Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a stunning apotheosis of many sorts – of supersized CG spectacle, of cruel and cavalier carnage, of sexist T&A and militaristic fetishism, of narrative inconsequentiality and crass stereotypes, and of size, scale and over-over-over-the-top juvenile orgiastic cartoon mayhem. It’s a 157-minute pinnacle of contemporary mega-budgeted blockbusters that’s simultaneously atrocious…

Back behind the camera for his first feature since 2001’s Ghosts of Mars, John Carpenter serves up some sluggish and silly shock-scary horror with The Ward, a tale about the supernatural mysteries that engulf Kristen (Amber Heard) after she burns down a farmhouse and is institutionalized in a spooky mental ward. This story, penned with…

Hopelessly benign but still boisterous enough to deliver a mild buzz, Cedar Rapids details the efforts of goodie-two-shoes insurance salesman Tim (Ed Helms) to win his firm a coveted award – nabbed the past three years by his revered and now-deceased predecessor – at an Iowa convention. That goal is complicated by his budding friendship…

A second-rate superhero receives a second-rate summer extravaganza in Green Lantern, the first big-screen adventure for DC Comics’ intergalactic do-gooder. Director Martin Campbell’s saga is one of creation, destruction and daddy issues, all revolving around a daredevil fighter pilot named Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) who is chosen by an alien ring – fueled by the…

A Welsh variation on Rushmore’s Max Fisher, 15-year-old Oliver Tate comes of age through a budding romance with classmate Jordana (Yasmin Paige) and his quest to save his parents’ (Noah Taylor and Sally Hawkins) marriage in Submarine, Richard Ayoade’s off-putting ode to quirky teen desire and self-discovery. From knowing narration and addresses to the camera,…

Red Riding Hood is nothing like Twilight – except, of course, for the fact that it’s directed by Catherine Hardwicke, tells a tween-targeted supernatural story of a young featureless beauty (Amanda Seyfried’s Valerie) caught in a love triangle with two bland boys (one of whom may be a werewolf who shares a special bond with…

A haunting work of loneliness, alienation, and the universal desire for companionship and meaning that’s wrapped in a guise of understated ‘80s nostalgia and head-spinning science fiction mythology, Donnie Darko defines itself through sustained mood, otherworldly intrigue and deep, abiding humanism. In a quiet suburb in October 1988, troubled teen Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) attends therapy…

Despite their gross-out reputation, Bobby and Peter Farrelly are conservative romantics at heart, a fact once again borne out by Hall Pass, the story of two horndog husbands who are given a week off from marriage by their frustrated wives. This deal strikes good-natured Rick (Owen Wilson) and slightly sleazier Fred (Jason Sudeikis) as a…

In Two-Lane Blacktop’s rural American landscapes, Monte Hellman captures an aura of existential despondence that’s married to a far less evocative (and durable) strain of counterculture romantic doom. Hellman’s cult classic road movie follows a vacant driver (James Taylor) and his equally blank passenger-seat sidekick (Dennis Wilson) as they meander about the country, looking to…

Greg Araki’s Kaboom melds sexual discovery-through-promiscuity with apocalyptic shenanigans and a pro-pansexuality brio that’s overly pleased with itself. Set at an unnamed college and in a variety of locales (dorm room, cafeteria, campus green, apartments) that deliberately look like stylized theatrical sets, the pioneering New Queer Cinema director’s genre-mash-up tale boasts a distinctly ‘90s patina,…