February 14, 2008
Step Up 2 the Streets
(out of four)
With more dancing and less Channing Tatum than the original, Step Up 2 the Streets offers the illusion of edgier fare than High School Musical, but uses much the same formula to separate youngsters from their allowance. In this contempo fairy tale, an orphan girl and her bashful love interest learn self-expression through street dancing. Rather than mixing classical and modern styles the way Step Up did, this hip-hop-powered sequel is all about new moves, which should keep the kids coming back after the pic's initial Valentine's Day crush.
Continue reading "Step Up 2 the Street" at Variety.com
Posted by Peter Debruge on February 14, 08 at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2007
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
(out of four)
At some point in the future, film scholars will look back and label this as the era of intense leading men, with Tom Cruise and Nicolas Cage as prime examples. Both men act as though they're gripping high-voltage cables between their teeth, which, in the case of the National Treasure franchise, is certainly a curious choice. Does bug-eyed intensity really mesh with Indiana Jones-meets-The Da Vinci Code-style historical fetishism?
It's a good thing Cage's character, Benjamin Franklin Gates, is a patriot, because he seems to have no trouble getting in and out of the world's most protected spots, from the queen's private chambers in Buckingham Palace to the Oval Office. Not even the highest-security room at the Library of Congress can deter him, even though it protects a book of incalculable value.
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Posted by Peter Debruge on December 21, 07 at 10:15 AM | Comments (0)
August 31, 2007
Death Sentence
(out of four)
Death Sentence would be right at home as one half of Grindhouse's B-movie double bill — not that anyone reading this actually watched that movie, judging from its miserable box-office performance. But if you did, then Death Sentence is the movie for you. It's an old-school exploitation picture, polished off with a modern sensibility by Saw director James Wan: A father (Kevin Bacon) watches a gang of hoodlums murder his son for kicks, then, disgusted by the dead-end legal system, sets out to even the score himself.
If the plot sounds like another Death Wish movie, it's no coincidence. Both films were adapted from novels by Brian Garfield, suggesting that the author, like horse-crazy Dick Francis or the woman who writes all those The Cat Who... mysteries, built his literary reputation around a single idea (in truth, Garfield's books were far-ranging, but these two were his most popular — go figure).
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Posted by Peter Debruge on August 31, 07 at 06:46 PM | Comments (0)
July 25, 2007
Introducing the Dwights
(out of four)
Tim Dwight has a secret, and it's almost an hour into the melancholy Australian comedy Introducing the Dwights before the young man (Khan Chittenden) works up the nerve to share it with his girlfriend Jill (Emma Booth). You see, Tim's parents are entertainers. His mom's a nightclub comedian, his father's a lounge singer and Tim, well, Tim's downright ashamed by association.
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Posted by Peter Debruge on July 25, 07 at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2007
Hostel: Part II
(out of four)
Gorehound Eli Roth reasserts his position as leader of the "splat pack," an unofficial fraternity of directors dedicated to topping one another's stomach-churning antics, with Hostel: Part II. His ultra-grisly pics may be an acquired taste, but Roth seems more than happy to feed auds' appetites for hardcore horror, taking three European tourists on a detour through his Slovak killing factory. In this twist-filled sequel, the real shocker is just how smart and satisfying such degradation can be. There's no question Part II outgrosses the original Hostel in the blood-and-guts department, and savvy spin should do the same financially.
Continue reading "Hostel: Part II" at Variety.com
Posted by Peter Debruge on June 8, 07 at 10:22 AM | Comments (0)
May 03, 2007
Spider-Man 3 on Imax
(out of four)
First, a plug: 300 topped Imax records, and I can only expect Spider-Man 3 to best it. This is the installment the fans have been waiting for, with the series’ coolest villain — Venom — combined with a (faux) denouement in the ongoing Mary Jane love affair, not to mention the long-awaited payoff in the rise of the New Goblin. Plus, as if all that weren’t enough, Spider-Man 3 piles a third villain on for good measure. All told, it’s more movie than even an Imax screen can handle.
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Posted by Peter Debruge on May 3, 07 at 10:14 AM | Comments (0)
April 06, 2007
The Reaping
(out of four)
If God ever decided to repeat the 10 Old Testament plagues, He'd no doubt start with Hollywood, not backwater Haven, La. Unfortunately for the residents of Haven, when it comes to filmmaking, the screenwriter is god. Only he can decide who lives and dies, orchestrating everyone's fate as best suits his agenda.
So when The Reaping writers Chad and Carey W. Hayes decide to unleash everything from locusts to lice on the sleepy little town -- "the best-kept secret in the Bible Belt," as the locals call it -- you better believe they're up to something.
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Posted by Peter Debruge on April 6, 07 at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2007
Maxed Out
(out of four)
Maxed Out is perhaps the scariest "vampire" movie ever, primarily because every detail director James D. Scurlock uncovers is real. The bloodsuckers in Scurlock's documentary have names like Capital One and Citigroup; the victims are everyday Americans, who owe an average of $9,205 in credit card debt per household.
Debt is big business. Anyone who's ever paid the late fee on a credit card knows that. But did you know that lending organizations target the Americans least likely to repay their debts? People who've been through bankruptcy make some of the best customers, explains Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren (one of the movie's many talking heads), because they already have "a taste for credit" and can't declare bankruptcy again. Collecting interest and overdue fees is precisely how these companies make their profits.
Posted by Peter Debruge on March 16, 07 at 11:16 AM | Comments (0)
August 25, 2006
How to Eat Fried Worms
(out of four)
Billy Forrester has 24 hours to eat 10 worms — or else.
Poor kid has it rough. No sooner does weak-stomached Billy (Luke Benward) move to a new city than school bully Joe Guire (Adam Hicks) singles him out as fresh meat to pick on. The first day of school, Joe steals Billy's lunchbox and stuffs earthworms in his Thermos. Then, the entire school chimes in, taunting Billy with the nickname ''Worm Boy'' and pelting him with gummy worms in the halls.
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Posted by Peter Debruge on August 25, 06 at 09:45 AM | Comments (0)
July 28, 2006
The Ant Bully
(out of four)
OK, I cheated. I saw The Ant Bully in IMAX 3-D, and now I wouldn't want to watch it any other way. Critics do this all the time: They review video "screeners" at home for movies you pay to see on the big screen, writing them up as if it's the same experience.
But this is different. I saw The Ant Bully on an even bigger screen, with blades of grass popping out into the audience and giant 3-D wasp battles that make even Star Wars seem lo-tech — so my enthusiasm for the movie stretches beyond what the average moviegoer is likely to experience.
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Posted by Peter Debruge on July 28, 06 at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)
May 12, 2006
Goal! The Dream Begins
(out of four)
Born in Mexico, soccer natural Santiago Munez sneaked across the border to the United States when he was 10 years old. Raised in Los Angeles, he honed his game in his free time, before finally flying to England to try out — and eventually play — for Newcastle United.
It's a timely setup in light of the current immigration debate, but for Santiago, home isn't Mexico, the United States or even his team's English turf. Instead, "it's green and it's got a goal post at each end." His is a passion that's bigger than borders, and Goal! The Dream Begins is the sort of compulsively watchable movie for people who don't snicker when they read a line like that.
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Posted by Peter Debruge on May 12, 06 at 10:12 AM | Comments (1)
March 31, 2006
Ice Age: The Meltdown
(out of four)
Like the world really needs another Ice Age. The first one was charming in its own vaguely prehistoric way -- recognizing that CG wasn't far enough along to make the movie look realistic, director Chris Wedge instead decided to populate the story with stylized characters.
Now that technology has evolved to create virtually photorealistic environments, the Ice Age sequel team is sticking to the principles of the original. The fur is more detailed and the backdrops more stunning, but the characters are still their lovable, angular selves.
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Posted by Peter Debruge on March 31, 06 at 04:42 PM | Comments (0)
February 24, 2006
Night Watch
(out of four)
Night Watch represents the best in Russian special effects, a collaboration between 42 different CGI specialty firms all working in the service of a single goal: to create the nation's most visually transgressive film. The result exists somewhere between The Matrix and Underworld, operating in a zone where mind-bending special effects are inevitably undone by the story's impossibly convoluted Goth mythology.
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Posted by Peter Debruge on February 24, 06 at 09:59 AM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2006
Nanny McPhee
(out of four)
Who wouldn't want Mary Poppins for a nanny? Drifting in by floating umbrella, the ever-chipper Brit is any child's dream caregiver. Nanny McPhee, by contrast, has a big bulbous nose, hairy warts and wiry steel-wool hair. She carries a gnarled wooden walking stick and looks like a witch.
In short, Nanny McPhee is an exasperated father's last resort -- which is precisely what weary widower Cedric Brown (Colin Firth) needs after his seven little ruffians have scared away their 17th nanny. The local nanny placement agency won't have anything more to do with him, and if he doesn't find a replacement fast, his out-of-control kids (who have ignored their father's edict and invaded the kitchen) are likely to explode the cook and roast the baby.
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Posted by Peter Debruge on January 27, 06 at 09:30 AM | Comments (0)
November 23, 2005
Rent
(out of four)
Jonathan Larson's Rent may not have had the answer for AIDS, but it certainly offered the cure for the common musical. Transposing La Bohème's death-by-typhoid tragedy to New York's equally bohemian East Village, Larson set his angst-driven opus to a contemporary rock score. Rent was a young person's musical, combining a liberal acceptance of drug addicts and deviants with the kind of new-fangled music that sent the blue-haired Broadway crowd reaching for earplugs.
Posted by Peter Debruge on November 23, 05 at 12:16 PM | Comments (0)
October 14, 2005
Garçon Stupide
(out of four)
Regret is a funny thing. Half of us regret the things we never should have done, while the other half regret the things we never actually had the nerve to try. Garçon Stupide is a film for both camps. Like an explicit gay "Alfie," this existential coming-of-age story shows how one selfish young man's headlong plunge into the world of no-strings-attached sex eventually leaves him asking, "What's it all about?''
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Posted by Peter Debruge on October 14, 05 at 11:07 AM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2005
Two for the Money
(out of four)
Ever get the feeling when you're watching a movie that the whole thing was made just to set up one supreme groaner of a pun? (Incidentally, the same applies when reading most Anthony Lane reviews.) In the case of Two for the Money, which basically amounts to The Devil's Advocate set in the world of high-stakes sports betting, the final scene finds Brandon Lang (Matthew McConaughey) coaching a pee-wee football team. One of Brandon's players asks, "Do you think we can win tonight?" and suddenly there's McConaughey grinning with the answer you just knew was coming: "I'd bet on it." Roll eyes, roll credits.
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Posted by Peter Debruge on October 7, 05 at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)
September 16, 2005
Just Like Heaven
(out of four)
Just Like Heaven is the story of a real estate dream come true interrupted by a dopey supernatural romance. When out-of-work garden designer David Abbott (Mark Ruffalo) stumbles across a fully furnished San Francisco apartment with big windows, a fireplace, and a private roof overlooking the bay, of course there has to be a catch. Turns out the place is haunted, and no sooner has David left his first water ring on the coffee table than Elizabeth Masterson (Reese Witherspoon), the anally retentive chick who used to live there, pops up to pester him about it.
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Posted by Peter Debruge on September 16, 05 at 12:11 PM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2004
National Treasure
(out of four)
Now here's the thing about buried treasure: It begs to be found. The more elaborately its guardians try to hide it, the more their egos secretly want to be congratulated for their cleverness. National Treasure is one of those satisfying scavenger-hunt pot-boilers — think Lara Croft or the Mummy movies — in which a team of good-guy "treasure protectors" races against a bunch of greedy profiteers in search of "a treasure that redefines history for all mankind." It's a tomb-raiding adventure movie several notches below Indiana Jones status, although it desperately wants to convince you otherwise by having its characters repeatedly complimenting one another on what "geniuses" they all are.
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Posted by Peter Debruge on November 19, 04 at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)
August 01, 2003
The Secret Lives of Dentists
(out of four)
David and Dana Hurst are dentists. Why dentists? Because that's the last person you want to imagine letting his personal life interfere with his work, work that generally involves a steady hand and a certain facility with sharp metal instruments. No one wants to come to mid-root canal to realize that his oral surgeon has been daydreaming about whether his wife is cheating on him.
In The Secret Lives of Dentists, David (Campbell Scott) and Dana (Hope Davis) share both a dental practice and a bed, but David also thinks he may be sharing Dana with someone else. At first, his suspicion begins as a dull, throbbing ache, a nagging doubt he can't quite shake. Too meek to confront his wife directly, David conjures up fantasy visits from a disgruntled patient (Denis Leary), a sort of hipster "Harvey" who prods David into action.
Dentists is a simple movie, modestly plotted but exceptionally observant with regard to the little compromises of married life. In one extended sequence, a stomach flu sweeps through the family, reducing each of the three children and both parents to violent fits of vomiting. It's not a pretty sight, but it's dead-on, and it's refreshing to see the family temporarily reunited in the midst of such a mundane crisis. But will it last? Here's a movie that aspires to more than just another happy ending, but really seems to understand the complexities of the question.
[as featured on Moviefone.com]
Posted by Peter Debruge on August 1, 03 at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)
August 21, 2002
One Hour Photo
(out of four)
Parties and panty raids, secrets and lovers. If you want to be forgiven, see a priest. But if you don't want to forget something, check your memories at the one-hour photo. Either way, the evidence can be just as intimate... and just as damning. That's the gist of Mark Romanek's unsettling One Hour Photo, where involuntary confessions develop in the darkroom and an obsessive photo clerk takes it upon himself to set things straight.
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Posted by Peter Debruge on August 21, 02 at 09:41 AM | Comments (0)