The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest ends the Millennium trilogy much the way it began; like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, the film moves at a sedentary pace for the most part, and lacks credibility as a serious crime thriller. Lisbeth Salander is recovering from her multiple injuries in hospital when she is charged with the attempted murder […]
Read moreMonsters’ 94 minutes feels about three times as long in this science fiction drama. Devoid of any real sense of threat, the film is not engaging in the least, opting for shallow symbolism and ample screen time for two of the most boring protagonists imaginable. Six years after a probe carrying samples of alien life crash landed in Mexico, have […]
Read moreThe Shop Around the Corner is rarely bracketed in the same echelon as other Holiday classics. The film should be, however, as it features all the requisite elements of a Christmas classic; a heart-warming story, great chemistry, laughter and romance, as well as the obligatory dash of schmaltz. Alfred Kralik is a long-standing employee at a Budapest gift shop. When […]
Read moreGloriously violent and at times hilarious, Machete is unabashedly good fun. The only thing that lets the film down is its political angle, which feels out of place in a movie such as this. Machete, a former Federale agent, is hired to assassinate a US senator. When things don’t go according to plan, Machete embarks on a revenge mission, enlisting […]
Read moreIn a year brimming with bleak films, Leap Year may just be the bleakest of them all. The film effectively builds tension, but feels unsatisfying in its exploration of the protagonist. Laura lives a very solitary existence in her Mexican apartment. She lies to her others, inventing friendships that do not exist. After a string of one-night stands that lead nowhere, Laura […]
Read moreAt a certain point in Skyline, how soon depends on your patience, you will wish the protagonists would just succumb to their fate so this awful film will end. The special effects are decent, but sadly little else is. Elaine and Jarrod are awoken by strange bright lights shining into the Los Angeles penthouse apartment. People are drawn to these […]
Read moreInspired by actual events, Tony Scott’s Unstoppable is a white-knuckle ride almost from the offset. There are, of course, the inevitable Hollywood clichés, but for the most part the movie is thrilling entertainment. After an engineer’s error, an unmanned freight train speeds toward densely populated areas in Pennsylvania. As the rail company scramble to prevent widespread damage, a veteran engineer […]
Read moreMy Afternoons with Marguerite wisely avoids straying too far into schmaltz territory; a direction it could have easily taken, given the premise. The result is a sweet-natured film that never become too saccharine. Germain Chazes is a middle-aged man with poor literacy. He begins chatting one day to Margueritte, a well-read elderly lady. Her love of reading ignites a spark in Germain, and the pair […]
Read morePart drama, part horror, Jorge Michel Grau’s film is macabre, but lacks a feeling of terror. We Are What We Are is more effective in its attempts at gritty realism than it is when trying to generate apprehension. When their father passes away, it is up to Alfredo and his two siblings to look after the family and continue its […]
Read moreJackass 3D offers much the same as before, but this time in three dimensions. The film is as crude as its predecessors, but also as amusing. Johnny Knoxville and his band of cohorts return for another feature filled with stunts ranging from the dangerous to the disgusting. In between, the gang also prank each other… The film follows exactly the […]
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