Salt Lake City Weekly | Movies+TV | Reviews | AAN.org

One Epic-Scale Story Isn't Enough for Baz Luhrmann's 'Australia'

If you've seen Luhrmann's films, Australia is exactly the kind of story you'd expect from him, painted on a canvas the size of a continent. Or more specifically, it's two of the kind of stories you'd expect from him.

Salt Lake City Weekly | Scott Renshaw | 11-25-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Nicole Kidman, Australia, Hugh Jackman, Baz Luhrmann

'Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa' Wastes Time on the Stuff Between Gags

Haven't we, as a nation, progressed to the point where it would be okay for our animated films simply to abandon the pretense of a plot?

Salt Lake City Weekly | Scott Renshaw | 11-03-2008 | Reviews

Tags: animation, DreamWorks, Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa

Kevin Smith's Arrested Adolescence Continues in 'Zack and Miri'

Smith's still funny when the muse strikes him, but it's just too awkward watching him try to build romantic comedy out of sentimentalizing old-school pornography.

Salt Lake City Weekly | Scott Renshaw | 10-27-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Judd Apatow, Kevin Smith, Seth Rogen, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Elizabeth Banks

'The Secret Life of Bees': Hive Fidelity

The Secret Life of Bees stays true to its source -- not that that's necessarily a good thing.

Salt Lake City Weekly | Scott Renshaw | 10-13-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Secret Life of Bees

'Body of Lies' Provides Espionage Thrills Without Digging Too Deep

It's a story that often seems poised to tell us more about why the War on Terror has turned into such a quagmire, then retreats to the relative safety of explosions and shouting matches.

Salt Lake City Weekly | Scott Renshaw | 10-07-2008 | Reviews

Tags: War on terror, Ridley Scott, Leonardo DiCaprio, Body of Lies, David Ignatius, Russell Crowe

'Nick & Norah' Captures Teen Romance's Sweet Awkwardness

Peter Sollett has now established himself as cinema's reigning genius of awkward young love.

Salt Lake City Weekly | Scott Renshaw | 09-26-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist, Peter Sollett, Alexis Dziena, Kat Dennings, Michael Cera

'Choke' Finds an Unexpected Vein of Sweetness in Chuck Palahniuk

Clark Gregg took Palahniuk's Choke as screenwriter and director and found another vein. Buried beneath the blasphemy and the bodily fluids and the self-loathing was a story about redemption. About recovery. About love.

Salt Lake City Weekly | Scott Renshaw | 09-22-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Chuck Palahniuk, Choke, Clark Gregg

'Lakeview Terrace' Goes to Hell and Back Again

Fifteen years after the heyday of the "fill-in-the-blank from hell" thriller, the genre looks exactly the same.

Salt Lake City Weekly | Scott Renshaw | 09-15-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Neil LaBute, Lakeview Terrace

'Burn After Reading': Great Expectations

Don't hate on Burn After Reading for being a merely good Coen brothers movie.

Salt Lake City Weekly | Scott Renshaw | 09-09-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Burn After Reading, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

'The Women': Shtick and the City

The Women attempts female fabulousness, only shallower and not as funny.

Salt Lake City Weekly | Scott Renshaw | 09-08-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Diane English, The Women

Ben Stiller Abandons Subtle Satire for Broad Gags in 'Tropic Thunder'

Stiller isn't ego-less enough to really let Hollywood have it, and he's too much of a clown to get sophisticated about it. Tropic Thunder provides random goofiness without an identity, or much of a point.

Salt Lake City Weekly | Scott Renshaw | 08-11-2008 | Reviews

Tags: comedy, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Tom Cruise, Ben Stiller, Tropic Thunder