Author: Alabama Liberal

I think so many people are focusing on the “importance” (a tricky and subjective word) of this film that they’re really missing out on the film’s true message: the banality of racial tragedy. Obviously, that’s given added meaning in the days sense the Zimmerman trial verdict. What Works: Oscar Grant (played by Chronicle/Parenthood’s Michael B….

The anticipation of going into this movie may be scarier than the film itself. That being said, I couldn’t help but smirk at the theatergoers saying “Well it wasn’t that scary” on their way out of the theater even as they were screaming their heads ofduring the film. It seems like unless a movie gives you a…

It follows a formula too much and very few scenes in this movie (about a high school valedictorian trying to become more sexually experienced before she goes to college) are really funny, but in its female-version-of-Porkies way it stumbles onto some real truths about young love/sex and how different it is for boys and girls. What Works:…

Ryan Reynolds (the voice star here) had double flops on the weekend of July 19th when he starred in this and R.I.P.D. although this film appears to be doing a little bit better than his fantasy-buddy-cop movie. Apparently, people would rather watch a really fast snail than a Men in Black rip-off, to each their…

This thing pretty much opened and died on opening weekend, so it’s only fitting that I don’t spend too much time with it here. That being said, the grosses were dismal (a 12 million dollar opening for a film that cost well over 100 million to make), the reviews were terrible (a horrible 15 percent…

A movie like this is actually really hard to grade because they’re putting so little effort into it to begin with. It’s like it’s almost making fun of itself as it goes along, so it’s a little hard to really find anything that wrong with it (or right with it) without looking like you’re taking…

Kicking off the first of a staggering seven new movie reviews today (and hey, a couple of them are even brand new movies) proving once again Alabama Liberal’s diversity is Pacific Rim, a new monster movie that’s either a slight disappointment or the sleeper hit of the summer depending on what article you read and who you…

This movie desperately wants to be the next Little Miss Sunshine but I really don’t think it is. It’s set during the summer vacation of a very lonely and introverted kid——and it is a testament to this kid’s lack of charisma or presence that I honestly cannot remember his name or the actor who played…

Sofia Coppolla’s detached yet intriguing movie based on a real-life ring of kids who broke into celebrity homes and stole expensive crap from them that they didn’t even know was missing. What Works: There’s something audacious about watching shallow young thieves break into the homes of shallow young celebrities and steal items of such conspicuous…

The ending to Richard Linklater’s excellent indie trilogy also happens to be the most realistically romantic movie I’ve seen in years. What Works: 18 years ago, Ethan Hawke’s Jesse met Julie Delpy’s Celeste on a train in Before Sunrise and the two twentysomethings talked, felt a deep connection, and made love. 9 years ago, the…