Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life

The notorious life of Serge Gainsbourg is whimsically re-created onscreen.

"...is: an excellently cast biopic about yet another self-destructive genius who burnt out but will never fade away –..."

Nov. 4, 2011 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D

The family-friendly spy franchise is revived once again, this time with a "fourth dimension" of scratch and sniff.

"...being stolen from the world by the clock-masked evil genius the Time Keeper (Piven). When Marissa is assigned to..."

Aug. 19, 2011 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

X-Men: First Class

The origins of the bad blood among Marvel's mutants is explored in this new film from the franchise.

"...the idea of forced identification of mutants, a mad genius recruiting an army – and we're pretty definitively in..."

June 10, 2011 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son

Martin Lawrence revisits his FBI undercover alter-ego, Big Momma.

"...Hilarity ensues, but only if your idea of comic genius is, you know, Lawrence in a fat suit. Lawrence..."

Feb. 25, 2011 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The King's Speech

Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter act up a royal storm in this movie about King George VI of Great Britain overcoming his speech impediment.

"...savior arrives, incongruously, in the form of Rush's dottily genius speech therapist, Lionel Logue. Logue's radical methods and much-maligned..."

Dec. 24, 2010 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Middle Men

Middle Men journeys backward in Internet history to 1995 when two coked-up ne'er-do-wells created the first dial-up, porn-on-demand website.

"...coked-up ne'er-do-wells – a former NASA technician and certifiable genius with the pitch-perfect name of Buck Dolby (Macht) and..."

Aug. 6, 2010 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Teen Patti

In this Bollywood film, a reclusive math genius has an equation that could revolutionize probability theory and puts it into practice in the gambling dens of Mumbai.

"...press time. In this Bollywood film, a reclusive math genius has an equation that could revolutionize probability theory, and..."

Feb. 26, 2010 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Sherlock Holmes

This movie reinvents the chilly, brainiac sleuth as a tortured genius and occasional backroom brawler, and Robert Downey Jr. almost makes the character work.

"...has reinvented the chilly, brainiac character as a tortured genius, ladies' man (sort of), and occasional backroom brawler. As..."

Dec. 25, 2009 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Me and Orson Welles

Richard Linklater has crafted a joyful period charmer about that moment before a boy becomes a man and another man becomes a mythological figure.

"...effortless, so commanding is it, careening from cocksure boy genius to bellowing, beleaguered director to ice-in-his-veins slayer of baby..."

Dec. 11, 2009 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

The Final Destination

This new addition to the ongoing film series takes a terrific premise and turns it ho-hum.

"...– is in its own way a stroke of genius. It allows the filmmakers free rein to devise some..."

Sept. 4, 2009 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Mystery Team

The Mystery Team is a crime-solving trio of clueless high school seniors, brought to us by the five-person troupe called Derrick Comedy.

"...entry into a “gentlemen’s club”); Duncan (Pierson), the boy genius, whose breadth of knowledge begins and ends with what..."

Aug. 28, 2009 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

In this comedy sequel, the CG action moves to Washington, D.C., as the Smithsonian's exhibits are put into storage during a renovation.

"...again that he's a master of fully immersive comic genius. He plays Kahmunrah with a pitch-perfect Boris Karloff lisp..."

May 29, 2009 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Scott Walker: 30 Century Man

The fascinating documentary explores the overlooked career of this influential yet enigmatic music legend.

"...my bad faith." Kijak (Cinemania) avoids portraying the tragic genius and instead likens Walker to Orpheus. Reinvention cannot be..."

March 27, 2009 Movie Review by Audra Schroeder

Push

This sci-fi actioner about warring clairvoyants is generically incomprehensible with cyberpunk overtones.

"...their minds, baby." Is this a case of twisted genius gone awry (director McGuigan did the equally puzzling but..."

Feb. 13, 2009 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The Day the Earth Stood Still

This dull, unnecessary remake of the 1951 science-fiction classic features Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly in a wooden cautionary tale.

"...all, pointless do-over only serves to point out the genius of the original. Screenwriter David Scarpa sticks to the..."

Dec. 12, 2008 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

What We Do Is Secret

Darby Crash, the L.A. punk rock junkie godhead leader of the Germs who died of an overdose in 1980, is revivified in this long-gestating but strangely sterile biopic.

"...but Darby Crash (né Jan Paul Beahm), the mad genius-cum-L.A. punk rock junkie godhead exited in grotty, smacked-up anti-style,..."

Oct. 17, 2008 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Hamlet 2

The manic comedian Steve Coogan plays a high school drama teacher who pens a scandalous remake of the Bard's classic in an attempt to save his Tucson class from budget cuts.

"...ever, only the most nominal of lines between real genius and a really quiet room at Bedlam, and Coogan,..."

Aug. 22, 2008 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy II is the most splendidly imaginative and creatively uncorked piece of fantastic cinema since his Pan's Labyrinth netted an Oscar trifecta in 2007.

"...considerably larger this time, allowing him to indulge his genius for the freakish – Hellboy II is a visually..."

July 11, 2008 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Cloverfield

Cloverfield is a pure-blood, grade A, exultantly exhilarating monster movie in the grand tradition.

"...And that's key to the film's second stroke of genius: its nearly subconscious evocation of our current paranoid, terror-phobic..."

Jan. 18, 2008 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

30 Days of Night

This film's high-concept stroke of genius lies not with its vampire clan but with the setting: a tiny Alaskan hamlet where nightfall indeed lasts all month.

"...Steve Niles' graphic novel, the film's high-concept stroke of genius lies not with its vampire clan but with the..."

Oct. 19, 2007 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The Master Builder

The impeccable craft and enduring genius of Arthur Miller, as explained by Tony Kushner

"...But part of Miller's genius, and especially the genius of Death of a Salesman..."

Oct. 19, 2007 Arts Feature by Robert Faires

No End in Sight

If you're growing as weary of Iraq war documentaries as you are of the war itself, then this sobering, information-filled study of the war's origins is the film for you.

"...the realm of mere reportage into something approaching explanatory genius. Producer Alex Gibney helmed another smart-as-a-whip doc, the feisty,..."

Aug. 31, 2007 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Black Sheep

It's smart; it's silly; it's shear terror, as the ruminants develop a taste for human flesh.

"...army of ravenous ruminants. Black Sheep is flat-out comic-horror genius, a one-joke film that manages the remarkable: It sustains..."

Aug. 31, 2007 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Fay Grim

The lunatic charm of Parker Posey is the best reason to see this wild, borderline-screwball sequel to Hal Hartley's 1998 film, Henry Fool.

"...played Fay, a firecracker nymphomaniac married to a slouchy, genius writer – the Fool of the title (Ryan). It..."

May 18, 2007 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Mafioso

This genius Italian comedy from 1962 has been plucked from obscurity and given a sparkling new cleanup job.

"...Norma Bengell, Ugo Attanasio and Gabriella Conti. Mafioso, a genius Italian comedy shading toward the darker aspects of its..."

April 20, 2007 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters

Absurdist non sequiturs and deadpan pauses emanate from an animated milkshake, a box of french fries, and a ball of ground beef.

"...for mind-altering drugs), are either the stuff of comic genius or proof that the world has stopped making sense..."

April 13, 2007 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

Meet the Robinsons

While Disney’s latest animated feature might not be a sign of the apocalypse, it’s at least a sign that Disney needs to find some decent writers.

"...of 12-year-old Lewis (voiced by Hansen and Fry), a boy-genius orphan whose crazy inventions prevent him from getting adopted...."

April 6, 2007 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

Spike & Mike's Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation 2007

The boys are back with their hyper-filthy animation show.

"...video for "Don't Fuck With Love" and Brad Neely's genius presidential rap "Washington" (sample lyric: "On a horse made..."

Jan. 19, 2007 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

loudQUIETloud: A Film About the Pixies

This film captures a fair amount of this band's electric charge and documents its 2004 reunion tour.

"...explain (without actually explaining) the key to this genuinely genius and strange band's appeal. It's not just Santiago's dove-in-a-Cuisinart..."

Oct. 27, 2006 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Strangers With Candy

The high school comedy of co-creators Dinello, Colbert, and Sedaris is completely over the top in its audacity and absurdity.

"...the 46-year-old ex-junkie, ex-con returning to high school. Disturbingly genius, Sedaris (sister of David) takes on her role with..."

July 21, 2006 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

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