Archive of: Movie Reviews

Latest ‘Scary Movie’ is frighteningly unfunny

LOS ANGELES (AP) — You have to at least give “Scary Movie 5” points for timeliness. This latest installment of the horror movie spoof franchise manages to deliver parodies of movies as recent as last week’s “Evil Dead” remake, not to mention one that hasn’t even been made yet (“Fifty Shades of Gray”). But those points are immediately subtracted by the fact that this Wayans-less installment doesn’t manage to wrest a single laugh from any one of them.

‘The Call’ dials up a shallow thriller

In countless films about emergencies, crimes and police work, the 911 dispatcher is but a bit player, an anonymous, robotic voice briefly heard on the other end of a breathless call made by our movie’s main players.

JAKE COYLE

Arnold’s back in ‘The Last Stand’

“The Last Stand” is the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie you didn’t even realize you wanted to see. This is the action superstar’s first leading role in a decade, having left acting to serve as the governor of California and whatnot, and while it may not have occurred to you to miss him during that time, it’s still surprisingly good to see him on the big screen again.

CHRISTY LEMIRE

‘Gangster Squad’ is a numbing barrage

“Gangster Squad,” a pulpy, violent tale of cops and mobsters in 1949 Los Angeles, rides an uncomfortable line between outlandishness and outright parody, and it’s difficult to tell which is director Ruben Fleischer’s intention. Which is a problem.

CHRISTY LEMIRE

‘Zero Dark Thirty’ is massive, meticulous

Until the very end, she is described as “The Girl.” Even after a relentless, decade-long pursuit that leads to the daring midnight raid of Osama bin Laden’s compound, even as she unzips the body bag to verify that the bloody corpse inside is indeed that of the slain al-Qaida leader, Jessica Chastain’s CIA officer character is defined primarily by her femininity in this male-dominated world.

CHRISTY LEMIRE

‘Softly’ hammers its message hard

Writer-director Andrew Dominik’s “Killing Them Softly” is an incredibly stylish genre exercise set in the world of mobsters, junkies and lowlifes, but it’s also trying incredibly hard to be About Something.

CHRISTY LEMIRE

‘The Twilight Saga’ ends with real bite

Finally — finally! — the “Twilight” franchise embraces its own innate absurdity with the gleefully over-the-top conclusion, “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2.”

CHRISTY LEMIRE

James Bond better than ever in ‘Skyfall’

To borrow a line from Depeche Mode, death is everywhere in “Skyfall.” James Bond’s mortality has never been in such prominent focus, but the demise of the entire British spy game as we know it seems imminent, as well.

CHRISTY LEMIRE

‘The Details’ says little new about suburbia

In “The Details,” Dr. Jeff Lang (Tobey Maguire) lives in a charming suburban Seattle home with his beautiful wife, Nealy (Elizabeth Banks), and their adorable, 2-year-old son. When we first see him, he’s driving home in his Toyota Prius — which has a campaign sticker for President Obama on it, naturally — with a large, lovely plant from Trader Joe’s in the backseat.

CHRISTY LEMIRE

‘Cloud Atlas’ is laughably self-serious

Maybe if you’re 20 years old and high in your dorm room with your friends, the platitudes presented in “Cloud Atlas” might seem profound.

CHRISTY LEMIRE