Monthly Archives: January 2013

It doesn’t take four minutes for “Rio” to set itself apart from all the “Ice Age” movies the animators at Blue Sky  made before it.  A rain forest filled with parrots, macaws, cockatoos and toucans sing and dance the samba … Continue reading →

They’re making a jihadist video, these “Four Lions,” posing in front of a jihadist flag, making their threats and promises of destruction of the “Jews” and “imperialists” and uh, “slags.” They’re Brits, OK? And they’re not doing well with the … Continue reading →

“Voyage of the Dawn Treader” is either a spirited revival of the film franchise based on the C.S. Lewis children’s Narnia novels, or an entertaining and emotionally satisfying coda to “The Chronicles of Narnia.” In the able care of veteran … Continue reading →

The German director of the sublime, subtle and chilling surveillance thriller “The Lives of Others:” might not have been the best choice for tackling the dressy and daft spy romance, “The Tourist.” But even if Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck lacked … Continue reading →

“Voluptuous” doesn’t quite do the Gemma Arterton justice. It leaves out her voluminous hair, her perma-pout and those eyes so dark no cinematographer seems able to coax color from them. And “overripe” seems a tad mean. No sense mincing around … Continue reading →

Acting for the silver screen doesn’t get more raw, moving or accomplished than what you see in “The Fighter,” that rare film in which every performer in it leaves the viewer in awe. The quartet at its heart — Christian … Continue reading →

When the book is written on the great character-actor-masquerading-as-a-leading-man Edward Norton, somebody’s going to discover an early childhood love of trickery, con jobs and practical jokes. How else do you explain his career-long fascination with putting one over on the … Continue reading →

Like “Avatar,” “TRON: Legacy” takes us into a world of digital imagination, a dreamscape Netscape of blacks and blues and neon-lit “programs” and disc-duels for the teeming masses of bits and bytes. It’s a gorgeous sequel to 1982’s “TRON,” a … Continue reading →

Despite its title, it has nothing to do with cigarettes. But its star, as he once famously said on screen, is absolutely “smokin’.” Jim Carrey is the narrator,  heart and soul  of “I Love You Phillip Morris,” transforming what could … Continue reading →

With the self-consciously clever and sometimes achingly romantic “Happythankyoumoreplease,” TV star Josh Radnor (“How I Met Your Mother”) has concocted a big screen starring vehicle for himself that calls to mind both his hopelessly romantic TV persona, and an earlier … Continue reading →