A Tim Burton movie about a son reconciling with his ailing, tall-tale-spewing father should be much better than this. Unfortunately, up until the end, the tall tales are far more interesting than reality.
Writer-director Justin Lin’s incisive, cautionary look at a group of Asian-American over-achieving teenagers plays like “Goodfellas” for the high school set when their extra-curricular activities turn criminal.
The ‘Spinal Tap’ ensemble is at it again, this time setting their satirical sights on Dog shows, with some genuinely humorous results.
A heart-warming, coming-of-age triumph of individuality, which nevertheless validates the importance of familial and cultural bonds. Social preconceptions and determinations of gender roles are playfully examined, as well as the bittersweet dynamics of parent-child relationships against the backdrop of London’s professional soccer circuit. Is this a winning formula? Goooaaalll!
Owen Wilson stars opposite Gene Hackman in this pointless exercise in CGI and pyrotechnics.
Despite wild implausibilities throughout, director John Moore’s attempt at an old fashioned war flag-waver holds together thanks to Owen Wilson’s unique presence and, of course, the always-reliable Gene Hackman.
In the middle of a plague of copycat, apocalyptic thrillers, it’s refreshing to see a movie which literally takes you where no one has gone before: inside the head of actor John Malkovich.
The life of John Forbes Nash, Jr., the brilliant Nobel Prize winning mathematician and schizophrenic is vividly brought to life by Russell Crowe and director Ron Howard, both working at the height of their respective games. Yes, it is slightly revisionist and it begs for tears once too often, but it’s an otherwise beautiful film.
Rapper-turned-actor Ice Cube ably provides the emotional core in this story of a neighborhood barbershop and its assortment of colorful inhabitants, which is a cut above standard hip-hop cinematic fare. And while I respect his attempt to support the ancient Aristotelian Unity of Time (along with his “Friday” series and his popular song “It was a good day”), the film could have trimmed of couple of the obviously padded, Altman-esque subplots.
