Category: Monday Morning Movie Reviewer

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…

Since this weekend only saw the release of R.I.P.D. and Reds 2 (neither of which I think people are exactly clamoring for a review of) I decided to focus on some smaller indies I watched a couple weeks ago but haven’t gotten around to reviewing… Note: This is Shane Carruth’s follow-up to the huge cult…

This is Kristen Wiig’s big follow-up to Bridesmaids (the fluke runaway hit that critics loved beyond reason) and it’s a flop. I actually didn’t hate the movie, but plenty of critics did. It has an abysmal 15 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes (for an indie film, that’s as rough as it gets) and I know it won’t…

I think the original Despicable Me was only so-so but I would say that it is more of a B movie and this one is closer to a C+ if that gives you some sense of scale. What Works: Ummm…well, if you had a good time with the first one you’ll probably only check your…

This is a sequel to (arguably) the worst Adam Sandler comedy ever, had a trailer that seemed to be even less promising, and is my pick for the least anticipated movie of the summer. To say I was going into this one with high hopes would have Pinocchio calling me a lying sack of shit….

I love the idea of a female buddy cop comedy, but I kept wanting to like this film more than I did. There are some surprising sideways laughs (nearly all of which were probably improved by Melissa McCarthy) but it’s not as funny as you might think, and I forgot most of this movie a…

If I were only going to see one White House-taken-over-by-terrorists movie this year, it would be this one. It is better than G.I. Joe 2 and Olympus Has Fallen but I realize that’s not saying much and may be the definition of “back-handed compliment.” And, naturally, it’s the least commercially successful of the three… What…

Apparently, no one really cares much for The Lone Ranger, judging by this weekend’s dismal box office performance. The question is more why Disney thought they would since Westerns have never been huge blockbusters, “big budget genre bending Westerns” (Cowboys and Aliens, Wild Wild West) are more commonly known as “Flops,” and they haven’t had…

So Brad Pitt finally has a big, fat tentpole picture and it turned out to be a surprise hit instead of the sure-fire flop everyone thought it would be. Hooray, right?! Well, not exactly…the movie is only so-so, and I’m afraid that it’s box office performance (the biggest of Pitt’s storied career) will inspire him…

Before I saw this prequel to Monsters Inc. I was pretty sure it would be a mildly diverting, mostly formulaic cash-grab that really only exists because the original movie was such a merchandising hit. [The once inspired Pixar now seems primarily driven by selling toys, as evidenced by this and Cars 2.] And I was…

Before I saw this movie, I would have bet money it was going to be really, really good. The trailer for it is fantastic, and promised a darker, richer Superman than what we’re used to. The truth is, we’ve never had a flat-out, unequivocally great Superman movie (all those people that didn’t like Bryan Singer’s…

I don’t think 2013 has been a very good year for movies so far. I can count the number of films I would rate a B+ or better on one hand. And then along comes “This is the End” (worth noting: it was Alabama Liberal’s number 2 pick for the most promising films of summer)…

A lazy piece of junk from start to finish. We’re supposed to give this movie a free pass because it “has heart” and the characters are “likable.” So what? I’m really getting tired of critics rubber-stamping ambition-deprived-mediocrity just because its characters are warm and fuzzy. Nowhere is this more problematic than comedy. A good comedy…