Search for 2009

The dream is reaching America. The nightmare is undertaking the journey to get there. But you know your current circumstances aren't too promising when New Jersey is represented as a paradise. Writer/director Cary Fukunaga's film is about illegal ...

A Single Man, the directorial debut of fashion designer Tom Ford, almost succeeds on the strength of Colin Firth's performance. Unfortunately, the actor is too often upstaged by Ford's visual sensibilities. Rarely has hue - both in its absence and...

Gordon Gekko lives! But then we all know that - Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas have filmed a sequel to Wall Street that is currently sitting on shelves awaiting its late September 2010 release. However, Douglas gives us a preview of what an alt...

One of the most difficult things for a filmmaker to accomplish is to craft a drama that provides emotional satisfaction without resorting to overt manipulation. Director Joe Wright has thus far achieved this twice, with a superlative adaptation of...

The only reason Soul Kitchen is being marketed as an "art film" in the United States is because it is subtitled. On merit, this is as mainstream as one can imagine - a generic, feel-good plot that's fit for a sit-com. Call it My Big Fat Greek Res...

The trailer for Splice might lead a viewer to expect a low-budget retread of Species crossed with Aliens. However, although the film does indeed pilfer a scene directly from the latter movie, the trailer misrepresents its source. Splice is as muc...

Spoiler Warning! This review contains spoiler elements, especially for those unfamiliar with the general premise. In a culture where seemingly everything is remade or re-booted, even Star Trek, the venerable science fiction TV show and movie se...

The three screenwriters (Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, Billy Ray) credited with adapting Paul Abbott's mini-series into a motion picture have done something remarkable: reduce five hours of material into less than two hours and still produ...

Surrogates was not pre-screened for critics. Most of the time, I understand when a studio takes this route - it's a way to avoid undue negative publicity before the release of a movie that is recognized behind-the-scenes as being a turd. Once in ...

For a 20 year period, from the release of Day of the Dead in 1985 to the opening of Land of the Dead in 2005, George A. Romero was off doing other things. Since then, however, this one-time horror innovator has become a one-trick pony. Admittedly...