34 Things That Are Wrong in Draft Day
Ivan Reitman’s Draft Day—I’m not sure I’ve ever reacted to a movie the way I did to this one. It tells the story of Sonny Weaver, Jr. (played by Kevin Costner)—the embattled general manager of a fictional version of the Cleveland Browns. This version of the Browns is similar to the real one insofar as […]
Superman Returns Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) It took 19 long years to get Superman back to the big screen after the epic awfulness that was Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Superman Returns, from director Bryan Singer, is the first in the series without Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder, and while it has a number of problems, the […]
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps Review
RATING: (2 STARS) To be perfectly blunt, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is a mess. The frustrating thing is that there’s a good film in there somewhere, but it’s bogged down by a slew of dull subplots, jarring shifts in tone and pace, and an ending that’s a total cheat. I didn’t care for Oliver […]
Frost/Nixon Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) In my review of All the President’s Men, I said I think I’m inclined to love pretty much any film about Nixon and the Watergate scandal. It’s a larger-than-life moment in American history that’s ripe for dramatization. Such is what happened with Ron Howard’s “Frost/Nixon,†an adaptation of the Tony Award-winning play […]
The Ten Best Performances of 2008
This wasn’t an incredible year for performances. There were undoubtedly some great ones, but when I sat down to compile my list of the greatest, I was surprised by how few sure things there were. As with most years, there were more great roles for men than there were for women. The supporting actress category […]