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 | Frank Miller Should Have Quit While We Were Ahead Rating: 1 out of 5 stars.
Frank Miller ([b]Sin City[/b], [b]300[/b], [b]The Dark Knight Returns[/b]) continues his freefall into [i]faux noir[/i] with [b]The Spirit[/b], the wholly unnecessary big-screen adaptation of the late Will Eisner’s signature comic book creation. Filmed in-studio, mixing greenscreens, live-action, and CG backgrounds, [b]The Spirit[/b] comes off as a cheap knock-off of [b]Sin City[/b], but without the ultra-violence that sent a certain segment of the moviegoing public into paroxysms of fanboy delight.More |  | A Music Biopic That Soars Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.
[b]Cadillac Records[/b] explores the complex, conflicting, contradictory relationships between famed producer Leonard Chess and the musical artists he promoted and produced during Chess Records’ heyday almost half a century ago.More |  | It’s the End of the Road Rating: 2 out of 5 stars.
Frank Martin, the driver-for-hire role first essayed by Jason Statham in 2002’s [b]The Transporter[/b], is back for a third go around in the appropriately, if unimaginatively titled [b]Transporter 3[/b]. Written, like the previous films in the franchise, by Luc Besson ([b]The Fifth Element[/b], [b]The Professional[/b], [b]La Femme Nikita[/b]) and Robert Mark Kamen and directed by Olivier Megaton, [b]Transporter 3[/b] is a sub-Bond (as in James Bond), formulaic and lackluster effort that will just barely keep action and/or Statham fans entertained.More |  | Epic Scope, Epic Sprawl Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.
After a seven-year period in which one project, an Alexander the Great biopic, failed to materialize (Oliver Stone’s box office and critical failure pre-empted any other biopics on Alexander the Great), filmmaker Baz Luhrmann ([b]Moulin Rouge[/b], [b]Romeo + Juliet[/b], [b]Strictly Ballroom[/b]) is back with [b]Australia[/b], a sprawling epic that’s part (Australian) Western, part wartime romance, with a superficial exploration of the so-called “Stolen Generations", half-white/half-aborigines who were forcibly taken from their parents and raised by Christian missionaries.More |  | Wong Kar-Wai’s Classic Tale of Lost Love (Remastered) Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Wong Kar-Wai’s ([b]My Blueberry Nights[/b], [b]2046[/b], [b]In the Mood for Love[/b]) fourth film, [b]Ashes of Time[/b], released in 1994 in Hong Kong and over several years in the West, returns to cinemas fourteen years later with a new print (cobbled together from various sources) that better serves cinematographer Christopher Doyle’s super-saturated palette, a new score better suited to its themes and setting, and more coherent, more accessible storytelling. Still present, of course, is Kar-Wai’s idiosyncratic, introspective, character-first, action-second take on the [i]wuxia[/i] (Chinese swordsman) genre.More |  | Solid, yet Underwhelming, Adaptation of the Bestseller Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
[b]The Secret Life of Bees[/b], adapted and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood ([b]Love & Basketball[/b]) from Sue Monk Kidd's bestselling novel, is a sweet-natured yet occasionally contrived poignant coming-of-age film set in South Carolina in the weeks and months after President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.More |  | Surprisingly Sweet-Natured Teen Sex Comedy Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
From [b]Porky’s[/b] to [b]American Pie[/b], [b]Euro Trip[/b] and [b]Superbad[/b], teen sex comedies have been successful thanks to a tried-and-true formula: geeky, undersexed protagonist, equally undersexed friends plus a lust-worthy but improbable object of desire equals ninety minutes of ridiculously raunchy humor and a reaffirmation of the monogamous status quo. The latest teen sex comedy, [b]Sex Drive[/b], co-written by Sean Anders ([b]Never Been Thawed[/b]), unvaryingly follows the teen sex comedy template, but thanks to an appealing cast, humor that only crosses the offensiveness threshold once or twice.More |  | Underwhelming is More Like It Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
There’s a moment in [b]Flash of Genius[/b], a “based on a true story” drama, where the lead character, Bob Kearns (Greg Kinnear), the inventor of intermittent windshield wipers who sued major auto manufacturers in the 70s for stealing his ideas, when on the brink of finally winning financial compensation for his invention, consults his family on what to do next. He can accept $30 million dollars, but only if he drops his demand for an apology and due credit for his invention. Having fought so long and at great personal and professional expense, he refuses. It’s a praise-worthy moment, but...More |  | An Uninspired, Conventional Western Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
After the revisionist Westerns of the 70s ran their course, it wasn’t until Clint Eastwood’s 1992 Oscar-winning Western, [b]Unforgiven[/b], that Hollywood began to take the genre seriously. A few misfires, however, left the genre moribund. Last year, however, saw the release of two Westerns, [b]3:10 to Yuma[/b], a remake of the 1957 film starring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, and [b]The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford[/b], an adaptation of Ron Hansen’s novel starring Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck.More |  | See It for Simon Pegg, Stay for the Satire Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
In [b]How to Lose Friends & Alienate People[/b], the fictionalized adaptation of Toby Young’s non-fiction book of his time as a contributing writer for [i]Vanity Fair[/i], actor-writer-comedian Simon Pegg plays another narcissistic, self-flagellating, man-child. What connects each character (beyond Pegg, of course), is their painfully awkward, if often hilarious, journey into the adult world of responsibility and a long-term, usually a long-term romantic relationship.More |
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