Many people thought the comic book movie renaissance reached its creative peak with 2005’s Batman Begins, a property of comic giant DC. Though rival Marvel had started the upswing with Spider-man three years earlier, it was thought that DC had claimed dominance when Marvel answered Batman with the underwhelming trilogy-cappers Spider-man 3 and X-Men 3: The Last Stand. Add to the evidence that DC is set to release The Dark Knight this summer to a drooling, anticipatory public. But it seems that Marvel had one more trick up its sleeve, and that trick is Jon Favreau, director of the meritorious Iron Man and key to the studio’s bid to remain relevant.

Continue Reading »

Though I’m loath to kowtow to the tagline “from the guys who brought you…” in movie trailers, it’s hard to deny the catchphrase’s usefulness in identifying good films when it comes to the Judd Apatow comedy factory. The hitting streak continues with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, written and starring Apatow apprentice and How I Met Your Mother star Jason Segel. And while the big news making the rounds is that Segel shows his man parts during the movie, the more important thing is that he shows a great deal of heart.

Continue Reading »

Actor-scribe Simon Pegg has earned himself a devoted fan base in a relatively short time, largely built from Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, two movies that were produced in a relatively insular world made up of his friends (who are mostly British), and so it was confusing to see in the end credits of his new Run Fatboy Run that the top writing directing credit went to Americans Michael Ian Black and David Schwimmer, respectively. More surprising is that the tone of the movie is less Simon Pegg and more Nick Hornby. Nevertheless, Pegg successfully continues his campaign for mainstream success.

Continue Reading »

It’s one of those stories that seems like it came straight out of Hollywood: brainiac students from MIT team with a slimy professor to count cards in Vegas, making a killing. And while 21, the film loosely based on Ben Mezrich’s true story Bringing Down the House, isn’t a total winner as either a “inspired by a true story” movie or as this generation’s answer to Rounders, it keeps viewers at the table long enough to cash in on a deck stacked with pure entertainment.

Continue Reading »

With the high-def format war officially over and impeccably digitized movies coming to your home television any day now, the sentiment behind Michael Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind – namely, that the sterilized consumption of movies has ruined mom and pop shops and cheapened the experience of film – is easy to understand. But for a movie that seems so in love with cinema, it would be nice to see a more carefully constructed concept.

Continue Reading »

It seems that there’s an ongoing struggle for the consumer dollar between the few smart, well-made movies and the seemingly endless well of total pabulum (sadly, it seems that the latter is winning out). It’s refreshing, then, to be able to find a middle ground in Nicolas Cage’s National Treasure: Book of Secrets, a delightfully absurd historical adventure that’s as fun as it is absurd.

Continue Reading »

That Will Smith is a legend in his own time is not surprising; after all, he’s conquered music, television and film in his 40 years on Earth largely based on his winning smile. What’s surprising – and somewhat satisfying – is the success Smith has had in parlaying his celebrity into meatier roles. He finds balance between popcorn and pathos in I Am Legend, an apocalyptic thriller with plenty of soul.

Continue Reading »

If success in Hollywood is dependent on the ability to manage hype, then the J.J. Abrams-produced Cloverfield, a Godzilla-level monster movie shot with Blair Witch sensibilities, is a legend in its own time. Beginning with the trailer, which debuted in front of last summer’s Transformers, moviegoers have been wondering what the project was and when they could see it. And while it’s not the genre-defining, life-changing film experience that some are claiming, Cloverfield is certainly deserving of at least some of its hype.

Continue Reading »

There’s a limited numbers of people in Hollywood who can take a cautionary tale about the United States’ efforts to aid Afghanistan during the Russian occupation and turn it into a feel-good comedy. Two such people are Mike Nichols and Aaron Sorkin, whose Charlie Wilson’s War, a story of back-channel political dealings, pairs a playboy congressman and an out-of-favor CIA agent to battle for ideals. And only in Washington, D.C., can such a story be so absurd and still be partially true.

Continue Reading »

There are countless challenges in adapting a stage musical for presentation on film: capturing huge choral numbers in a medium traditionally reliant on close-ups, balancing the fantasy of expression through song with a more closely guarded check of reality, and finding the right mix of singers and actors are just a few. But when you consider the work of Stephen Sondheim, one of the darkest and most complicated writers Broadway has ever seen, the challenges grow exponentially. In Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, director Tim Burton has taken perhaps Sondheim’s best work and made of it a textbook for translating Broadway to Hollywood.

Continue Reading »