AltWeeklies Wire
Clint Eastwood Bids a Limp Farewell to Acting in the Laughable 'Gran Torino'
As Eastwood delivers his self-professed farewell performance in Gran Torino, people are lining up to hand him gold statuettes -- this despite the fact this may be one of the worst performances ever by a guy who's turned in a lot of fairly lame ones.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
01-02-2009 |
Reviews
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
'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
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
'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
'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
'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
'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
'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
'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
That’s Exploi-tainment: Review of Pineapple Express
Pineapple Express takes a funny but unfocused stroll through 1970s cinema.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
08-04-2008 |
Reviews
'The Dark Knight' Offers More Than an Unbalanced Ledger
The Dark Knight delivers more than a menacing farewell performance.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
07-14-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight
Too Many Pregnant Addicts Call Salt Lake County Metro Jail Homenew
With treatment-center beds so hard to come by, judges hand pregnant women jail sentences to provide them at least with safety and some prenatal care. But most of the babies will still be born into a world where drug withdrawal is one of their first sensations.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Eric S. Peterson |
06-30-2008 |
Crime & Justice
