands, and the subsequent scene in which an unknown figure informs that when owls die, “they spit hairballs out of their beaks.”
‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ is a breath of fresh air
Maybe putting on a shirt is good for Matthew McConaughey.
‘Limitless’ proves to have its limits
It’s amazing what a little pill can do. Just ask Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper), a slobby aspiring novelist with a massive writing block and the ugliest ponytail you ever, ever saw.
‘Mars Needs Moms’ needs more content
Sometimes charming and sometimes labored, “Mars Needs Moms” tells the story of Milo, a kid who learns to appreciate his mother only after she is abducted by space aliens.
‘Battle: Los Angeles’ is a popcorn video
Take “Independence Day” and “Skyline” or pretty much any aliens-invade-L.A. thriller. Strip it of Will Smith and any one-liners the heroes might snap off upon killing an alien. What you’ve got is “Battle: Los Angeles,” a straight-no-chaser war movie where the enemy is extraterrestrial.
‘Red Riding Hood’ is a ‘Twilight’ flashback
Once upon a time, in a mysterious place called Hollywood, spunky filmmaker Catherine Hardwicke directed “Twilight.” But before she could make the sequel, the Hollywood wolves huffed and puffed and hired someone else.
‘Cedar Rapids’ broadens horizon
They were staples of popular literature, Broadway and the movies long before the movies could talk: comic yarns in which small-town naifs pack their bags and hit the big city, where they learn about life and love and what they’ve been missing.
‘Rango’ is all about lizards and light dance
It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, where “the drugs began to take hold” in the Johnny Depp adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”
‘Adjustment Bureau’ misses its love boat
There are these guys, see? And they’re dressed in slightly out-of-date suits. And they wear hats — all the time.
‘The Way Back’ compelling
Try to ignore the “based on a true story” aspect of “The Way Back,” which is in fact based on a best-seller that most likely is a hoax.
'All Good Things' suffers as a docudrama
A fact-inspired tale of murder and madness among the ultra-moneyed in Manhattan, "All Good Things" is as schizophrenic as its troubled protagonist.
'Hall Pass' is crude, lewd sophomoric comedy
Those "There's Something About Mary" Farrelly Brothers try to get their edge back with "Hall Pass," a rude and seriously crude riff on taking a vacation from marriage.
Previous Next
