AltWeeklies Wire
Boldly Going: Star Trek’s Eternal Mission Continues
“Star Trek Into Darkness” is a lot of movie. It gets personalities and dialogue right, but lets gigantic plot problems slide around like ocean-bound rubber duckies on an oil slick.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
05-14-2013 |
Reviews
A Killer Vacation — Lovebird Serial Killers Take On Northern England
Blacker than the La Brea Tar Pits, director Ben Wheatley’s dark comedy about a couple of serial killer lovebirds is an exquisitely funny movie.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
05-07-2013 |
Reviews
Blood Feast Xan Cassavetes Sinks Her Teeth In
Xan Cassavetes [daughter to the Godfather of independent cinema] pays stylish homage to vampire films of the past 40 years with a blood-soaked predator thriller based on romantic obsession — BDSM comes gratis.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
04-29-2013 |
Reviews
The Big Killer: Michael Shannon Gets Cold
A refreshing addition to the contract killer biopic genre, Ariel Vromen’s Friedkinesque dramatization of Richard Kuklinski’s rise and fall, via three decades of heinous crimes, is a doozy.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
04-29-2013 |
Reviews
Open House - François Ozon Lifts a Veil on Social Development
François Ozon’s slow-burn comic thriller is a sensitive observation of a global race-to-the-bottom that is devaluing culture in all of its varied forms.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
04-22-2013 |
Reviews
Navel Gazing Through a Telescope: Terrence Malick’s Failed Experiment Leaves a Black Eye
Terrence Malick still hasn’t made a remarkable film since 1978. That was the year he made “Days of Heaven” — not to be confused with “Gates of Heaven.”
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
04-15-2013 |
Reviews
Menaces in the Machine The Modern Age Isn’t What It’s Cracked Up to Be
In an age where people obsess over their cellphones to the exclusion of the physical world around them, a dystopian malady takes over.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
04-10-2013 |
Reviews
Breaking the Chain of Racism: Jackie Robinson is Still in Play
Writer-director Brian Helgeland’s methodically balanced biopic about revered baseball legend Jackie Robinson manages a near-impossible feat of offering all things to all people. Baseball fans, civil rights followers, and casual filmgoers will be rewarded with a film that is equal parts history lesson and pure entertainment.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
04-08-2013 |
Reviews
Vague Leftovers — Robert Redford Shrink-Wraps Leftists Ideals
A movie in search of a story, this Robert Redford-directed flop has all the interest and suspense of a piece of burnt toast.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
04-01-2013 |
Reviews
Split Narrative: Derek Cianfrance Gets Pulled Apart
An unbalanced dual narrative plays out in Derek Cianfrance’s (“Blue Valentine”) unsteady attempt to extract universal truths about unintended legacies passed down from father to son.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
03-25-2013 |
Reviews
Ivy League Tina Fey — Higher Learning Gets Schooled
An above-average romantic comedy, “Admission” profits considerably from Tina Fey’s reliable comic efforts as Portia Nathan, a Princeton University admissions officer approaching an unforeseen midlife crisis.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
03-19-2013 |
Movies
Buried Casesnew
Lansing Police Department's lack of Cold Case organization.
City Pulse |
Rich Tupica and Steve Miller |
03-15-2013 |
Features
Believin’ — Carell and Carrey Cast a Comic Spell
Artfully satirizing the in-your-face state of modern magic — as practiced by the likes of David Blaine and Criss Angel — while celebrating the cheesy aspects of old school slight-of-hand tricks, “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” is an effective comedy that covers a lot of ground.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
03-12-2013 |
Movies
Wickedly Adequate: Sam Raimi Makes Lemonade From Lemons
Coming nowhere near the level of dynamic storytelling of the original 1939 “Wizard of Oz” – are you surprised? - Sam Raimi’s prequel movie features enough charms to mitigate an ongoing draught of G and PG-rated family flicks.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
03-04-2013 |
Reviews
Downed Submarine: Cold War Picture Sinks in the Deep
The cinematic offenses committed by the filmmakers of “Phantom” are varied and many.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
02-25-2013 |
Reviews
