Alonso Duralde

'Fast & Furious 6' Review: Bypasses Logic and Drives Straight to the Pleasure Center

May 21, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 1 day ago

All makers of loud, stupid action movies only wish their films delivered as much sheer sensation as this latest installment in the vroom-vroom saga

  

'Black Rock' Review: Woman-Hunt Tale Whose Only Suspense Is Waiting for It to Get Better

May 17, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 6 days ago

You keep thinking Katie Aselton’s Iraq vets vs. gal-pals thriller will explore larger ideas until it doesn't

  

'Star Trek Into Darkness' Review: Thrilling Sequel Balances Fun with a Post-9/11 Sensibility

May 14, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 1 week ago

If you weren’t convinced that the imagery and politics of terrorism have been fully ingrained in action movies, this new “Trek” will be the tipping point

  

'Venus and Serena' Review: More Love Than Faults in This Portrait of the Tennis Legends

May 10, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 1 week ago

Filmmakers Maiken Baird and Michelle Major are less interested in digging deep than they are in celebrating the sisters’ achievements and cultural impact -- which is just fine

  

'Peeples' Review: Funny, But You've Already Met These Parents

May 10, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 1 week ago

Even though it's rote and by-the-numbers, a Fokker-free "Peeples" made me laugh

  

'Something in the Air' Review: You Might Fool the Children of the Revolution

May 3, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 2 weeks ago

Olivier Assayas explores the political passion of French teenagers coming of age three years after the May 1968 demonstrations

  

'Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's' Review: Glitzy Doc Gives Label Names the Floor Space

May 2, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 2 weeks ago

Director Matthew Miele focuses on fashionistas in portrait of famed New York department store

  

'Iron Man 3' Review: Supercharged Fun - Just Take Off Your Thinking Cap

April 30, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 3 weeks ago

Robert Downey Jr. makes the witty banter and explosive action zing -- just don't worry too much about the convoluted plot

  

'The Big Wedding' Review: Ho-Hum Ceremony With a Lively All-Star Guest List

April 26, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 3 weeks ago

This nuptial farce is the kind of film best enjoyed while on the couch, zonked out on cold medicine, secure in the knowledge that it won’t make you any sicker

  

'At Any Price' Review: Light on Corn But Still Heavy on Fertilizer

April 26, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 3 weeks ago

Dennis Quaid/Zac Efron farm movie feels like a series of note cards (“father-son conflict,” “dad’s mistress hits on son”) that never weave together to make a gripping plot

  

'Mud' Review: Lovely Coming-of-Age Tale Zigs Where Zagging Would Suffice

April 25, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 3 weeks ago

Matthew McConaughey continues his streak of interesting anti-heroes, playing a fugitive who committed murder in the name of love

  

'Reluctant Fundamentalist' Review: Missed Opportunity to Weigh In on Anti-Muslim Discrimination

April 25, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 3 weeks ago

This story of an America-loving Pakistani radicalized by post-9/11 racism couldn’t be more zeitgeist-y, but the film is an overblown slog

  

Alonso Duralde's Review Preview: Matthew McConaughey's 'Mud,' Kate Hudson's 'Reluctant Fundamentalist'

April 24, 2013 By Greg Gilman 4 weeks ago

TheWrap's critic Alonso Duralde previews two of this weekend's indie releases

  

How 'The Iceman' and a Facebook Poke Closed the Circle for a Mass Killer's Family

April 22, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 4 weeks ago

And why director Ariel Vroman was willing to put the film on hold to get "Boardwalk Empire's" Michael Shannon to play the allegedmurderer of up to 250 people between 1948 and 1986

  

'In the House' Review: Darkly Funny, the Best Teacher-Student Movie Since 'Election'

April 19, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 4 weeks ago

A young scribe and his mentor cross the line in pursuit of the story they want to tell

  

'Oblivion' Review: Tom Cruise Meets 'Tron,' 'Wall-E,' 'The Matrix' ...

April 16, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 5 weeks ago

While a case could be made that the warmed-over “Oblivion” will make the boldest anti-drones statement of any fictional film this year, it’s a chilly movie that never draws you in 

  

'Scary Movie 5' Review: The Sound of Spaghetti Not Sticking to the Wall

April 12, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 5 weeks ago

"Thirty-three years later, we’re still quoting “Airplane!” whereas almost no one is going to remember “Scary Movie V” after, oh, Monday."

  

'42' Review: Despite a Few Errors, Baseball Biopic Presents a Jackie Robinson Who's Both Heroic and Human

April 11, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 5 weeks ago

Writer-director Brian Helgeland acknowledges the groundbreaking ballplayer’s legend without turning him into a plastic dashboard saint

  

'Trance' Review: Danny Boyle's Hypnotic Thriller Makes Twists Fun Again

April 5, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 6 weeks ago

James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson and Vincent Cassel lead us down a brilliantly entertaining rabbit hole of shocks and surprises

  

'The Company You Keep' Review: Fugitives, Radicals, Secrets...But Where's the Passion?

April 3, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 7 weeks ago

Robert Redford’s tale of former anti-war activists on the run fails to cut it as a thriller, character study or contemplation of big ideas

  

'Evil Dead' Review: Great Grey Gobs of Greasy, Grimy Ghoulish Guts

April 3, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 7 weeks ago

Despite a misstep or two, a new cast and crew return to Sam Raimi’s legendary cabin in the woods and bring plenty of terror with them

  

'Temptation' Review: Tyler Perry, Even Sudsier and More Sanctimonious

March 29, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 7 weeks ago

Who better to shill for the institution of marriage than 43-year-old bachelor Perry, who uses homophobia as a punch line and HIV as a cheap plot gimmick?

  

'The Host' Review: Invasion of the Boring Snoozers

March 28, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 7 weeks ago

Replace vampires and werewolves with body-snatching aliens, and you’re left with another dippy Stephenie Meyer love triangle

  

'Room 237' Review: The Secrets of the Universe, as Hidden in 'The Shining'

March 27, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 8 weeks ago

Documentary goes down a rabbit hole of conspiracies and secret meanings in Stanley Kubrick’s classic adaptation of the Stephen King horror novel

  

'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' Review: Saturday Morning Cartoon Writ Large

March 27, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 8 weeks ago

The PG-13 action sequences pile on relentlessly, lest the audience get a chance to breathe…or think

  

'From Up on Poppy Hill' Review: Teenagers, and a Nation, Come of Age in Another Miyazaki Triumph

March 21, 2013 By Alonso Duralde 8 weeks ago

No cat-buses or walking castles this time out, but the very human storytelling packs a punch