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There are a variety of ways one can evaluate the effectiveness of standard-order romantic comedies. Mine is to ask three questions: (1) Do I like the characters? (2) Do I sense chemistry between them? (3) Am I rooting for them to be together at t...

Seen in standard (non-IMAX) 3-D. When the first Shrek made its theatrical debut in 2001, it came accompanied by expectations normally reserved for sequels with impressive pedigrees. Unlike any previous animated endeavor, it was a magically irre...

Spoiler Alert: Although every effort has been made to limit the revelations in this review, it's difficult to provide a coherent discussion of Shutter Island without giving away something, so readers are hereby placed on alert. If you're familiar...

After the release of their first high-profile directorial effort, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, co-directors Greg and Colin Strause publicly lambasted Fox for ruining their movie. Now, three years later with Skyline, they have an opportunity to sh...

Website development as a blood sport - that's what it comes down to. The Social Network shows that, when pet projects are at issue, nerds can get as nasty and dirty as the most skilled backstabbers and double-dealers. The film, which is a joint p...

With her most recent directorial outing, Sofia Coppola has strayed into an area of pretentiousness that we have rarely seen since the height of the French New Wave. There's probably a class of cinephile who will lap up Somewhere, savoring its bland...

Perhaps it takes a movie like The Sorcerer's Apprentice to make one appreciate the level of creativity evident in the Harry Potter series. Distilled to their bare essences, both stories are remarkably similar: a modern-day kid discovers he has mag...

The problem with Stone, at least insofar as there is a problem, is that director John Curran (The Painted Veil) can't decide what he wants the movie to be. As with a previous script in which he had a hand, The Killer Inside Me, there are strong noi...

Submarine arrives in the United States due in large part to the championing of Ben Stiller who, despite having only the briefest of cameos on-screen, leant his considerable star power to the film's marketing. It's one of those funny, charming comin...

The Switch made me want to gnash my teeth in frustration. Nested within the restrictive confines of a middling romantic comedy is a secondary plot of some immediacy and power. It results in several moving scenes and allows Jason Bateman's acting ...