The Fourth of July fireworks display that caps off this unblinking, intimate poor-kids-in-the-heartland documentary can be viewed in a couple of ways. You can see the younguns staring open-mouthed at the pretty explosions while chants of "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" sound in the background and think, "Brutal. How can folks cheer for …
Anne Hathaway joins Will.i.am, Jamie Foxx, and Tracy Morgan in an animated film about Brazilians and their birds. The result is a little bland and a little hip-hop. (George Lopez provides a soupçon of Latino flavor as a toucan with 17 kids.) Jesse Eisenberg, however, makes perfect sense as a …
Boys will be horrible, spoiled bro-boys. Who's up for a little blunt-force social commentary about the haves and have-nots, set in the rarefied clime of Oxford University? (Handsome youths, English accents, custom suits, etc.) The titular club prides itself on the debauchery and destruction that accompany its annual dinner, but …
Joseph Fiennes glowers then gawks his way through Kevin Reynolds' sun-blanched, strangely passionless account of the events following the Passion of Christ. Fiennes is Clavius, a Roman centurion assigned to keeping the peace in Jerusalem, but the peace he really wants is that of “a day without death,” preferably in …
Never mind James Franco, though he acquits himself reasonably well in the thankless role of a handsome super-scientist out to heal the human brain. The real star here is Caesar, the genetically tweaked chimpanzee who has to figure out who he is and where he belongs. The story of how …
A tough Detroit cop (Joel Kinnaman) gets blown to bits, and the best of those bits get stuck inside a heavily armed robot. Personal crises and ethical complications ensue, as do some remarkably intense (for a PG-13 film) gun battles. Director Jose Padilha (Elite Squad: The Enemy Within) brings his …
“Rock is dead!” declares evil band manager Paul Giamatti, and Rock of Ages just dares you to disagree. Do you ever find yourself missing the glory days of dinosaur rock (Journey), glam metal (Poison), and power ballads (REO Speedwagon)? Would it help if we blended all that up and used …
Just about 30 years ago, director Barry Levinson gave us Good Morning, Vietnam, the story of a fast-talking American operator who brings rock and roll to war-torn Vietnam. Now he's back with the story of a fast-talking American operator who brings rock and roll to war-torn Afghanistan. Plus ca change. …
Disney spins the Wheel! Of! Star Wars! and gets “Gotta get that shield down!” as its Obligatory Plotline Rehash in director Gareth Edwards’ take on how exactly the rebellion got ahold of the plans for the original Death Star in A New Hope. (Answer: through some pretty dark dealings and …
A cowardly movie about brave people. Part one is heartrendingly human, bordering on wise: a considered portrait of motherly love under extreme duress. To wit: Ma (Brie Larson) is both captive and sexual slave to a dim Midwestern monster, trapped in a soundproofed shed with a son (Jacob Tremblay) who …
It ain't easy out there for an Enlightenment physician in medieval-minded 18th-century Denmark. You have the people — so in need of your tender regard for the masses, yet so easily led astray by monsters who play on their fear and superstition! You have the king — such a trusting …
Writer-director Milorad Krstic pads out what probably should have been a fascinating animated short — about an art therapist who is himself tormented by nightmares featuring characters from famous paintings — with drawn-out bits of ludicrous action. (Both the chase scene through Paris and the gunfight in a museum go …
A seemingly sedated Nicholas Cage returns to the fertile, febrile territory of the Crescent City, but fails to conjure up anything like the lunatic magic of Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Instead, he tepidly plays a tainted southern politician (is there any other kind?) with a nascent principled …