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In the Valley of Elah (2007): C-
[Note: Spoilers Abound] As slow, somber and pensive as it may seem, In the Valley of Elah tackles its Iraq War subject matter with such sledgehammer clumsiness that it risks giving viewers blunt head trauma. Based on actual 2004 events, Paul Haggis’ directorial follow-up to Crash begins like a preachy version of Hardcore, as retired…
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3:10 to Yuma (1957): B-
A lousy ending spoils the otherwise lean, efficient 3:10 to Yuma, which charts the efforts of down-on-his-luck cattle rancher Dan Evans (Van Heflin) to bring notorious outlaw Ben Wade (Glenn Ford) to the titular train, which will transport the criminal to prison. Evans accepts the job because, after a brutal dry spell that’s made his…
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Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006): C
Peddling deconstruction of a cute, unenlightening sort, Scott Glosserman’s mockumentary Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon follows budding broadcast journalist Taylor (Angela Goethals) as she and two cameramen shoot a documentary on the titular lunatic (Nathan Baesel), who’s preparing to follow in the footsteps of legends Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers and Freddy Krueger…
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Incident at Loch Ness (2004): B-
Incident at Loch Ness, a mockumentary directed by screenwriter Zak Penn (X2, Elektra), is mildly comical for those familiar with (and fond of) adventurous German auteur Werner Herzog. But it’s tough to see how anyone else will find it amusing, as Penn’s behind-the-camera debut is inspired only when reverentially poking fun at Herzog’s particular, peculiar…
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Joshua (2007): C-
I’m not sure whether Joshua’s campiness outweighs its offensiveness – it’s got both in spades – but there’s no getting around the fact that George Ratliff’s creepy-kid thriller is seriously awful. With his story of the destruction of a hoity-toity Manhattan clan by their 9-year-old weirdo son Joshua (Jacob Kogan), Ratliff seeks to prey upon…
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Music and Lyrics (2007): C
Invention is in short supply in Music and Lyrics, a Hugh Grant-Drew Barrymore cute-fest that hews tediously close to the genre’s trademarks. Consequently, it delivers exactly what its undemanding audience craves, from Grant’s sarcastic, self-effacing litany of one-liners, to Barrymore’s flighty-yet-confident routine, to a story that offers some ‘80s nostalgia (here, centered around bubblegum synth-pop)…
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The Good Shepherd (2006): C+
With regards to its central protagonist, The Good Shepherd is a film at cross-purposes with itself. Robert De Niro’s epic take on the life of fictional U.S. intelligence official Edward Wilson (Matt Damon) during the formative years of the CIA (aka, the ‘40s and ‘50s) tries to cast its tale as one about a man…
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Bug (2006): B
Bug is William Friedkin’s best film in at least two decades, a compliment that must be tempered by the disclaimer that, after its first thirty minutes, this adaptation of Tracy Letts’ stage play (written by Letts) begins to lose its sure-footing. Those first thirty minutes, though, are something else, achieving an exhilarating sense of foreboding…
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Ocean’s Thirteen (2007): C
George Clooney and his merry band of movie-star friends reassemble once again for Ocean’s Thirteen, another spectacle of celebrity narcissism and goofing off which can only be commended for not being quite as unbearable as its thoroughly self-satisfied predecessor. Directed by Steven Soderbergh with hyper-saturated colors, insanely blooming whites, and lots of ‘70s-style flash, this…
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A Mighty Heart (2007): C
Contrary to what you might have read, A Mighty Heart isn’t about Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who in 2002 was murdered by Islamic kidnappers in Pakistan. In fact, Michael Winterbottom’s adaptation of the memoir of Pearl’s reporter wife Mariane doesn’t quite know what it wants to be, which means that it ultimately…
