AltWeeklies Wire
'(500) Days of Summer' Takes a Wise Look at Love Found, and Lost, and Found
No matter how goofy the film gets at individual moments, it becomes fairly irresistible for one simple reason. When it comes to understanding heartbreak and the role of different loves in our lives, it's almost painfully wise.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
07-21-2009 |
Reviews
'The Ugly Truth' is That an Uptight Heroine Doesn't Make a Romantic Comedy
There's something basically chilly about the way Katherine Heigl comes off in The Ugly Truth. A character like this needs to be more than a ball-buster who learns to soften up; her complexity needs to make sense from the outset.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
07-20-2009 |
Reviews
'Half-Blood Prince' Follows a Harry Potter Who's No Innocent Kid Anymore
Half-Blood Prince is far less dense with magical action than its predecessors, and perhaps that makes it feel mostly like a stage-setter for the finale that will be Deathly Hallows. Yet it's so rich with characterization that it scarcely matters.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
07-14-2009 |
Reviews
'The Proposal' Shows That a Familiar Recipe Still Works With the Right Ingredients
Director Anne Fletcher's film is funnier and more charming than it seems to have any right to be.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
06-15-2009 |
Reviews
Tony Scott Continues Hijacking Denzel's Career in 'The Taking of Pelham 123'
How does one of the most universally respected actors of this generation come to trust this particular director -- and his obvious fascination with style over substance -- so implicitly?
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
06-09-2009 |
Reviews
Once Again, Everyone Takes Dan Brown Way Too Seriously
Dan Brown gets a bad rap for his unique brand of beach-reading literature, but maybe he just should have been born 60 years earlier. If his work was going to be turned into cinema, it really should have been for 1930s serials.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
05-11-2009 |
Reviews
Energetic 'Star Trek' Embraces Some of Its History and Throws Some Away
J.J. Abrams has shown that he knows how to deliver brainy action, and how to leave his distinctive thumbprint on an existing franchise.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
05-04-2009 |
Reviews
Another Young Star Tries on a Familiar Generic Premise in '17 Again'
It's High School Musical star Zac Efron's turn to attempt name-above-the-title status, and 17 Again sort of works -- except that one wild card steals Efron's thunder.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
04-14-2009 |
Reviews
Seth Rogen Takes a Detour That Works in 'Observe and Report'
At some time in the career of every screen comedian, there comes a point where he has to make peace with The Character. Seth Rogen seemed to get this concept early on. So why now do we find him in something as wrong for him as Observe and Report?
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
04-07-2009 |
Reviews
'Monsters vs. Aliens' Avoids the Pixar Comparisons by Wallowing in Genre Pleasures
What works about Monsters vs. Aliens is when it is retro in a good way.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
03-23-2009 |
Reviews
What Does a 'Dick Flick' Like 'I Love You, Man' Tell Us About Modern Masculinity?
We're getting closer to learning something interesting about what guys need from other guys, but the sociologists won't be gleaning more from this effort than a few chuckles. There's more bro-vado here than bro-mance.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
03-17-2009 |
Reviews
Zack Snyder Delivers Exactly the 'Watchmen' We've Already Seen
You probably don't want a visionary director when it comes to pleasing devotees of a work that they already consider visionary. What you want, really, is a competent hack.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
03-03-2009 |
Reviews
The 'Third Wave' of Theatrical 3-D is in Full Swing ... But it May Be The Last
Super Bowl Sunday was a glimpse of the future of 3-D: the studio made it as easy as possible for the theatrical 3-D experience to be duplicated on your TV screen.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
02-17-2009 |
Movies
'Friday the 13th' Revisits Vintage '80s Horror
Marcus Nispel proves that he knows why the franchise endures: At its core, it's less about terror than it is about comedy.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
02-10-2009 |
Reviews
'Coraline' Turns a Dark Fairy Tale into a Dazzling Stop-Motion Horror Film
What potential viewers will need to wrap their heads around is that while Coraline may be about childhood, it isn't really for children.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
02-02-2009 |
Reviews
