Monthly Archives: January 2013

Ryan Gosling is ripped, randy and risible in “Crazy, Stupid Love,” an ensemble romantic farce that has the “serious” actor let his funny flag fly. Yeah, it’s a Steve Carell comedy, sort of the dark, divorcing sequel to “Date Night.” … Continue reading →

From Shakespeare and Austen through Tracy and Hepburn, when it comes to romantic comedies, chemistry is king. It’s one reason the rom-com has long seemed like the toughest code for Hollywood to crack. But never underestimate the power of snappy, … Continue reading →

Here’s an unconventional French Holocaust drama, a film that plays as a guilty remembrance of a dark corner of French history tucked into a ticking clock thriller.

Audacious, violent and disquieting, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is a summer sequel that’s better than it has any right to be. This movie about how the apes rose up against the humans who would trap them, cage … Continue reading →

Ripped from the recessionary zeitgeist, raunchy and rude and built around something like a dream cast, “Horrible Bosses” gives those ill-mannered “Bridesmaids” a run for their money.

You’ve never seen a Mel Gibson quite like this. Distraught, depressed and suicidal, yes. He’s been fond of that MO over the decades, sticking a gun in his mouth, wracked by guilt over this, persecuted over that. But in Jodie … Continue reading →

The comedy envelope has been pushed, pulled, twisted and torn during this current run of smash hit R-rated sex comedies. But “The Change-Up,” the punctuation at the end of the summer of “Bridesmaids,” “Bad Teacher” and “Friends With Benefits,” dares … Continue reading →

“The First Grader” is an earnest and well-intentioned if somewhat emotionally dry drama about one man’s pursuit of redemption and an education, a Kenyan who sought to enroll in school to learn to read in his 80s. This “inspired by … Continue reading →

Fun, though not nearly as much fun as it might have been, “TrollHunter” is a bit like a Norwegian version of “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale,” the Finnish horror film about “the REAL (and really evil) Santa Claus.”

Jason Statham is consistently interesting as an action hero — a dynamo who leans into the frame, with or without a gun. I’ve been a fan since his early Guy Ritchie days, on through “Transporter” and “Bank Job,” through “Crank,” … Continue reading →