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 | Beasts of Burden Life is never easy for the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense’s human minions. Saddled with the already daunting task of keeping tabs on the government’s worst-kept secret -- a hulking, cigar-chomping demon known as Hellboy (Ron Perlman) -- they seem hopelessly ill-equipped to defend themselves against the beasts that go bump in the night.More |  | A Vulgar Display of Violence [b]Wanted[/b] is a blazing gun show masquerading as a parable about self-empowerment, or something like that. It cries out for the workers of the world to unite and improve their lot by becoming savage mercenaries, and even proposes an unorthodox health plan: candle-wax baths for trainees, who must endure a series of sadistic beatings before they’re allowed to administer them.More |  | A Lackluster Take on Marvel’s Green Monster If French director Louis Leterrier’s goal in rebooting the [b]Hulk[/b] saga for the big screen was to distance Marvel’s franchise from Ang Lee’s brooding 2003 deconstruction of the not-so-jolly green giant, you’d have to consider [b]The Incredible Hulk[/b] a rousing success: While Lee incurred the wrath of comic-book disciples with his thoughtful character study, Leterrier and screenwriter Zak Penn dispense with the angst and focus on the smash. The result is a movie that eschews dialogue (or anything resembling an idea, for that matter) in favor of hyper-violent mayhem and unconvincing CGI.More |  | Life With the Thrill Kill Cult [b]The Strangers[/b] is allegedly based on actual events, but even if that were true -- and rest assured, it isn’t -- one might reasonably wonder whether this vile cat-and-mouse exercise has anything to offer beyond the dubious thrill of watching helpless prey suffer.More |  | Fighting Mad, Boll Turns to (Intentional) Comedy Uwe Boll is tired of the abuse. The man popularly dismissed by Internet pundits as “the worst filmmaker in the world” earned a new nickname -- “Raging Boll” -- in September 2006, when he faced off against five of his most vociferous critics in the boxing ring, beating them all into bloody submission, if not some newfound appreciation of his films.More |  | The Fab Four Return Let there be full disclosure: I do not represent [b]Sex and the City[/b]’s demographic. I rarely watched the HBO series, and found it only sporadically interesting when I did. So the prospect of watching five uninterrupted episodes in the form of a two-and-a-half-hour movie seemed less than appealing, to put it mildly. That said, I liked it, which means that fans of the show should warm to it with unbridled enthusiasm.More |  | Goin’ Back to Indiana For a generation weaned on the strange, playfully inventive exploits of Indiana Jones, the resurrection of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg’s long-dormant franchise inspires feverish excitement and a hint of trepidation. Could lightning strike a fourth time, despite the 19-year layoff since Harrison Ford last donned his well-worn fedora? Or would his legacy be tarnished by a lackluster reprise?More |  | When Masochism and Narcissism Collide Watching first-time director Gil Kofman’s [b]The Memory Thief[/b] is a singularly disquieting experience, but isn’t that the point? The film, which incorporates the videotaped testimonials of actual Holocaust survivors into its fictitious tale of a tollbooth collector fixated on concentration-camp atrocities, is not so much about Hitler’s systematic slaughter of the Jews as it is about wounded people struggling to cope with profound loss.More |  | Mamet Gets in the Ring, With Uneven Results David Mamet’s sharp, bruising dialogue has informed tales of desperate salesmen, murderous con artists and blue-collar labor leaders, men for whom hostility, if not the explicit threat of violence, is an ever-present workplace reality. Rarely has Mamet explored the fight game, as he does with mixed results in [b]Redbelt[/b], but careful observers will recognize in his latest thriller some of the characters and themes that have become staples of his hyper-masculine storytelling.More |  | A Losing Hand [b]Deal[/b] is a movie made by poker enthusiasts for poker enthusiasts, and your appreciation of it depends largely on your passion for the game. For those who have passed hours of their lives playing virtual strangers online, or studying the strategies of World Poker Tour aces like Doyle Brunson or Phil Hellmuth, it may prove a worthy diversion, either for its brisk but predictable tournament action or its laughably earnest philosophy, which suggests that the game is just a metaphor for life. If poker’s not your thing, well, there’s always the welcome sight of Burt Reynolds, on hand as a retired legend hungry for one last score.More |
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