If Casino Royale was an earthquake that shook the world of twenty-first action movies and rearranged the landscape, Quantum of Solace is the aftershock. It may not have the direct, unexpected impact of the original tremor, but it still has enough power to knock you on your ass. The first direct ...Read more

The long journey to Election Day is finally ending, and the campaign has been the topic of much discussion around the MovieRetriever.com offices - in between, you know, arguments about the relative merits of Superman Returns vs. Spider-Man 3 (lesser of two evils battle) and Dark Knight vs. Iron Man ...Read more

We here at MovieRetriever.com have (please forgive the pun) a bone to pick with the film industry. The disturbing trend of remaking or recycling classic or popular films and/or properties into vehicles designed to appeal solely to a target demographic has really got us annoyed (witness this week's release of ...Read more

Fans were shocked this week by the sudden death of Michael Crichton, the award-winning writer and producer who was best known as the godfather of the techno-thriller genre as well as for Hollywood's big-ticket film adaptations of his novels. For a large portion of the 1990s, a new Crichton movie ...Read more

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas will undoubtedly pull many a heartstring and make many an audience member shed a tear, but, with a premise and execution this hollow and manipulative, I beg you, don't fall for it. Don't give into filmmakers who know that children in peril and Holocaust ...Read more

  David Wain's Role Models is a great set-up for a movie with a fantastic cast, but the talented comedian behind the great and underrated Wet Hot American Summer forgot the follow-through. The first half hour of Role Models is as laugh-out-loud funny as practically anything in this great year for ...Read more

  And you thought Charlie Kaufman's earlier movies didn't make sense? The brilliant writer's first foray into direction produces his least easy-to-define film to date, a movie that turns in on itself so many times that it somewhat loses its way. The best cast of the year and one of the ...Read more

  Some movies vacillate between good and bad.  Certain films can start off interesting and fall apart as they progress, while others may grow on you as they unspool (although it's a lot rarer for a failed project to save itself than for a quality to flick to go south). Unless ...Read more

There's been a lot of talk about how movies end lately, particularly with the news that Baz Luhrmann was forced to reshoot the ending of his upcoming Nicole Kidman/Hugh Jackman epic, Australia, to give it a more uplifting ending (beware spoiler-heavy news items on that one - they reveal ...Read more

  Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire is so many movies blended into one film - a nearly perfect film - that it's almost impossible to accurately put into words what this masterful director has accomplished with one of the best movies of the year. Just see it. The comparison that keeps coming ...Read more

As long as there have been James Bond films (nearly five decades now) there has been some degree of anticipation of the new James Bond theme with each new theatrical release. While the series stumbled early on in terms of theme songs (Dr. No didn’t even feature a song – ...Read more

  It's been an unusual year for Wong Kar-Wai fans. First, there was My Blueberry Nights, a film that caused quite a stir at Cannes, most of which was not positive. The highly edited version of Nights that ended up stateside feels like the least essential film in the WKW filmography ...Read more

  There's just something vampirism and adolescence that makes for a perfect fit. If you think about it, the legend of the vampire has always been one of the outcast, the count in his castle who can never find love because he's only going to outlive his mortal beloved or end ...Read more

Sigh... it's going to be a rough time at the multiplex for anyone old enough to legally drink this weekend. The last pre-Thanksgiving movie releases are always typically family-friendly, but, this year, there are only two real choices if you want to see a new movie (and have already seen ...Read more

A Christmas Tale is not your standard dysfunctional family drama. There's not only a lot more to it than the predictable cliches that the genre usually delivers - don't expect a heartwarming ending - but also it's never once intended to be about a "traditional holiday experience.” Yes, you will ...Read more

  If you take Pixar out of the equation, the current state of movie animation is pretty dire. With a few exceptions (Monster House, Meet the Robinsons), the boom in CGI technology has taken the drive out of storytelling. Walt Disney and the other pioneers who always saw the form as ...Read more

Earlier this week, we did a feature on excuses grown-ups could use to justify going to see the much buzzed-about teen vampire flick Twilight this weekend, and do you know why we did that article? Because even though most people we’ve talked to over the age of 25 have ...Read more

  After the recent press screening of Transporter 3, there was actually discussion among the critics in attendance as to whether or not the Jason Statham vehicles (pun intended) might qualify as the worst trilogy of ALL TIME. (I’ll admit it. I started it. But it wasn’t long before others were ...Read more

  Baz Luhrmann has never been accused of subtlety. His gloriously romantic vision led to the charming simplicity of Strictly Ballroom, the unapologetic theatricality of Romeo Juliet, and the absolutely wonderful Moulin Rouge! I love all three of those movies. I find myself having to make excuses for his latest, Australia, ...Read more

Let's be frank. Thanksgiving is nice - cardboard pilgrim hats, feigning interest in parades, silently unbuckling your belt under the dinner table - but it's really just a means to an end. The REAL holiday is the night before, because we all know that the pre-Thanksgiving Wednesday is the only ...Read more

  A loser teenager in a Bubba Ho-Tep shirt tries to pick up a girl with lines like "Give me some sugar, baby." As much as the critic in me knows it's goofy, the boy who watched Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness forty-five times is smiling. My Name is ...Read more