Darfur Now

For all the film’s rallying efforts, its meandering structure and absence of a central focal point result in a film about genocide that is, as unbelievable as it sounds, kind of boring.

"...The filmmakers behind Darfur Now (including director Braun and producer Don Cheadle) would have their movie be a call..."

Dec. 7, 2007 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

Hitman

Like the video game that inspired this film, Hitman is a brain-dead pleasure bomb.

"...La Femme Nikita and The Professional, both from Hitman co-producer Luc Besson). The only thing original about Hitman is..."

Nov. 23, 2007 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?

The creative powerhouse known as Tyler Perry is back in front of and behind the camera with this predictable film about four married couples.

"...Perry characteristically presents himself in quadruple-threat-style as writer, director, producer, and actor. While his last film (Tyler Perry's Daddy’s..."

Oct. 19, 2007 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

The Final Season

A small-town high school baseball team is put to the test in this emphatically inspirational mess.

"...learn something [very pregnant pause], something important.” As executive producer of the film, Astin must have considered this a..."

Oct. 12, 2007 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

Illegal Tender

A throwback to the Eighties crime dramas and Seventies blacksploitation films, this Latino action thriller about family ties and blood feuds rarely transcends clichés.

"...of Gonzalez's sideburns. Filmmaker John Singleton serves as the producer of Illegal Tender, and, following his producing credit for..."

Aug. 31, 2007 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Self-Medicated

It contains some freshman mistakes, but this microindie has such dramatic momentum, such a need to tell its story, that it's well worth a look.

"...encouraging sympathy for well-intentioned parents driven to desperate measures. (Writer/director/producer/star Lapica dedicated the movie to his mother.) Seventeen-year-old Andrew..."

Aug. 31, 2007 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

2 Days in Paris

Julie Delpy debuts as a feature-film director with this smart and funny romantic comedy.

"...film as well as being credited as the film's producer, scriptwriter, editor, and music composer/performer. All those tasks would..."

Aug. 24, 2007 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Chalk

Made by teachers for teachers, this local indie offers no easy answers to its statistic that 50% of teachers quit within their first three years on the job.

"...indie – which now sports the imprimatur of executive producer Morgan Spurlock – offers no easy answers to its..."

May 18, 2007 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

The Other Conquest

This amazing-looking Mexican epic is a work of historic fiction by a first-time filmmaker, and focuses on the aftermath of the takeover in 1519 of the Aztec empire by Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortés.

"...about cultural subjugation. Plácido Domingo, father of the film's producer Alvaro Domingo, performs an aria over the film's closing..."

May 11, 2007 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Redline

Redline dives headfirst into onanistic autoeroticism, but this exotic-car movie feels ill-lubed and mechanical all the way.

"...than anything in former Enzo owner and current Redline producer Daniel Sadek's poshy, rich-dick vanity flick. If The Fast..."

April 20, 2007 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Bridge to Terabithia

This excellent screen version of the Newbery-winning novel is not about fairies and enchanted forests but about kids who feel as though they don't fit in.

"...live on the wrong side of their imaginations. Rugrats producer Csupo, directing here for the first time, doesn’t condescend..."

Feb. 23, 2007 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

Déjà Vu

If the science fiction in Déjà Vu has more to do with fiction than science, it’s not as though this Denzel Washington picture ever pauses long enough for that realization to fully take hold.

"...Crimson Tide and Man on Fire), director Scott and producer Bruckheimer have created a movie that gives the illusion..."

Nov. 24, 2006 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

This mockumentary provides some of the most fearless acts of transgressive comedy in years.

"...a mockumentary. It follows the titular clod and his producer, Azamat (Davitian), from their backwater Kazakhstan hovels (where Borat..."

Nov. 3, 2006 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The War Tapes

As raw and disturbing as it is wry and satirical, this film gives voice to U.S. National Guard soldiers in Iraq.

"...down the focus to three men, Scranton (along with producer/editor and Hoop Dreams director Steve James) carved a 97-minute..."

Sept. 22, 2006 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

Factotum

Charles Bukowski's Henry Chinaski is back, played by Matt Dillon in a low-key, gorgeously beery performance; it's 100-proof Bukowski, but with a decent barkeep at the helm and Lili Taylor's Jan on his arm. Factotum, for all its grim grind, is funny-serious and smart-stupid.

"...and mystifyingly entertaining script co-written by frequent Jim Jarmusch producer Jim Stark, renders the drinking life not as an..."

Sept. 8, 2006 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

My Super Ex-Girlfriend

High-concept farce crashes down pretty low: Think Fatal Attraction meets X-Men and you basically have the gist.

"...You'd think that the director behind Ghostbusters and a writer/producer for The Simpsons could get together and make one..."

July 28, 2006 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

Hoot

First-time producer Jimmy Buffett turns outs an eco-friendly coming-of-age movie based on Carl Hiassen's Newberry Award-winning young-adult novel.

"...his role from Holes but is enjoyable nonetheless. First-time producer Jimmy Buffett takes a silly turn as Roy’s marine-science..."

May 5, 2006 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

The White Countess

The final collaboration between director Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant is a gorgeous slice of Merchant Ivoryisms (thanks in large part to the lushly vertiginous cinematography of DP Christopher Doyle) that nevertheless fails to equal the team’s greatest works.

"...Allan Corduner. The final collaboration between director Ivory and producer Ismail Merchant, who died earlier this year, is a..."

Feb. 3, 2006 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

BloodRayne

This video-game-to-movie adaptation of BloodRayne poses no threat to German filmmaker Uwe Boll's reputation as the modern-day Ed Wood.

"...the comparisons end there as Boll’s abilities as a producer and fundraiser far exceed the quality of his finished..."

Jan. 6, 2006 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Juarez: Stages of Fear

This film is a passionate if clunky cri du coeur for the kidnapped and murdered women of Juarez, Mexico – a silent epidemic of as many as 450 crimes in the last 10 years.

"...hard to argue with this cri du coeur from director-producer Alejandro, a transplanted El Pasoan who’s donating proceeds from..."

Dec. 9, 2005 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

NBT: Never Been Thawed

Mockumentary about the members of a Frozen Food Enthusiasts Club is funny when it stays on topic but becomes scattered when it strays.

"...Anders also directs from a script he co-wrote with producer Chuck LeVinus and co-star John Morris. You definitely get..."

Nov. 11, 2005 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Dil Jo Bhi Kahey

This new Bollywood film is a cross-cultural love story set in Mauritius.

"...Bhoomika Chawla, Malcolm Stoddard and Claire Oberman. The Indian actor-turned-producer-turned-director Romesh Sharma has launched his son into the movie..."

Sept. 30, 2005 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Daltry Calhoun

Johnny Knoxville stars in this slapdash tale of wacky Southerners and midlife crises that feels like a compilation reel of Blue Collar TV outtakes and Coen Brothers-lite quirkiness.

"...this bizarre oddity, which boasts Quentin Tarantino as co-executive producer but falls about as far from that particular tree..."

Sept. 23, 2005 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Underclassman

Nick Cannon from Drumline plays a smart-aleck LAPD bicycle cop in this movie awash in clichés.

"...a Miramax production – Cannon is the star, executive producer, and story writer here – I can certainly understand..."

Sept. 2, 2005 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

Crónicas

John Leguizamo plays a TV reporter in Ecuador in a film that examines the ethics of tabloid journalism.

"...oozing enough reptilian self-import to help bed his married producer Marisa (Watling) while they’re on assignment in Ecuador. That..."

Aug. 5, 2005 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The Island

If you like Maxim, you'll love this latest from adrenaline fiend Michael Bay.

"...prove that he can out-Bruckheimer his former mentor and producer, director Bay pumps each scene up with so much..."

July 22, 2005 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

Beauty Shop

Amiable Queen Latifah comedy is the latest offering from the Barbershop franchise.

"...Cube role (as both the lead and as a producer) in this thinly plotted story about entrepreneurial pluck and..."

April 1, 2005 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Callas Forever

While Callas Forever seems sincere in its attempt to pay tribute to the world’s most famous opera singer, it unwittingly disserves her in its bizarre wish-fantasy about resurrecting her voice onscreen.

"...he married the world’s most famous woman. A former producer and promoter (Irons, looking ridiculous in a ponytail) ultimately..."

March 25, 2005 Movie Review by Steve Davis

Team America: World Police

Trey Parker and Matt Stone tame the world with marionettes.

"...from the world of actioneering über-director Michael Bay and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. But that’s no surprise – Parker and..."

Oct. 15, 2004 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Paparazzi

A vicious revenge fantasy produced by Mel Gibson, the Passionate filmmaker who last partnered with that turn-the-other-cheek fellow.

"...for a novel revenge movie, reputedly the brainchild of producer Mel Gibson, who hatched the idea while sharing paparazzi..."

Sept. 10, 2004 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

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