AltWeeklies Wire
The Coen Brothers' Latest is an Entertaining Triflenew
Burn After Reading's madcap tone recalls Coen projects like The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, although it doesn’t reach the heights of sublime absurdity that those movies (especially Lebowski) achieved.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Josh Bell |
09-11-2008 |
Reviews
'Baghead' is a Sometimes Awkward Marriage of Horror and Talkinessnew
Brothers Mark and Jay Duplass made one of the foundational movies of the so-called "mumblecore" movement with 2005's The Puffy Chair, and their follow-up, Baghead, finds them struggling to break out of what's become a somewhat stifling and limiting label.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Josh Bell |
09-05-2008 |
Reviews
It Seems Almost Cruel to Criticize 'The Little Red Truck'new
The Missoula Children's Theatre is undoubtedly a worthwhile organization that provides a valuable service to thousands of children, but that doesn't mean it's fun to sit through what amounts to a 90-minute advertisement for the company.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Josh Bell |
09-05-2008 |
Reviews
'Transsiberian' Uses its Atmosphere to Great Effectnew
The film uses expert sleight-of-hand to juggle drugs, murder and various shades of villainy at the exact right times. Even if you've seen lots of movies of this type and can figure out exactly what's going to happen, Anderson takes great pleasure in the pure form and execution of it.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Jeffrey M. Anderson |
08-28-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Brad Anderson, Transsiberian
'Elegy' is Remarkably Dour and Unsexynew
Based on the novel "The Dying Animal" by Philip Roth, Elegy is meditative and glum, but not quite as profound as its tone seems to suggest it is.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Josh Bell |
08-28-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Elegy, Isabel Coixet
'Traitor' is a Popcorn Thriller in Political-Drama Clothingnew
Nachmanoff, working from an idea by Steve Martin (yes, that Steve Martin), does try to address some serious questions about the religious motivations behind terrorist acts, but in the end he's more concerned with gotcha moments than with intellectual discourse. That's not necessarily a bad thing.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Josh Bell |
08-28-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Jeffrey Nachmanoff, Traitor
What's in a Skin Color? The Perils of Ethnic Impersonation in Moviesnew
Why is it that Robert Downey Jr. is celebrated for his clever meta-performance in Tropic Thunder, while Ben Stiller is attacked for denigrating a whole group of people in the same film? The line between respect and offense in cases like these is razor-thin, and it's not always easy to see where it should be drawn.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Josh Bell |
08-22-2008 |
Movies
'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' is an Invigorating Trip Abroadnew
The fourth (and apparently final) film in what might be called Woody Allen's European period, this is the closest to what fans of his classic relationship comedies keep hoping the writer-director will produce again. It's a light, entertaining and romantic movie without the strained zaniness of 2006's Scoop, filled with mild humor, some wonderfully drawn characters and a lovely Spanish setting.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Josh Bell |
08-15-2008 |
Reviews
'Henry Poole' is Too Uninspired to be Inspirationalnew
Hollywood doesn't often deal directly with issues of faith and spirituality, mainly because it wants to appeal to as many people as humanly possible. So it's too bad that when a movie like Henry Poole Is Here finally steps up to the pulpit, director Mark Pellington phones it in.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Jeffrey M. Anderson |
08-15-2008 |
Reviews
Stoner Comedy 'Pineapple Express' is Kind of a Bummernew
Seth Rogen and James Franco aim for Belushi and Aykroyd, but achieve only Emilio Estevez and Richard Dreyfuss.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Mike D'Angelo |
08-07-2008 |
Reviews
The Sweet Emotional Pull of 'Sisterhood' is Hard to Resistnew
The pants don't make much of a showing in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, but no matter. They're nothing more than a gimmick to draw us into the lives of our four well-drawn characters, and despite my misgivings I was gleefully, guiltily glad to see them all again.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Jeffrey M. Anderson |
08-07-2008 |
Reviews
What We Demand from Our Movie Heroes Says as Much About Us as Themnew
As the villains move closer toward the state of amoral blank slates -- less monsters and more unknowable black holes of pure negativity -- they have opened the ground for heroes to step more squarely into the chasm the bad guys have left behind. That shift is why, of late, the heroes actually have the better roles; why, fittingly, Batman remains a more compelling character than the starkly one-dimensional Joker.
Las Vegas Weekly |
T.R. Witcher |
08-01-2008 |
Movies
A New Crop of Game Shows Take On-Air Debasement to a New Lownew
Watching a real Japanese game show conjures up mixed feelings of glee at the rampant creativity and sadness for the desperate contestants who'll do anything for money or attention. Watching shows like Wipeout and Hurl! is merely depressing, a reminder that when faced with a choice between originality and exploitation, American reality-TV producers will almost invariably choose the latter.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Josh Bell |
07-25-2008 |
TV
'Step Brothers' Finds Will Ferrell Regressing and Repeating Himselfnew
The problem is not that Ferrell has ceased to be funny, although his shtick is clearly wearing thin; the problem is that he and collaborator Adam McKay, with whom he worked on Anchorman and Talladega Nights, have abandoned all goals other than to "be funny" in the most desperate, overblown and ultimately grating manner.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Josh Bell |
07-25-2008 |
Reviews
The Question Isn't 'Why Make Another X-Files Movie,' but Rather, 'Why Not'?new
The thrill is gone, but we shouldn't discount the place for epilogues and endings in pop culture. Now a couple, Mulder and Scully discuss and banter some more (and it's a lot more interesting than conversations about the mortgage or taking out the garbage), and they get to ride off into the sunset.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Jeffrey M. Anderson |
07-25-2008 |
Reviews
