AltWeeklies Wire
Stolen Youth: '17 Again'new
Zac Efron displays talent and charm in the enjoyable, if unoriginal 17 Again.
Tucson Weekly |
Bob Grimm |
04-23-2009 |
Reviews
'Crank: High Voltage' Is Rather Joltingnew

Crank is not a good film, in the moral sense of "good," but it might be an entertaining film, and is in many ways an innovative film.
Tucson Weekly |
James DiGiovanna |
04-23-2009 |
Reviews
Mall Nut: 'Observe and Report'new
Observe and Report delivers a healthy dose of laughs—and gasps.
Tucson Weekly |
Bob Grimm |
04-16-2009 |
Reviews
Compelling Case: '12'new
12 is like 12 Angry Men, except that it's Russian, and it takes place in a high school gym.
Tucson Weekly |
James DiGiovanna |
04-16-2009 |
Reviews
Vin Diesel Mopes a Lot As He Returns to the Film Franchise That Made Him a Starnew
Vin Diesel returns to the series that made him a big star with Fast and Furious, a tiresome speedy-car movie. Things have really deteriorated since the fun original.
Tucson Weekly |
Bob Grimm |
04-08-2009 |
Reviews
If You Like Sappy, Cute, Formulaic Films Go See 'The Black Balloon'new
There are some nice things to say about The Black Balloon. I mean, it's sappy and cute and formulaic, and people enjoy that. Who am I to stop them?
Tucson Weekly |
James DiGiovanna |
04-08-2009 |
Reviews
DreamWorks Edges Ever Closer to Pixar Territorynew
Monsters vs. Aliens, from the DreamWorks animation factory, looks impressive. It's not as good as some of Pixar's greater works, but it's a cut above the last couple of Shrek films and much better than garbage like Space Chimps.
Tucson Weekly |
Bob Grimm |
04-02-2009 |
Reviews
Jesse Eisenberg Shines in Realistic, Funny Coming-of-Age Flicknew

Eisenberg is like a dramatic version of Michael Cera, and with Adventureland he really gets to show off his dramatic range, which goes from A all the way to those made-up letters from Dr. Seuss' On Beyond Zebra!.
Tucson Weekly |
James DiGiovanna |
04-02-2009 |
Reviews
Nicolas Cage Finally Stops His Suck Streak in 'Knowing'new
Alex Proyas wants to make some sort of strange statement about the origins of everything, and it doesn't quite work. What does work is the total annihilation of the planet--finally, an apocalypse movie that doesn't puss out!
Tucson Weekly |
Bob Grimm |
03-26-2009 |
Reviews
'Two Lovers' Is a Great New York Movie that Feels Both Classic and Contemporarynew
Director James Gray must have watched every old movie that took place in New York, because he swipes scenes from about half of them in his strange new drama, Two Lovers. Which is not a bad thing; Gray knows his movies and knows what to take from them.
Tucson Weekly |
James DiGiovanna |
03-26-2009 |
Reviews
'Last House on the Left' Remake Is Horrifying -- Not Necessarily in a Good Waynew

Trying to add sweetness and hope to sludge like this is like pouring a bag of sugar into raw sewage laced with cyanide. It's not going to help.
Tucson Weekly |
Bob Grimm |
03-19-2009 |
Reviews
Grotesque Syndicate: 'Gomorrah'new
You'll learn a thing or two from this bleak, difficult movie about the other Italian mafia.
Tucson Weekly |
James DiGiovanna |
03-19-2009 |
Reviews
The 'Unfilmable' Graphic Novel Can, In Fact, Be Enjoyably Filmednew
Alan Moore is a big baby, because Watchmen is a worthy adaptation of his work. It captures a significant amount of the novel's paranoiac essence while making changes to keep things filmable. It's a nice homage to his fine work.
Tucson Weekly |
Bob Grimm |
03-12-2009 |
Reviews
'The Class' Is a Well-Done and Extremely Uncomfortable Piece of Artnew
You're trapped in teen hell, much more real than what you get on Gossip Girl or 90210. No one is shiny and perfect, and they don't have trust funds or romantic theme music that plays when they look longingly into each other's eyes. Instead, everything feels like a fight about to happen.
Tucson Weekly |
James DiGiovanna |
03-12-2009 |
Reviews
'Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience'new
If you want your soul sucked out of your eye sockets, then the Jonas Brothers' 3-D film is for you!
Tucson Weekly |
Bob Grimm |
03-05-2009 |
Reviews