Entourage Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) There’s a moment deep into the Entourage movie when the guys are chastising their boy Vinny Chase (Adrian Grenier) for sleeping with Emily Ratajkowski (playing herself) moments after the financier of Vince’s directorial debut leaves her house. Vince begs his closest friends for some understanding, asking them to remember who they are. […]
Pain and Gain Review
RATING: (3 STARS) It seems like it’d be hard for anyone to hate Pain and Gain if it didn’t seemingly trivialize a pair of brutal murders. It’s more energetic than any film this year. The trio of Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, and Anthony Mackie is exceptional (and exceptionally casted). And director Michael Bay‘s insistence on […]
Broken City Review
RATING: (2 STARS) For a film that vacillates from scene to scene between barely passable and utterly forgettable, Broken City boasts some impressive names both on and off the screen. Mark Wahlberg leads a cast that also includes Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Barry Pepper, Jeffrey Wright, and Kyle Chandler. Allen Hughes (of Menace II Socity […]
The Fighter Review
RATING: (3 STARS) In this corner, weighing in at approximately 700 pounds—the dynamic acting foursome of Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, and Mark Wahlberg. And in this corner, weighing in at a whopping 2,000 pounds—a ton of dysfunctional family- and boxing-movie clichés. David O. Russell’s The Fighter was a real slugfest between these two […]
The Other Guys Review
RATING: (3 STARS) When I first saw Anchorman back in 2004, I thought Will Ferrell was the king of the world. He could do no wrong in my book. It was by far the funniest movie of that year, and it remains one of my favorite comedies of the past decade. Slowly but surely, Ferrell […]
Date Night Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) As I said in my review of The General, action comedies are hard to pull off. Usually a film focuses too much on forced laughter, which inevitably takes away from the action. A perfect example of this is Shawn Levy’s “Date Night,†a film that does both the comedy and the action […]
The Departed Review
RATING: (4 STARS) “The Departed†is director Martin Scorsese’s best work since “Taxi Driver.†Yeah, I said it. I think this film is better than “Goodfellas†and “Raging Bull.†In fact, for a long time, this film was my standard answer for the dreaded “What’s your favorite movie?†question. I no longer hold it in […]
