AltWeeklies Wire
Hello Daddy, Hello Mom: Girl Rock Band Comes Alive, Again
Based on Cherrie Currie's poorly written memoir "Neon Angel: The Cherrie Currie Story," about her crash-and-burn experiences with producer Kim Fowley's manufactured all-girl rock band, "The Runaways" is a textbook guilty pleasure.
City Pulse |
Hello Daddy, Hello Mom: Girl Rock Band Comes Alive, Again |
03-15-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: The Runaways, Floria Sigismondi
Stumbling to the Altar: Interracial Marriage Comedy Leaves Both Lawns Bare
Writer/director Rick Famuyiwa's version of interracial marriage is about as much fun as a trip to the dentist.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
03-08-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Our Family Wedding, Rick Famuyiwa
Too Little Too Late: Paul Greengrass Switches Teams, But to What End?
Director Paul Greengrass attempts to overcompensate for his unthinkably flat 2006 propaganda piece United 93 with a shaky-cam Iraq war picture.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
03-08-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Green Zone, Paul Greengrass
Damaged Goods: Antoine Fuqua Does His Due Diligence
Director Antoine Fuqua returns to the gritty cop drama genre that made him a household name in 2001 with "Training Day."
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
03-01-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Brooklyn's Finest, Antoine Fuqua
Whose Turn is It Now? The 2010 Oscar Race
You can practically already hear Academy Award producers shouting, after the fact, "Whose idea was this?" about changes in the ceremony that are doomed to be criticized for months after the last statue is handed out.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
02-25-2010 |
Movies
Tags: The 2010 Oscar Race, Cole Smithey
'Celine: Through the Eyes of the World' is an Insult on Many Levels
Presented as a "performance" rather than a documentary of her 2008-2009 "Taking Chances" world tour, Celine: Through the Eyes of the World is an insult to your intelligence on many levels.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
02-22-2010 |
Reviews
Invisible Ink: Polanski's Political Thriller Evaporates
It's a big deal when Martin Scorsese and Roman Polanski both release mystery thrillers in the same week. Coincidentally, Shutter Island and The Ghost Writer are mutually set on islands and both begin with the arrival of a boat coming directly into the frame.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
02-15-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: The Ghost Writer, Roman Polanski
Scorsese's Gathering Storm: Lehane Novel Sets Table for Scorsese to Soar
For his forty-fifth film Martin Scorsese crafts a gorgeously stylized psychological thriller full of darkly lush horror that torments its obsessed protagonist.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
02-15-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Shutter Island, Martin Scorsese
Trading Down: Mythology Inflected Romp Has Nothing on Harryhausen
Aside from some non-PG-rated emphasis on an abusive home life and a lot of underwhelming CGI, The Lightening Thief is a well-paced kids' action picture that flirts with Greek mythology to create its otherworldly spectacle.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
02-08-2010 |
Reviews
Half-Eaten Chocolates: A Sampler You Don't Want to Give
Valentine's Day is yet another date movie that's less than the sum of its parts. The sheer number of A-list actors involved spells trouble. Jessica Biel, Julia Roberts, Jamie Foxx, and Anne Hathaway provide cast padding for the likes of B-listers Taylor Swift, George Lopez, and Emma Roberts.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
02-08-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Garry Marshall, Valentine's Day
Videogame Mentality: Action Post Card from Paris Self-Destructs
As with Spaghetti Westerns and sit-coms, you know they've jumped the shark when the tone turns to self-mockery. So it is that in one fell swoop John Travolta and suicide bombers have bid audiences their valediction.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
02-01-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: From Paris With Love, Pierre Morel
Looking Back: Mel Gibson Atones, Defeated
Acting in his first film since 2003, Mel Gibson is a bit rusty as retiring Boston homicide detective Thomas Craven in a part corporate-thriller and part old-school revenge fantasy that feels dated from the start.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
01-25-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Edge of Darkness, Martin Campbell
Medical Marijuana Activists Unhappy With Proposed New Regulationsnew
Local medical marijuana activists are expressing displeasure with proposed new legislation that would change the state’s medical marijuana law. The activists gathered Tuesday at Gone Wired Café on Michigan Avenue in Lansing after the proposed legislation was discussed in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
City Pulse |
Neal McNamara |
01-21-2010 |
Science
A Fire Within: Charles Darwin Biopic Stays Cold
As reworked by screenwriter John Collee, Jon Amiel's adaptation of Randal Keynes's novel "Annie's Box" is too driven by melodrama to work as a biopic. The story moves to the relationship between Darwin and his brilliant daughter Annie (wonderfully played by newcomer Martha West).
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
01-18-2010 |
Reviews
With a Bible, Denzel Washington Walks Through the Valley of Death
Falling on the heels of The Road, The Book of Eli is a similarly themed vision of a post-apocalyptic dystopia where cannibals and criminals make up what's left of the human species.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
01-11-2010 |
Reviews
