Movie Reviews

The Rocker
Three parts iSchool of Rocki minus the school, one part iAlmost Famousi, iThe Rockeri is an genial film about a rock n roll fantasy come true, without any underlying messages about the value of music that pervaded the above-mentioned movies. Dont be fooled: Despite its title, iThe Rockeri isnt really about rock n roll. Its more about middle-aged wish fulfillment whimsy.

Hancock
IHancockI is that weird kid who sits in the front row of every high school class. The kid who doesnt know hes a social outcast and whose parents have convinced him that by simply being different hell earn everyones respect. The kid who comes to school one day wearing a bowler hat, and then is surprised to discover himself laying face down in the mud while everyone in school takes turns kicking his ass.

Finding Amanda
Broderick and Snow are both doing their best to turn their characters into real people, but both, Amanda particularly, exist mostly as types to keep the story, such as it is, in motion. For a movie that wants to be about an emotional journey, thats no good. Though IFinding AmandaIs story reaches a reasonably satisfying conclusion, the empty characters at its center make the whole thing feel like a waste.

WALL-E
A love letter to science-fiction films of old with a modern environmentalist message, iWALL-Ei is another winning confection from Pixar, the folks who have made an art out of wrapping adult themes in childish whimsy and coming out with movies that please both elements. Starring a box shaped little robot with more than a passing resemblance to E.T., WALL-E is quite possibly the cutest Pixar hero ever.

Wanted
Realism is tossed out the window and explained with a vague sci fi conceit which exists only to give Bekmambetov license to get creative and occasionally ignore things like physics. Who needs gravity anyway? IWantedI is better off without it. The action genre hasnt felt this fresh and alive since 1999 and the Wachowskis. This isnt another entry rehashing...

Joy Division
The fact that the band was able to grow so massively in such a short period of time without the twin crutches of globalization and the Internet speaks to the immediacy of their music and the rightness of their moment, if there is such a thing as cosmic meaning. The greatest thing iJoy Divisioni achieves is making the audience want to go home and listen to their records, and theres really not much more you can ask from a rock documentary than that.

The Love Guru
I take no pleasure in calling IThe Love GuruI a shockingly infantile piece of garbage. When I say infantile, I mean that literally. If Mike Myers took a dump in a diaper, it couldnt possibly smell any worse than this script. Please bear in mind that I say this as someone who likes Mike Myers, I really do. Hes done plenty of hilarious work over the years, and Ive always been quick to...

Get Smart
Along comes IGet SmartI: a standard, formulized, slick Hollywood comedy in the mold of IBruce AlmightyI or yes shudder, IWild HogsI. Except this ones not only straight down the middle mainstream, its also blissfully funny. Everyone can have a laugh, without feeling guilty about supporting the increasingly embarrassing career of a Tim Allen.

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D
IJourney 3DI is predictable, cheesy and not even a little edgy, but its also as much fun as youre likely to have in a PG movie this summer. A retelling of Jules Vernes original story that takes the 19th-century novel as fact, the movie is a dream come true for anyone whos every imagined stepping through the wardrobe or riding the Hogwarts Express.

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
IKit Kittredge: An American GirlI, is as wholesome as it comes, with gentle humor, caring adult characters and, as always, lessons about reaching for your dreams. Theres not much in it for childless adults, but parents looking for entertainment that will actually teach their kids something without boring them to death, IKitI will probably be a welcome summer outing

The Happening
Rumors of M. Night Shyamalans hackery have been greatly exaggerated. With IThe HappeningI, a misfire on many levels, Shyamalan still manages to prove that hes got an expert grasp of film language and style. Unfortunately, its human language he struggles with, which unintentionally turns IThe HappeningI into more of a campy mess than the moody disaster thriller hes aiming for....

The Fall
Like those early silent films, which amazed and frightened audiences with their unimagined potential for the fantastic, iThe Falli uses special effects to heighten reality in subtler, more intriguing ways. It is the kind of movie that would be wasted on a miniscule television screen; its visuals are the heart of the thing and require theatrical treatment to reveal their full depth.

The Incredible Hulk
If its a sequel to anything, then IThe Incredible HulkI owes its allegiance to the late 70s, early 80s television series starring Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby. For better or worse, the movie is steeped in the nostalgia of that forgotten network program both Bixby and Ferrigno make cameos of a sort, right down to Edward Nortons wardrobe and his characters proclivity for wandering the countryside sallow and alone.

The Wackness
Packed full of period slang and even a few fly girls, the movie mines its period setting for comedy as much as for metaphor. Even when the slang becomes grating just wait til you hear the moment when the title is said out loud, it all fits in with the movies sweetly nostalgic and sardonic tone. Coming out July 3rd, IThe WacknessI is a drug-tinged love letter to summertime...

Mongol
With the exception of I10,000 B.C.I if that even counts, its been a while since we had an honest-to-God outdoors epic. The kind of movie that ILawrence of ArabiaI personifies, and Kevin Costner and Mel Gibson revived in their own 90s vanity projects IDances with WolvesI and IBraveheartI. Now Russian director Sergei Bodrov is doing his best to bring back rugged men on horseback.