'Les Miserables' Review
Is it possible to hate something and yet, at the same time, recognize its greatness? This is a heavy philosophical question and one that I’d like to discuss with you. Anything to get these insufferably...
View ArticleThe Top 20 Movies of 2012
Ed. note: What are the Top 20 Movies of 2012? We asked our film critic Jordan Hoffman (who previously put together a list of the Best Movies of the first half of the year) to compile a list of the Best...
View Article'The Guilt Trip' Review
I imagine the pitch meeting went like this: "Producer: We got Barbra Streisand, we got Seth Rogen, we get 'em in a car. Release it around Christmas. I mean, you gotta take grandma somewhere during the...
View Article'Parental Guidance' Review
I was worried 2012 would end and there wouldn't be a clear winner for the prize of Worst of the Year. 'Parental Guidance' was worth waiting for. It isn't just the worst film of 2012, it's the worst...
View Article'Texas Chainsaw 3D' Review
It is every 16 year-old’s rite of passage to sneak into an R-rated slasher, get grossed out by blood, turned on by boobs and shout back at the screen. To that end, ‘Texas Chainsaw 3D’ is a worthy...
View Article'Mama' Review
The "Creepy Kid" movie is officially a genre. From 'Village of the Damned' to 'The Bad Seed' to shots of Danny Torrence spaced out and making noises from the back of his throat in 'The Shining,'...
View Article'Broken City' Review
There are 8.2 million people living in New York City. Combine the population of Slovenia, Macedonia, Lithuania and you still aren't anywhere near what we've got. More importantly, why would you do...
View Article'LUV' Review
Much like 'Training Day,' 'LUV' begins with two men in uniform on a journey investigating the line between criminal activity and personal responsibility. In 'LUV,' however, the uniform is not that of a...
View Article'May in the Summer' Review
Who is May? She’s a half-American, half-Palestinian Christian, born and raised in Amman, Jordan and living as an author in New York City. That’s a lot of labels, so you can somewhat understand why...
View Article'Mud' Review
'Mud' is a great story, but not a particularly great film. Dripping in regional specificity and broad metaphor, Jeff Nichols' new film feels more like a big, fat American novel you get assigned in 10th...
View Article'Computer Chess' Review
Total commitment. That's what separates a bulls--- artist from a real one. Andrew Bujalski's strange, surreal and extremely low budget comedy 'Computer Chess' doesn't have all that much in terms of...
View Article'Don Jon's Addiction' Review
Before I write anything else about 'Don Jon's Addiction': yes, there are some guys in Northern New Jersey who really do act this way. Some of the particulars are exaggerated, but not really. Whether...
View Article'Before Midnight' Review
Allow me to mar the sophisticated, near-painterly screenplay of Richard Linklater’s ‘Before Midnight‘ with these purple lines from the Steve Miller Band: time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into...
View Article'Prince Avalanche' Review
There are few feature filmmakers harder to pin down than David Gordon Green. He was among the first to be branded "Malick-esque" with his dreamy character drama 'George Washington' in 2000. He later...
View Article'Upstream Color' Review
For some psychotic reason my parents showed me '2001: A Space Odyssey' when I was around ten. Ever since, I've been chasing that dragon. I've been looking for someone to use the powerful tools of...
View Article6 Ways J.J. Abrams Can Crossover 'Star Wars' and 'Star Trek'
Fanboys across the internet are suffering myocardial nerdfarctions at the news that J.J. Abrams is going to direct ‘Star Wars: Episode 7.’ After initial flashes of what that deal process must have been...
View Article'In a World…' Review
Lake Bell wrote, directed and stars in 'In a World...,' and if she's anything like the character she created, I can tell that she's a good person. That's why it pains me to ultimately dismiss her...
View Article'Magic Magic' Review
I have a theory that I should probably run by an evolutionary psychologist (an actual field of study). I think we have so many people with emotional problems because our brains have not yet adapted our...
View Article'Warm Bodies' Review
'Warm Bodies' is a supernatural teen love story with a brain. (Excuse me. . .BRAINS!) It is hardly a memorable film, and certainly a step back for director Jonathan Levine after the masterful '50/50,'...
View Article'The Dirties' Review
Nobody asked for this movie. But someone was going to make it. I'm just glad it was Matthew Johnson, a young (but not as young as he looks!) Canadian director/co-writer/co-star who has the chutzpah to...
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