AltWeeklies Wire
Hitchcock is less about birds, more about the man — and the woman behind himnew

Sacha Gervasi's Hitchcock, based on the lauded 1990 book Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho, might've been somewhat better served if, while plumbing its source material for story arc and character beats, its crafters had just gone ahead and borrowed the title, as well.
San Antonio Current |
Brian Villalobos |
12-05-2012 |
Reviews
The Adventures of Tintinnew

Before Temple of Doom, Ninja Turtles, and Calvin and Hobbes, there were Hergé's tenacious, cow-licked, ever-so-mildly-androgynous Belgian boy reporter and his intrepid white fox terrier.
San Antonio Current |
Brian Villalobos |
12-30-2011 |
Reviews
'Extraordinary Measures' a Dependable but Unflashy Ridenew

The picture’s most revelatory aspect, for me, was its introduction of the affliction at its crux: Pompe disease. I’d never heard of it, and now probably won’t soon forget it.
San Antonio Current |
Brian Villalobos |
01-20-2010 |
Reviews
'Inglourious Basterds' is Stylish, Daring and Snappily Writtennew
There were moments of trepidation for me during the early goings of Tarantino's latest. I wasn't sure I wanted to see a sensationalized, Grindhouse take on the events of World War II. And yet, Basterds is quite a bit more than that. It is inventive, surehanded, aggressively original -- and destined to be a classic.
San Antonio Current |
Brian Villalobos |
08-19-2009 |
Reviews
'Tropic Thunder' Wasn't the Expected Rambo-style Satirenew
What I got, and what I should have expected, was a rather well-produced and spectacle-driven broad action-comedy that should satisfy anyone not expecting a wealth of subtle or subversive humor. Duh, right?
San Antonio Current |
Brian Villalobos |
08-13-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Ben Stiller, Tropic Thunder
Sorry, Haters: 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' is Funnynew
I didn't really start wholeheartedly imbibing the Apatow Kool-Aid until Knocked Up, but now, having taken in the Apatow-produced Forgetting Sarah Marshall, I don't expect to find myself having second thoughts about trying anything these guys put out for quite some time.
San Antonio Current |
Brian Villalobos |
04-16-2008 |
Reviews
Of Analogies and Alpha Dogsnew
Charlie Bartlett, fittingly, feels like a first film. It's flecked throughout with a decent store of genuine laughs and sweet, budding-romance moments, but these are offset too frequently by painfully conventional bits and notably odd directorial choices.
San Antonio Current |
Brian Villalobos |
02-20-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Charlie Bartlett, John Poll
'I Am Legend': Not a Classicnew
There's a sizeable early-to-middle stretch in the decidedly post-apocalyptic flick that drew this viewer involuntarily (and more than once) to his seat-edge and managed to hold him more palpably rapt than a great many ostensibly comparable films of recent years.
San Antonio Current |
Brian Villalobos |
12-12-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Francis Lawrence, I Am Legend
Zemeckis, Computers: 1; Critic: 0new
Boy, was I prepared to hate the sword-and-sandals out of this movie.
San Antonio Current |
Brian Villalobos |
11-21-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Beowulf, Robert Zemeckis
'Enchanted' is the Blandest of Them Allnew
It would be a sight quicker -- and doubtless more gracious as well -- to discuss what generally works in Disney's Enchanted than to dwell on all that doesn't.
San Antonio Current |
Brian Villalobos |
11-21-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Enchanted, Kevin Lima
Uncle Brian's Turkey-Day Bashnew
A guide to nine of the biggest "turkeys" American cinema has to offer, and an answer to the awake-at-night question, "Is Ishtar really all that terrible?"
San Antonio Current |
Brian Villalobos |
11-21-2007 |
Reviews
Terry George on Oscar Nods and Irish Prisonnew
The filmmaker behind Reservation Road gets chatty at the Austin Film Festival.
San Antonio Current |
Brian Villalobos |
11-07-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Reservation Road, Terry George
Clive Owen Kills with Carrotsnew
Deep it ain't, cartoonish it is, but Shoot 'Em Up is certainly fun, and peppered with calculated, eye-bugging originality.
San Antonio Current |
Brian Villalobos |
09-05-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Michael Davis, Shoot 'Em Up
Kiss the Chef in 'No Reservations'new
No Reservations is nothing groundbreaking, but it’s enjoyable, and a graceful, better-than-average entrant in a parade of light-drama, heart-in-the-right-place romances.
San Antonio Current |
Brian Villalobos |
07-30-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: No Reservations, Scott Hicks
'The Office' at School: 'Chalk'new
The sly, nigh-painfully accurate Chalk follows four young government employees through an academic year.
San Antonio Current |
Brian Villalobos |
07-20-2007 |
Reviews