When in Rome is the cinematic equivalent of gorging yourself with a bag of candy. At first it seems tasty, pleasurable even, and goes down easily enough. But then things start to turn and you start to feel worse with every bite until you’re sick to your stomach. Ultimately, you find yourself wondering why you picked up the bag in the first place. When in Rome is exactly like that. What could have been a throwaway and perhaps mildly entertaining romantic comedy is instead a tedious and plodding film that has zero charm and ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:31:00 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/593/movie-review-when-in-rome /1701493 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/593/movie-review-when-in-rome Feb 02, 2010

The 82nd annual Academy Award nominations were announced earlier today (see the clip below for the announcement), and, per usual, there's a couple things that might make you shake your head in disbelief. The thing everyone will be talking about is the expansion of the Best Picture category to 10 films. (See our piece on What if the 10 Nominee Rule Had Been Adopted Back in 2000? for a look at what films would or should have been nominated in previous years.)

It was nice to see District 9 get some attention. But, ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:21:27 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/592/the-82nd-annual-academy-award-nominations-have-been-announced http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/592/the-82nd-annual-academy-award-nominations-have-been-announced Feb 01, 2010

By now, you’ve probably been exposed to a lot of conflicting opinions on James Cameron’s Avatar. You've probably read more than a few rave reviews and a fair number of less than flattering ones. You may even have friends divided along those same lines. This writer, for example, loved the film and totally bought into the entire spectacle and thoroughly enjoyed the film (heck, no one does an action movie quite like Cameron), whereas our resident film critic had quite a different take on the film and thought it a pretty yet horribly written and shallow piece (of ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:08:09 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/591/ looking-back-at-james-camerons-titanic http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/591/ looking-back-at-james-camerons-titanic Jan 29, 2010

Well-paced, emotionally complex, and expertly performed, Martin Campbell's Edge of Darkness is a surprisingly effective film, a stand-out in a month that hasn't exactly started the new decade with an abundance of quality. Featuring not just Mel Gibson's first performance in nearly a decade but also one of the best of his entire career, this remake of the award-winning BBC mini-series delivers what fans of the controversial star may be expecting with Payback or Ransom-esque bursts of righteous violence, but the true draw of the film is the balancing ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:43:12 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/590/movie-review-edge-of-darkness /1703360 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/590/movie-review-edge-of-darkness Jan 25, 2010

The past decade in horror makes one sad fact abundantly clear – Americans are falling behind in more than just math class. Most of the truly interesting material in the genre came from overseas. What would you rather sit through? A festival of the four Final Destination and six Saw films produced this decade or one of the French hardcore horror wave (including Inside, Martyrs, Frontier(s), Them, High Tension and more)? If it’s the former, you and I don’t judge horror the same way and you should probably stop reading and move on. Yes, the ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:28:30 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/588/the-20-best-horror-films-of-the-2000s http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/588/the-20-best-horror-films-of-the-2000s Jan 23, 2010

Hollywood loves the end of the world. Whether it's a giant meteor, space aliens, or global warming, nothing gets a movie executive more excited than a fresh bold way to completely annihilate human civilization. Legion is the low-budget, biblical, bastard child of these films. What it lacks in awe-inspiring special effects and big-name actors it also lacks in horror and suspense. While this Old Testament take on the end of the world, complete with angels and possessed souls, does have a few memorable moments, this new entry into the bloated horror genre is ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Sat, 23 Jan 2010 01:08:41 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/587/movie-review-legion /1703373 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/587/movie-review-legion Jan 22, 2010

If Extraordinary Measures were broadcast on CBS back in the heyday of the broadcast network TV movie, it would be a slam dunk; a ratings bonanza that might even get a Golden Globe or Emmy nod or two. But the problem is that CBS Films’ melodrama, the first by the new studio, is not airing with commercial breaks to make the sugary sweet aftertaste easier to stomach. Its flaws are blown up to big screen size and the comfortable emotional predictability that works on the small screen makes for unsatisfying viewing on the ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:40:00 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/585/movie-review-extraordinary-measures /1703361 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/585/movie-review-extraordinary-measures Jan 22, 2010

Tooth Fairy is the kind of family junk that people often tell me critics take too seriously. “It’s just a kid’s movie!” More than ever, I call foul on that argument. Entertainment aimed at children has arguably never been better with incredible films like Up, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs released in the last twelve months. Why should we accept the supposedly inherent flaws of the family film when it’s been so ably proven that we don’t have to? The problem seems to ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:37:34 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/584/movie-review-tooth-fairy /1703385 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/584/movie-review-tooth-fairy Jan 22, 2010

Claire Denis does not make easy films, even for Francophiles. Her latest highly acclaimed drama, 35 Shots of Rum (or 35 rhums), is only now opening around the country after appearing on dozens of top ten lists for those lucky enough to have seen it in 2009. As happens every once in awhile, I’m stunned at how long these things sometimes take to work their way to the American public who might be interested in seeing them. Denis has become one of the more notable foreign directors alive with an incredibly loyal ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:34:29 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/583/movie-review-35-shots-of-rum /1703796 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/583/movie-review-35-shots-of-rum Jan 22, 2010

Torture porn is not just for American audiences any more. If you’ve been wondering why there aren’t more Hostel sequels and longing for the days when there was a brutal horror flick like Wolf Creek in theaters nearly every week, Sundance Selects has a gratuitously grotesque slice of absolute torture for you now available, as the French Canadian 7 Days (the French title is Les 7 jours du talion) simultaneously premieres On Demand at the same time as it’s debuting in Park City at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Perhaps not quite ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:32:09 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/582/movie-review-7-days http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/582/movie-review-7-days Jan 21, 2010

Jeff Bridges has been tearing up the awards season, taking home another trophy this week as he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor. He’s clearly the frontrunner to finally win an Oscar for his amazing work as Bad Blake in Scott Cooper’s Crazy Heart. Cooper’s film started as a biography of Merle Haggard but became an adaptation of a story about an over-the-hill, alcoholic country singer trying to find happiness and maybe a bit of redemption before it’s too late. Cooper’s directorial debut is one of the most assured of 2009 ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:22:40 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/581/interview-with-scott-cooper-director-of-crazy-heart http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/581/interview-with-scott-cooper-director-of-crazy-heart Jan 18, 2010

The 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards have been awarded and it was James Cameron and Avatar pulling the big upset and taking home the trophies over the heavily favored The Hurt Locker and director Kathryn Bigelow. In our opinion, Ricky Gervais did a pretty good job as host this year (though we’d watch anything he was involved in, heck we even liked The Invention of Lying despite the lukewarm reviews it received). While we’re big nerd boy fans of Cameron and Avatar, The Hurt Locker is definitely one of ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Mon, 18 Jan 2010 14:02:23 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/579/the-2010-golden-globe-winners http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/579/the-2010-golden-globe-winners Jan 15, 2010

Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones is at once both one of the most conceptually daring films of 2009 and one of its biggest train wrecks. Filled with complex concepts and emotional risks but also with incredibly misguided decisions that dramatically rupture the entire film by the final act, it is likely to become a divisive work, one that a select few embrace but most mock or merely forget. For every element of The Lovely Bones that works there is at least one that does not and the artistic give-and-take nature of the ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:00:20 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/578/movie-review-the-lovely-bones /1701678 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/578/movie-review-the-lovely-bones Jan 15, 2010

Michael Haneke continues to prove his reputation as one of our era’s more intriguing filmmakers with another dark, insightful masterpiece about the human ability to deceive. He has reportedly claimed that his amazing The White Ribbon is about the rise of any kind of terrorism but there is a clear through line between the action of the film and the rise of the Nazi party during World War II. Having said that, this is not an overtly political piece. The rise of evil is merely the backdrop of a personal, human story ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:23:59 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/577/movie-review-the-white-ribbon /1701791 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/577/movie-review-the-white-ribbon Jan 12, 2010

Recapping an entire decade is an amazingly daunting task, the kind of endeavor that really makes a critic take account of what he values in film. Looking over the last ten years of movies and the thousands of reviews I have written, I realized a few things about what I view as important when it comes to truly great films. I said a few years ago that the movies I value the most are the ones that make me forget about the review I need to write; the ones that transport me away from ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:47:31 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/574/the-50-best-films-of-the-2000s http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/574/the-50-best-films-of-the-2000s Jan 08, 2010

Miguel Arteta's Youth in Revolt is a surprisingly charming and eccentric comedy, a riff on common themes in the world of the teenage romantic comedies but done so with a unique, entertaining style. Simply put, Youth in Revolt is funny. It's not life-changing but it never intends to be. It's a fun slice of teenage life, when love is something for which we will turn our worlds upside down and when just a kiss can change your whole viewpoint. Sometimes overly aware of its own cleverness and overcrowded with characters and subplots, ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:10:42 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/573/movie-review-youth-in-revolt /1700119 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/573/movie-review-youth-in-revolt Jan 08, 2010

There is so little originality in the world of horror that when something as unique as Daybreakers comes along, it's tempting to embrace it with open arms. I expect that hardcore horror nuts will love this film the way that sci-fi junkies bow at the altar of a unique work like Equilibrium. With genres that are so often based on previous films or other source material, seeing something brand new is rare enough to allow viewers to dismiss all flaws and proclaim greatness. The original concept of Daybreakers is clever enough and the execution stylish ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:10:36 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/572/movie-review-daybreakers /1701470 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/572/movie-review-daybreakers Jan 08, 2010

Terry Gilliam's controversial The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus has grabbed headlines as "Heath Ledger's final film," but it's actually just as notable as something close to a return to form for the great director of such classics as Brazil and The Fisher King. Now, it's certainly nowhere near as accomplished a film as those from Gilliam's peak, but it is much further up the mountain than the very disappointing The Brothers Grimm or the abysmal Tideland. It is certainly disheartening to have to wave goodbye to one ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:10:25 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/571/movie-review-the-imaginarium-of-doctor-parnassus /1703095 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/571/movie-review-the-imaginarium-of-doctor-parnassus Jan 08, 2010

Jodie Markell's The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond unearths a long-buried Tennessee Williams screenplay and, while most of the major players appear to do their best, the conventional, dull script is actually the weakest element of the production, proving that perhaps it was buried for a reason. Lead actress Bryce Dallas Howard takes on what she clearly viewed as her most challenging role to date but never comes to terms with the fact that this is an underdeveloped, uninteresting character in a story far too reminiscent of vastly superior Williams' works. ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:10:18 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/570/movie-review-the-loss-of-a-teardrop-diamond /1704528 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/570/movie-review-the-loss-of-a-teardrop-diamond Jan 06, 2010

Michael Cera returned to the interview chair near the end of 2009 to discuss his upcoming Youth in Revolt, a comedy about a young man so desperately in love that he develops a "bad boy" personality to win the heart of the girl he desires. He also brought the girl, the lovely Portia Doubleday, making her debut in the Miguel Arteta film. Youth in Revolt is a clever comedy that plays perfectly to Cera's strengths, resulting in his best performance to date. After several delays, the film was finally shuffled ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:11:15 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/565/interview-with-michael-cera-and-portia-doubleday-stars-of-youth-in-revolt http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/565/interview-with-michael-cera-and-portia-doubleday-stars-of-youth-in-revolt Dec 30, 2009

We've covered the best of the year and now it's time to flip the coin and look at the dirty underside of film in 2009. Of course, it's easy to point fingers at the disappointing major sequels of the summer (nearly all of which fell below their predecessor in terms of quality) but the Hollywood machine wasn't alone in the production of lackluster product in 2009.

Bad movies can come from anywhere and at any time. This year’s top ten includes some regulars but also some people who sunk lower than usual in the past ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:22:40 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/564/the-ten-worst-films-of-2009 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/564/the-ten-worst-films-of-2009 Dec 28, 2009

Amplified by a slate of "Best of the Decade" pieces (which we'll get to in early 2010), this year's "best of" features seem more overcrowded than ever, but it's human nature to want to rank. When I tell people that I'm a film critic, they almost always ask me what the best movie is I've seen lately or my favorite of all time. As much as we like to try and raise the conversation about film and add to the discussion instead of just giving a film a grade, people are always going to ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Mon, 28 Dec 2009 12:29:48 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/563/the-ten-best-films-of-2009 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/563/the-ten-best-films-of-2009 Dec 25, 2009

Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes is a cinematic Big Mac – it tastes fine going down, but only later do you realize that it is completely disposable and forgettable. And don't be surprised if you feel a little bloated. Of course, considering the number of movies that aren't even as tasty as Ronald McDonald's special sauce, it's tempting to recommend a bit of junk food between Christmas and New Year's, but I can't shake the feeling that this blatant attempt at a franchise starter could have been better and, considering the power of ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 25 Dec 2009 09:07:02 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/562/movie-review-sherlock-holmes /1702931 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/562/movie-review-sherlock-holmes Dec 25, 2009

Nancy Meyers' It's Complicated doesn't really live up to its title in that it's a pretty straightforward, uncomplicated romantic comedy enlivened by a spectacular comedy ensemble that elevate a clichéd script into something that works merely by the infectious nature of the good time these talented actors clearly had in making the film. It's Complicated is far from perfect and could have been improved with a few rewrites and a more interesting director, but the ensemble is flawless and there's something to be said for watching actors this extremely talented bringing their ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 25 Dec 2009 09:04:36 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/561/movie-review-its-complicated /1702930 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/561/movie-review-its-complicated Dec 25, 2009

Rob Marshall's Nine is a vibrant, eccentric, unusual slice of musical entertainment. It's a beautifully made film that somehow still feels like the ugly duckling of major musicals in that the lead can't really sing, too much of the supporting cast is interchangeable, and the editing is unnecessarily frenetic, and yet most of these criticisms easily fall away at the pure spectacle of it all. With beautiful settings, gorgeous stars, and lavishly staged numbers, Nine casts a spell that makes critical analysis difficult. Yes, Rob Marshall made a few regrettable decisions in ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 25 Dec 2009 09:01:59 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/560/movie-review-nine /1700800 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/560/movie-review-nine Dec 25, 2009

The unbelievable pain that comes with the loss of a loved one has rarely been brought to life with more poetic force than in the excellent A Single Man, a film with several of the best performances of the year and a drama that will resonate powerfully with art house audiences this holiday season and, hopefully, result in a well-deserved Oscar nomination or two in a few weeks. A Single Man is about being paralyzed by emotional pain or intellectual fear so drastically that it makes it impossible to move forward. The main ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:59:06 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/559/movie-review-a-single-man /1703098 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/559/movie-review-a-single-man Dec 25, 2009

Is it ever too late to do the right thing? Can you go so far over the hill that no amount of regret or attempts at reconciliation can ever bring you back to the other side? Does that mean you shouldn't even try? These are timeless human questions that have been a part of the fabric of country music since the first musician picked up a guitar and wailed about his sorrows. And they are just one part of the excellent Crazy Heart, an acting showcase for the great Jeff Bridges that gets ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:51:43 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/558/movie-review-crazy-heart /1704012 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/558/movie-review-crazy-heart Dec 23, 2009

Many reviews of Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel have been focused on it not being a very good movie, but also maintaining that kids will probably enjoy it (almost as if it being kid friendly automatically makes it a bad movie). Well, to that I say. What of it? Seems to me that the only reason anyone would read a review of this movie would be to find out 1) if it’s safe for their children to see and 2) if their kids are going to have fun watching it. The answer ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Wed, 23 Dec 2009 11:54:45 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/552/movie-review-alvin-and-the-chipmunks-the-squeakquel /1702924 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/552/movie-review-alvin-and-the-chipmunks-the-squeakquel Dec 23, 2009

Well, it’s that time of year again. You know when we all pretend that we’re all one people regardless of race, creed, or political affiliation and yet – no matter how many times we force ourselves to say “Happy Holidays” – it’s still hard to ignore that 95% of the Western world is swathed in Christmas decorations and the only thing on TV is George Bailey and Rudolph. But, if you forget about the hypocrisy of the season for just a tiny bit, you’ll realize that the holidays aren’t truly about religion or goodwill ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:46:29 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/551/ nine-holiday-videos-from-your-friends-at-movieretrievercom- http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/551/ nine-holiday-videos-from-your-friends-at-movieretrievercom- Dec 22, 2009

Ah, Christmas! Tis the season for mistletoe, holly, shopping, and the career-derailing office Holiday party. Between online shopping, giving out Secret Santa presents, and wandering from cubicle to cubicle snagging holiday cookies, not a lot of work is getting done this week across America, and the annual office gathering puts the icing on the anti-productivity cake. Woo hoo! But it’s not always peace on earth and goodwill toward men. The Holiday party presents so many social landmines. What is it about the office Christmas party? Is it the booze? The relief in making it through ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:10:13 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/549/the-five-most-awkward-cinematic-office-christmas-parties http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/549/the-five-most-awkward-cinematic-office-christmas-parties Dec 22, 2009

The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow’s incendiary action drama following the lives of the members of a bomb disposal unit stationed in Iraq, was the big winner with the Chicago Film Critics Association in their voting for their 2009 awards. The film swept all five awards that it was nominated for, taking home prizes for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay (for Mark Boal), Best Actor (Jeremy Renner) and Best Cinematography (Barry Ackroyd). Among the other multiple winners, the Pixar animated smash Up won for Best Animated Feature ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:59:02 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/548/the-2009-chicago-film-critics-association-winners http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/548/the-2009-chicago-film-critics-association-winners Dec 21, 2009

First of all, I like a good romantic comedy as much as the next person. I’m not one of these fanboy geek film nerds who only likes movies that have something to do with video games, super heroes, aliens, monsters, or whatever flavor of the week comic book is making its big screen debut and then lives only to tear those things to shreds. Though I do enjoy such activities (who doesn’t), I’m actually a big fan of the romantic tearjerker and have enjoyed many a film from the genre in the past few ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:57:03 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/547/movie-review-did-you-hear-about-the-morgans /1702927 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/547/movie-review-did-you-hear-about-the-morgans Dec 18, 2009

Pedro Almodóvar's Broken Embraces isn't quite the masterpiece that was the director’s Talk to Her or Volver, but it is a luscious, gorgeous, confidently directed slice of self-examination through the world of noir, the power of cinema, and the hazy fog of memory. The last time that Pedro wrote a character who also happened to be a creative artist into one of his films, in Bad Education, it produced at-best mixed results. Luckily, Broken Embraces is a far more successful slice of cinematic wonder, a work that's not quite ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:47:36 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/546/movie-review-broken-embraces /1701648 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/546/movie-review-broken-embraces Dec 18, 2009

The Young Victoria is a well-intentioned film with a talented enough cast and reasonably strong production value that still never quite comes together as anything truly memorable. It’s a film with many admirable individual parts that form a surprisingly forgettable whole. Despite stealing most of the films she's appeared in to date, star Emily Blunt is horrendously miscast and too much of The Young Victoria feels like it’s merely going through the motions, as if everyone has been tasked with providing a requisite holiday season period piece and that's what they’re going ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:26:41 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/545/movie-review-the-young-victoria /1702923 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/545/movie-review-the-young-victoria Dec 17, 2009

After going through the best supporting turns of the year earlier this week (check out that feature by clicking here) and dealing with the onslaught of awards and nominations this week including the Golden Globes and Chicago Film Critics Association (a group of which this critic is a proud board member), we thought we'd take a look at the names above the title that really stood out this year. From drama to comedy to science fiction, the best lead performances of 2009 came from diverse films and were delivered by actors and actresses with ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:38:59 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/544/the-best-lead-performances-of-2009 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/544/the-best-lead-performances-of-2009 Dec 17, 2009

A wry comedy-drama about a man who makes his living firing people and an adaptation of a classic piece of children’s literature were the big winners when the Chicago Film Critics Association announced their list of nominees for their 2009 awards earlier this week. Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air and Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are each scored six nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. A pair of radically different war movies, Kathryn Bigelow’s gripping Iraq conflict drama The Hurt Locker and ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Thu, 17 Dec 2009 09:43:22 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/543/the-2009-chicago-film-critics-association-nominations http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/543/the-2009-chicago-film-critics-association-nominations Dec 16, 2009

James Cameron's highly anticipated Avatar is an ambitious, beautifully rendered, and visually stunning film. It is also a storytelling mess without a single character to care about and with all of the logic of a fourth grade English student trying write a really cool science fiction story. It's simply impossible to begrudge people who fall for the epic visual scale of the story in the same way that early filmgoers fell for flickering images in a darkened theater. But when you step back and look at the film critically, examine what works ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:36:37 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/540/movie-review-avatar /1701644 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/540/movie-review-avatar Dec 15, 2009

As the awards season really ramps up, it’s time to look back at what happened in darkened theaters in 2009, starting with the best supporting work of the year. We’ll get to the best films, best lead performances, and worst films over the next few weeks, but today is dedicated to the men and women who did the best work outside of the main spotlight. A number of the best films of the year worked because of their extensive, talented ensembles. Within our traditional five-nominee system, there are several films that feature more than ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Tue, 15 Dec 2009 08:03:48 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/539/the-best-supporting-performances-of-2009 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/539/the-best-supporting-performances-of-2009 Dec 11, 2009

I have to admit to being one of those old-fashioned critics who thinks that the technological advancements in the world of animation have not always been for the best. There's something about the hand-drawn, two-dimensional approach to animated storytelling that has been crushed by computer generated imagery and 3D. Don't get me wrong. I'm not purist enough to not recognize that beauty of Pixar's CGI or admire the 3D world of Coraline, but when every studio basically fired their 2D departments, it made me sad. Why can't we have both? Aren't there stories ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:19:25 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/536/movie-review-the-princess-and-the-frog /1702943 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/536/movie-review-the-princess-and-the-frog Dec 11, 2009

Clint Eastwood makes old-fashioned movies that usually deal in cut-and-dry moral situations. Personally, I find him the most interesting when he's forced to address the moral grays between the blacks and whites in films like Unforgiven and Mystic River, but, especially lately, he seems to have lost any interest at all in striking a subtle chord. Every character development and every plot turn in films like Gran Torino or Flags of Our Fathers is telegraphed and underlined so no one could possibly miss it. You could argue that there's ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:00:34 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/535/movie-review-invictus /1702929 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/535/movie-review-invictus Dec 10, 2009

Even with a soft spot in my heart for films about the community that sprouts up around creative ventures and a natural adoration for the films of both Orson Welles and Richard Linklater, Me and Orson Welles is a frustrating film, a movie that I want to love but is remarkably forgettable in spite of itself. Me and Orson Welles is a reasonably satisfying experience with some decent supporting work and one excellent performance at its core, but it's also surprisingly hollow, missing the emotional register that would allow it to carry ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:37:24 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/534/movie-reivew-me-and-orson-welles http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/534/movie-reivew-me-and-orson-welles Dec 10, 2009

The theme of cinema in 2009 has clearly been that we're all in some deep sh*t and it's only getting deeper. Zombieland, The Road, 2012 – so much of our entertainment has been about the imminent downfall of humanity that it's somewhat surprising that the post-apocalyptic viewpoint hasn't extended as much to non-fiction filmmaking. Enter Collapse, a highly buzzed documentary that basically introduces the audience to the prophet of death. In the style of the great Errol Morris, director Chris Smith (American Movie) sat down for a conversation ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:40:39 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/533/movie-review-collapse http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/533/movie-review-collapse Dec 09, 2009

With one of the best years in the history of animation coming to a close, it seems appropriate to open our coverage of the best of the about-to-end decade with what Brad Bird once told me should be considered a medium, not a genre. Looking back at a spectacular decade in animation displays the truth of that statement with excellent films from a variety of sources and telling stories that range from drama to comedy to, of course, the family film. Future books about the cinema of the 2000s will be incomplete if they ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:23:52 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/532/ the-ten-best-animated-films-of-the-decade http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/532/ the-ten-best-animated-films-of-the-decade Dec 06, 2009

The Maid is a comedy of cultural conflict that could easily be remade into an absolutely horrific American vehicle. It practically sounds like a September release set to star a beautiful Jessica (Alba, Simpson, or Biel) but the wacky remake of The Maid would almost certainly miss what works about the original. (Don’t they always?) For awhile, the set-up and plot description of The Maid plays almost like a quirky sitcom, but writer/director Sebastian Silva wisely focuses on character instead of caricature and has crafted a film that is ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:47:28 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/531/movie-review-the-maid /1702912 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/531/movie-review-the-maid Dec 05, 2009

Last year we ran a couple of features on Twilight. The first was called Six Excuses Grown-Ups Can Use for Going to See Twilight This Weekend. Want to know why we did that article? Well, even though most people we’ve talked to over the age of 25 about the series said they just don’t understand the appeal of Stephenie Meyer’s modern gothic romance, the truth of the matter is that everyone has gone Twilight crazy. The latest film in the series, The Twilight Saga: New Moon is the #1 movie in ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:38:28 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/530/a-teens-take-on-the-twilight-saga-new-moon /1702944 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/530/a-teens-take-on-the-twilight-saga-new-moon Dec 04, 2009

It almost felt like after the success and inevitable backlash that surrounded Juno that some people were expecting Jason Reitman to fail with his next project. He couldn’t make another film that critically and commercially successful, right? He didn’t. He made an even better film. Up in the Air, starring George Clooney, Anna Kendrick, Vera Farmiga, J.K. Simmons, Jason Bateman, and more, tells the story of a businessman who values his frequent flyer miles over anything approaching a personal relationship. It’s easily one of the best films of the ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:00:15 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/529/interview-with-jason-reitman-cowriter/director-of-up-in-the-air http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/529/interview-with-jason-reitman-cowriter/director-of-up-in-the-air Dec 04, 2009

I try and go into every film with a blank slate, but I must admit that I simply do not understand the desire to remake Susanne Bier's Brothers, especially by a director as talented as Jim Sheridan (In America, In the Name of the Father). Ignoring the commercial imperative, what is the creative reason to remake a film in the first place? The foreign films that have been successfully remade over the years are almost always ones that featured stories strong enough that they needed to be told in ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:57:11 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/528/movie-review-brothers /1702926 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/528/movie-review-brothers Dec 04, 2009

Workplace comedy The Strip starts off so shakily and features such overly familiar material that by the time the filmmaker's love for his characters starts to shine through the stale jokes and recycled premise, it's too late for the film to close the sale. It is unique for a comedy like this to start off feeling generic and get more interesting as it goes along – it's usually the reverse – but even a much stronger second half can't erase the feeling that you've seen The Strip before and you've seen it funnier, smarter, ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:33:23 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/527/movie-review-the-strip http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/527/movie-review-the-strip Dec 03, 2009

Is it our physical belongings or our personal connections that tie us down? What's more important – the frequent flyer miles you collect or the people you meet as you rack them up? Your job or the people you come home to? And what happens to a man when he has absolutely nothing tethering him to the ground? Take the case of Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), a man who enjoys nothing more than his hotel perk programs and the VIP treatment he gets when he checks in for a flight. He's collected more ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:32:30 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/526/movie-review-up-in-the-air /1702921 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/526/movie-review-up-in-the-air Nov 25, 2009

Old Dogs, a new fish-out-of-water pseudo family-friendly comedy is the type of film that audiences will lap up over the holiday weekend like so much spilled gravy. But, they’ll be hard pressed to care about the movie once it’s finished (or possibly during it). The movie begins with the tired one-joke premise of a couple of fifty-something, somewhat happily single men being forced to baby sit children and expects hilarity to ensue. It does occasionally. Mostly, Old Dogs is a series of painfully unfunny bits of physical comedy loosely held together by a ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:49:29 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/525/movie-review-old-dogs /1702940 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/525/movie-review-old-dogs Nov 25, 2009

Wes Anderson and Roald Dahl seem like a match made in hipster movie heaven. Anderson's quirky visual style is a perfect fit for Dahl's unique imagination and the voice cast assembled for the wunderkind director's take on Fantastic Mr. Fox is as A-list as anything produced this season. Led by George Clooney and Meryl Streep and including Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, and Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, Fantastic Mr. Fox first seems like a dream come true, that rare blend ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:55:01 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/524/movie-review-fantastic-mr-fox /1702936 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/524/movie-review-fantastic-mr-fox Nov 25, 2009

A few times a year, movie goers are presented with a film that proves that not all mediums are created equal. Watchmen proved that even absolute loyalty to a graphic novel can leave something on the page and now the highly-anticipated and long-delayed debut of The Road proves that some themes are better represented in fiction than on celluloid. Cormac McCarthy's novel was a highly acclaimed and award-winning examination of survival, hope, and what happens after the end of the world. On paper, McCarthy's prose and bleak vision of the future works ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:50:41 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/523/movie-review-the-road /1699474 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/523/movie-review-the-road Nov 25, 2009

With Red Cliff, John Woo returns with his first film in six years and his first non-English film since the landmark Hard Boiled (1992). Can the man who was once so clearly at the top of the action game with masterpieces like The Killer and A Bullet in the Head find his cultural importance yet again? The film has garnered a sizable amount of buzz on its way overseas, in no small part due to the unusual decision to take a two-part, four-hour experience and cram into one theatrical experience ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:48:23 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/522/movie-review-red-cliff http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/522/movie-review-red-cliff Nov 25, 2009

What little boy didn't someday want to be a Ninja Assassin? Heck, there are some days when I still consider such a bad-ass career change. The most truth-in-advertising title of the year nearly sounds like it sprung from a playground conversation. "When I grow up, I'm gonna be a ninja." "Well, I'm gonna be an assassin." "Oh yeah, I'll kill you both as a ninja assassin." The ridiculous nature of the film's concept and title is also the only way a viewer can possibly approach the film and expect to be entertained. This ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:45:35 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/521/movie-review-ninja-assassin /1702939 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/521/movie-review-ninja-assassin Nov 24, 2009

Count me as a casual fan of Napoleon Dynamite, though I certainly wasn’t even that at first. It’s a film that has to simmer (well, at least for me it did) and the film’s sense of humor is arguably an acquired taste. The film’s celebration of the, shall we say, eccentric people in the world worked mainly thanks to a few likeable characters trying to survive in a supposedly normal world. While it may have seemed stupid more often than not, the film still had a charm about it that made it likeable, ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:18:37 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/516/movie-review-gentlemen-broncos /1702908 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/516/movie-review-gentlemen-broncos Nov 23, 2009

John Lee Hancock's The Blind Side is an unabashedly feel-good movie. Yes, the producers undeniably overlook the darker tones of its true story, but sometimes audiences want to focus more on the inspiration than the reason for it. There have been dozens of films that ignored the reason for the fall to focus more on the climb and, if you look past the softening of the less family-friendly or controversial elements of the true story of The Blind Side and approach it much like you would Hancock's moving and underrated The ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:21:28 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/515/movie-review-the-blind-side /1702932 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/515/movie-review-the-blind-side Nov 20, 2009

Very few films have lingered in the post-production pipeline as long as Turning Green, a dark comedy that was actually a runner-up for Project Greenlight and played in festivals way back in 2005. How could a film with intriguing actors like Timothy Hutton, Allesandro Nivola, and Colm Meaney lay on a shelf for so long? Could it really be that bad? No, it's not THAT bad. What's more likely is that it was simply forgotten. The coming-of-age story never comes together, wasting talented people in small roles, miscasting the lead, and ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:56:35 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/514/movie-review-turning-green http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/514/movie-review-turning-green Nov 20, 2009

Recent Oscar nominee Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) has a face built for noir. With his sharp angles and sad eyes, he looks like he could have stepped out of a film in the 1940s and he practically has in the very unusual The Missing Person, a film that can't easily be contained in one genre. Is it a spoof of noir films? A mind trip like David Lynch might make? A straight-faced noir? All (or none) of the above? The Missing Person is a film that's very hard to put a ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:15:16 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/513/movie-review-the-missing-person http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/513/movie-review-the-missing-person Nov 20, 2009

Lukas Moodysson's Mammoth is an ambitious piece about interconnectivity that takes a bit too long to get going and perhaps bites off more thematically than it can chew, but it has too many intriguing ideas and spectacular performances to be dismissed. Taking place in Thailand, the Philippines, and New York, Mammoth is somewhat Babel-esque in the way it intertwines cultures and connectivity but it's a much more straightforward narrative and interesting commentary on the growing chasm between the classes and how trying to jump from one to another could lead to a pretty ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:29:40 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/512/movie-review-mammoth http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/512/movie-review-mammoth Nov 20, 2009

Oren Moverman's The Messenger is a stunning debut, an effective, expertly-made and performed drama about the common human ability to deal with tragedy and loss in unique, unpredictable ways. A film that feels incredibly authentic, The Messenger isn't for the dramatically faint of heart. This is not a "good time" for the family over Thanksgiving, but it would be the most memorable and effecting film that you could see this holiday. With a shocking lack of manipulation, melodrama, or easy lessons, The Messenger says more about honest, relatable humanity than most dramas ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:49:34 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/511/movie-review-the-messenger /1702533 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/511/movie-review-the-messenger Nov 20, 2009

As much as vampire fiction has taken off with films like The Twilight Saga: New Moon and programs like True Blood and The Vampire Diaries, the creativity in the world of alien-based filmmaking seems to have run aground. How else to explain awful films like Aliens in the Attic, The Fourth Kind, and now the ridiculously bad Planet 51, a film with essentially no redeeming value at all. I had problems with Monsters vs. Aliens but it looks like WALL-E compared to this almost defiantly lackluster effort. Some ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:47:28 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/510/movie-review-planet-51 /1702941 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/510/movie-review-planet-51 Nov 20, 2009

Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is one of the most surprisingly accomplished films of the year. Of course, one would have to be film illiterate to be surprised that the always-intriguing Herzog could deliver the goods but nearly every other element of this clever, dark, twisted thriller screamed "that's a really bad idea." Star Nicolas Cage has been involved in some truly bad films in the last few years, including another unnecessary remake from an interesting director (The Wicker Man). He honestly hasn't been completely effective since ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:45:27 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/509/movie-review-bad-lieutenant-port-of-call-new-orleans http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/509/movie-review-bad-lieutenant-port-of-call-new-orleans Nov 19, 2009

A slight improvement over the lackluster first film in the franchise, The Twilight Saga: New Moon is yet another shockingly bland, dull, predictable serving of much of the same meal. The fact is that all of our dear readers who loved the first film are unlikely to be swayed from their passion project by this one. (In fact, it's significantly better in some departments.) If you’re buying extra Whoppers this week to get the New Moon swag at Burger King, stop reading right now. But if, like me, you think that fans deserve ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:47:00 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/507/movie-review-the-twilight-saga-new-moon /1702944 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/507/movie-review-the-twilight-saga-new-moon Nov 19, 2009

Ben Foster first impressed viewers with roles on beloved programs like Freaks and Geeks and Six Feet Under. He went on to steal scenes in films like Alpha Dog and 3:10 to Yuma, but he does the best work of his career in Oren Moverman’s incredible drama The Messenger, co-starring Woody Harrelson and Samantha Morton. In the film, Foster plays a soldier who is forced to finish out his service as a Casualty Notification Officer, one of the men who informs next of kin when their loved one ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:02:01 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/506/interview-with-ben-foster-star-of-the-messenger http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/506/interview-with-ben-foster-star-of-the-messenger Nov 13, 2009 If you judge a film based on how well it delivers what an audience should expect of it, I find it hard to believe that 2012 could possibly disappoint (other than possibly ruining dinner plans with its extreme length). This is the culmination of Roland Emmerich's career, an everything-AND-the-kitchen-sink film that never hides its intention to be nothing more than a ridiculous, over-the-top, jaw-dropping rollercoaster of an experience. Is it good? It depends on what you mean by “good.” Was The Poseidon Adventure good? The Towering Inferno? 2012 is a ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:16:31 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/503/movie-review-2012 /1700808 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/503/movie-review-2012 Nov 13, 2009 With a great true story and one of the most purely entertaining ensembles of the year, Richard Curtis' Pirate Radio starts with a bang. It's like walking into a lavish costume party with likable characters, amazing tunes, and simply spectacular period clothes. The problem is that films require a bit more than a costume party. The goodwill of the first half hour or so of Pirate Radio wears off when you realize that it really has nowhere to go after that stellar introduction. Several films in one without fully developing any of ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:15:21 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/502/movie-review-pirate-radio /1701658 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/502/movie-review-pirate-radio Nov 12, 2009

If a ticket buyer were to stumble into a theater showing Ti West's The House of the Devil without knowing what to expect, they might think they had come across a long-lost Tobe Hooper film from the early 1980s or at least a film from a lesser-known director of the same era. Ti West has made a horror flick that is not meant to merely be SET in the early 1980s but is designed to feel like it was actually produced back then. Everything from the font of the opening credits to ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:31:56 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/499/movie-review-the-house-of-the-devil /1702909 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/499/movie-review-the-house-of-the-devil Nov 12, 2009

Sebastian Gutierrez's Women in Trouble features some of my absolute favorite actresses giving vibrant, sexy, daring performances. And that's why it practically crushes me to say that the movie doesn't quite work. It's a near-miss by a writer/director who I hope keeps trying to make more of these Almodovar-esque quilts of interweaving stories. Just because Women in Trouble doesn't quite come together doesn't mean there aren't elements of it that work and the entire project hints that the previously critically-reviled Gutierrez could really make a great film like it if he keeps ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:05:22 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/498/movie-review-women-in-trouble /1702922 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/498/movie-review-women-in-trouble Nov 12, 2009

The drama Skin is a well-performed, interesting true story about the ridiculousness of apartheid and racism in general set against the backdrop of three decades in South Africa. It is the tale of a woman caught between races – accepted and then discarded by both. There is inherent dramatic power in the tale of Sandra Laing and the performances in Skin are admirable, but the film never finds the emotional chords that could have elevated it to more than just a "good drama." There are elements that hint at a movie that could have ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:48:51 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/497/movie-review-skin http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/497/movie-review-skin Nov 12, 2009

Richard Curtis is a legend in the United Kingdom, the man who made one of the country’s most popular shows of all time (Black Adder) and helped turn Hugh Grant into a household name. He wrote Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Tall Guy¸ Notting Hill, the adaptation of Bridget Jones’ Diary, and many of the adventures of Mr. Bean before moving into the director’s chair for the beloved Love Actually and, now, Pirate Radio (known as The Boat That Rocked overseas before a stateside title change). Curtis’ ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:52:43 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/496/interview-with-richard-curtis-director-of-pirate-radio http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/496/interview-with-richard-curtis-director-of-pirate-radio Nov 11, 2009

Most films that end up producing a sequel were more than likely conceived with future installments in mind. Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean, even Saw – when the filmmaker wrapped production on part one, they intended to see most of the cast and crew a few months down the line. Much rarer is the sequel that comes completely out of left field, a part two that even the filmmakers never thought would happen when they devised part one. Such must be the case with Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, a ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:21:40 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/495/they-made-a-part-two-to-what--the-ten-worst-unexpected-sequels-of-all-time http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/495/they-made-a-part-two-to-what--the-ten-worst-unexpected-sequels-of-all-time Nov 09, 2009

The Men Who Stare at Goats is one of those films that you won’t be disappointed you saw. However, you may not be wildly excited about having seen it either. The trouble is that this blending of action-adventure, political thriller, and dark comedy is never really brilliant nor is it just plain awful. It’s the cinematic equivalent of Baby Bear’s porridge – a very middle-of-the-road film that gets lost quite a few times but not badly enough to make it a waste. An intriguing story (which is apparently based on actual facts, then ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:48:39 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/493/movie-review-the-men-who-stare-at-goats /1702938 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/493/movie-review-the-men-who-stare-at-goats Nov 06, 2009

The Fourth Kind starts with star Milla Jovovich walking toward the screen, introducing herself, and explaining what will be one of the most unusual and misguided film structures of the year. The film, written and directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi (and somewhat co-starring the filmmaker too, but we'll get to that), purports to tell the true story of some mysterious occurrences that happened in the fall of 2000 in Nome, Alaska. To do so, Osunsanmi liberally uses split-screen, showing "real footage" from psychology sessions and even police video on one side and ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:11:25 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/492/movie-review-the-fourth-kind /1702937 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/492/movie-review-the-fourth-kind Nov 06, 2009

The ads for The Box really should say "From the writer/director of Donnie Darko and Southland Tales" just so audiences know what they're about to experience. For some reason, given the commercial failure of Tales and the relatively straightforward commercials for The Box, I assumed that Richard Kelly's third film would feature the director more "reined in" and constricted by an audience-pleasing thriller. I was both right and wrong. Kelly's The Box features enough of the filmmaker's brand of David Lynch-ian lunacy that I expect it will completely turn off ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:51:20 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/491/movie-review-the-box /1702933 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/491/movie-review-the-box Nov 06, 2009

Lee Daniels' Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire ends with a dedication that the film is for "precious girls everywhere." The words will resonate with legions of fans of this tragic true story – women and even men who will identify with a devastating tale of rising above abuse, poverty, addiction, and seemingly insurmountable odds. Bleak, depressing, and shockingly brutal, Precious is the "feel-bad feel-good" movie of the year. It's a film designed to pummel you with a situation that would send most humans into a weeping fetal position but to then ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:32:31 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/490/movie-review-precious-based-on-the-novel-push-by-sapphire /1702942 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/490/movie-review-precious-based-on-the-novel-push-by-sapphire Nov 05, 2009

Robert Zemeckis' soulless take on the Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol never once justifies its existence, displaying so many awful behind-the-scenes decisions that it's almost hard to believe that so many talented people were involved in its production. Nearly every design element of Zemeckis' third motion capture film (after The Polar Express and Beowulf, both of which had their flaws but look like absolute masterpieces next to this disaster) is just plain wrong and the overall aesthetic of the film is remarkably annoying. As the film progressed, I found ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:41:55 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/489/movie-review-a-christmas-carol /1701642 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/489/movie-review-a-christmas-carol Nov 02, 2009

Martin Landau is a living legend. He recently flew into Chicago with two films to present at the 45th Chicago International Film Festival, a remastered print of North by Northwest and a new drama entitled Lovely, Still. The former is now available on Blu-ray (release date: November 3rd, 2009). The latter is a small film co-starring Ellen Burstyn about an elderly romance with a twist. Landau is still working harder and more consistently than most actors half his age. We were honored to have a one-on-one with the Oscar-winning actor and covered ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:29:36 -0500 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/488/interview-with-martin-landau http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/488/interview-with-martin-landau Oct 30, 2009

The viciously dark and violent Bronson is an exercise of style over substance that sometimes connects on a purely visceral level but is ultimately as shallow and single-minded as its insane protagonist. The title character is a legend in the British prison system, having spent a large majority of his life not just behind bars but in solitary confinement. Michael Peterson, who later renamed himself Bronson after his movie hero, was born into a middle-class family and very little history or background is given about what made him so undeniably insane. It's refreshing ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:59:36 -0400 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/487/movie-review-bronson /1702903 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/487/movie-review-bronson Oct 23, 2009

If Hilary Swank and Richard Gere had been born sixty years earlier, I imagine that Amelia, the biopic of Amelia Earhart in which they star, would have come out nearly the same way. And it would have been a purely so-so movie then too. Amelia is one of those films that doesn't necessarily do that much wrong that it’s worth getting fired up about like the truly worst films of the year. It’s not even the worst film released this week. It looks good, the performances are interesting, and it features ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:03:10 -0400 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/485/movie-review-amelia /1702527 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/485/movie-review-amelia Oct 23, 2009

We all have at least one moment in our lives when we are presented with a concrete, well-defined fork in the road. If you don't have one, you simply haven't reached it yet. It can be something as simple as whether or not to go out on a second date with the person who would eventually become your spouse or something as huge as moving out of your hometown instead of choosing to stay in the same zip code in which you were born. An Education is about a time in a young ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:02:36 -0400 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/484/movie-review-an-education /1702528 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/484/movie-review-an-education Oct 23, 2009

Lars von Trier's Antichrist divides this critic nearly as much as any film in years. That alone probably makes some our readership interested in it and it's tempting to say that everyone should see this radically polarizing film for themselves and form their own opinion. Well, then isn't that a recommendation of sorts? Is it possible to say that a film ultimately fails but that it does so in an ambitious, interesting way that nearly makes it worth seeing? And then how do you grade such a film? Antichrist is unlike anything ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:02:06 -0400 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/483/movie-review-antichrist /1701793 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/483/movie-review-antichrist Oct 23, 2009

The unwieldy and odd title to Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant should tell you what you need to know about the film that bears its name – it's just not quite right. There are elements of Paul Weitz's film, based on the first two books of a series by Darren Shan, that come together effectively, but the entire film ultimately mistakes being manic for being interesting and being inconsistent for being quirky and eccentric. With a plot that plays like what I imagine 1980s Tim Burton might have attempted with ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:01:30 -0400 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/482/movie-review-cirque-du-freak-the-vampires-assistant /1702543 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/482/movie-review-cirque-du-freak-the-vampires-assistant Oct 23, 2009

Uma Thurman, recently in the Windy City for the Chicago International Film Festival, has been telling reporters that the reason she was interested in starring in Katherine Dieckmann's Motherhood is because there haven't been enough films made about the day-to-day life of the modern matriarch. That's an undeniable fact. If there's a major character in a film and the identification of her as a mother is a crucial part of the story then it's almost certain that she's either going to die in a touching hospital bed scene or turn into “Mommie Dearest.” We need more ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:01:00 -0400 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/481/movie-review-motherhood /1702535 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/481/movie-review-motherhood Oct 23, 2009

If I was still an impressionable young man more easily swayed by the martial arts skills of the cinematic heroes of my youth like Bruce Lee then I think I might have a Tony Jaa poster on my wall. Honestly, the guy totally kicks ass. Despite rumors of the actor/director losing his mind in the Cambodian jungles a la Coppola on Apocalypse Now, the film that resulted, Ong Bak 2: The Beginning features an international star at the top of his particular game right now, delivering continuously impressive vehicles for his gritty, ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:30 -0400 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/480/movie-review-ong-bak-2-the-beginning http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/480/movie-review-ong-bak-2-the-beginning Oct 22, 2009

Lone Scherfig’s An Education is easily one of my favorite films of the year and it’s in no small part because of the masterful direction from this talented Danish filmmaker. One of many things that works so perfectly in this coming-of-age film about a young lady named Jenny (Carey Mulligan) who falls for an older man (Peter Sarsgaard) in 1962 London, besides Nick Hornby’s fantastic screenplay, is that the entire ensemble registers. Mulligan gives the best performance of the year and the overall ensemble – Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:18:55 -0400 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/476/interview-with-lone-scherfig-director-of-an-education http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/476/interview-with-lone-scherfig-director-of-an-education Oct 21, 2009 The legendary Willem Dafoe recently sat down for a one-on-one interview on the day that his controversial Antichrist from director Lars von Trier was playing at the 45th Chicago International Film Festival. Since its Cannes debut, Antichrist has stirred up controversy with its raw, graphic depiction of a couple in emotional freefall after the death of their child. Dafoe gives yet another fearless performance, a great turn in a career full of them. In person, Dafoe is rivetingly intellectual and fascinating to talk to. We merely skimmed the surface of his ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:01:45 -0400 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/474/interview-with-willem-dafoe-star-of-antichrist http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/474/interview-with-willem-dafoe-star-of-antichrist Oct 21, 2009

James Mottern's Trucker features spectacular performances but these excellent actors are required to do too much heavy lifting with a script that plays out too predictably to be effective. Anyone who has spent time with their TV sets tuned to The Sundance Chanel could practically write every scene and character arc in Trucker from the plot description alone. But if a film is predictable does that make it bad? Yes. There should have been a few more moments in Trucker that didn't feel cribbed from "Independent Drama 101," but it seems clear ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com ]]> Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:08:55 -0400 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/471/movie-review-trucker /1702920 http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/471/movie-review-trucker Oct 16, 2009

Welcome to the annual MovieRetriever.com live blog of the Children Leukemia Foundation of Michigan's yearly Hollywood Nights 24-hour movie-a-thon! Every year, our fearless editorial staff ventures out to this movie lover's dream event, questing to endure a full day of non-stop movies all for the good of charity (and our OCD love of all things film-ish).