Monthly Archives: December 2012

Angelina Jolie’s debut film as a writer-director has a cause, vivid characters and a compelling story. An ill-fated romance between Muslm and Serb set against the backdrop of the Bonsian civil war, it’s so involving you may find yourself shouting … Continue reading →

Cartoon Network alumni Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim bring their awkward, amateurish and lower-than-lowbrow “style” to the big screen with “Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie.” It’s such an inept exercise in infantilism that you wonder where these guys got … Continue reading →

Kid-friendly funnyman Kevin James is at his cuddliest in “Here Comes the Boom.” And he has to be. This amusing bu sometimes unsettling comedy marries the teacher-turns-to-mixed martial arts mayhem of “Warrior” to that wholesome family dramedy “Mr. Holland’s Opus.” … Continue reading →

You don’t need Matt Damon to revive the Bourne film franchise. And you probably don’t need Paul Greengrass, the quick-cutting action auteur who directed the best of the Damon films about Jason Bourne, the trained and chemically altered super-spy who … Continue reading →

There are so many rules for a Disney princess. Too many for Disney’s newest princess, the Scottish heroine Merida in “Brave” to remember. “A princess does not doodle,” her mother lectures in a light Scottish burr. “A princess does not … Continue reading →

Model turned actress Famke Janssen turns writer-director for “Bringing Up Bobby,” a lightweight drama about a gone-wrong mom who wants a better life for her going-wrong son. It has a novel setting — rural Oklahoma — a “name” cast and … Continue reading →

Whatever happens before it, the finale is a doozy, almost certain to be satisfying to fans and impressive even to the casual “Twilight” viewer. But so much of what comes before that payoff in “Breaking Dawn: Part 2,” the conclusion … Continue reading →

The title isn’t an exaggeration. It was something of a “Big Miracle,” the way the plight of a family of gray whales, stranded under the Alaska ice, captivated the country and forced oil men and environmentalists, natives and Cold War … Continue reading →

The movies haven’t shown much grace when dealing with matters of faith in recent decades. Hollywood steers clear of the subject altogether, and faith-based filmmakers tend to avoid reality to avoid letting their movies become too “edgy.” “Blue Like Jazz” … Continue reading →