I was expecting a comedy from beginning to end but Hancock is really two movies mashed together: a comedy in the first half (Superman is an asshole) and an action drama in the second half. It starts out as pretty funny superhero satire. But it’s like they ran out of steam and after Hancock is [...]

Every December my family likes to put a tree inside the house, hang glittery stuff on it, and exchange gifts. I know, weird, right? So I put two things on my list my kids would have no trouble getting for me: Wii Music and Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip. Road Trip is a lot of [...]

Immediately goes for the jugular of awkward social interaction and then combines that with the awkwardness of senseless and accidental homicide. My favorite scenes were between the CIA Supervisor played by J. K. Simmons (J. Jonah Jameson in Spiderman) and the CIA Officer played by David Rasch (Senator, Flags of Our Fathers) as they comically [...]

I really enjoyed this one. Benjamin Button is a long, quiet film. Narrated in the first person, it tells the extraordinary epic of a boy named Benjamin who was born old and grows younger as he ages. While focusing on the important people in his life, Benjamin’s story reveals that his strange blend of experience [...]

Intense. A modern take on historical drama, The Tudors season one brings us the court of King Henry VIII (Queen Elizabeth, Anne Boleyn, “burn them at the stake,” all that jazz). Performances are outstanding all around, sets and costumes are lavish and convincing. The Tudors is intelligent, exciting, visceral, sexy—if not totally historically accurate. More [...]

Cute. An unchallenging story that progresses predictably (but intentionally) just like a children’s fairy tale book. For adults, Jodie Foster was the true star of this movie, playing an agoraphobic and comic Indiana Jones who comes to the rescue of Nim (Abigail Breslin). Dramatic and exciting for young children without being scary. It’s fun to [...]

Hm. I only expected it to be funny. That’s not too much to ask of a comedy, is it? I think the cast probably did the best they could with what they were given. A movie about ping pong with Christopher Walken has the potential for greatness. But the quality of most of the jokes [...]

Bad. Plays more like a slide show than a movie, a series of random jokes set to animation. There were a couple of funny bits but the entire production suffered from spending too much time on all of the one-liners and sight gags, many of which should have been cut in favor of making a [...]

Steve Carell takes a welcome detour from Noah and Michael Scott to a real-life version of Charlie Brown (all-grown-up and widowed but without the self-pity). Dan’s dedication to his children, especially as a single parent and despite his loneliness, is heroic and very real. Dan’s middle daughter provides a frightening (for a man with a [...]

It’s been compared to Little Miss Sunshine but I don’t see it.1 Juno is a much better movie. Sunshine’s dysfunctions were an end unto themselves, their fantasy problems and foibles were the plot. Juno’s characters and situations are authentic and their quirks are a natural extension of their personalities. Sarcastic, witty, cynical. But ultimately brimming [...]