Leah Rozen

'Big Miracle': Feel-Good Whale Tale's Appeal Is No Fluke

February 2, 2012 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

Ken Kwapis' based-on-fact "Big Miracle" has likable characters and is smart enough to stand out from the pack of so-so spring film offerings

  

Review: Katherine Heigl IS Snooki in Flaccid 'One for the Money'

January 27, 2012 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

She plays a Jersey girl with an accent so broad it makes Joe Piscopo’s old “I’m from Jersey” routines on “Saturday Night Live” sound subtle

  

Review: Peter Facinelli's Vanity Project 'Loosies' All Smoke, Little Fire

January 19, 2012 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

Intriguing tale of a Big Apple pickpocket loses it when it comes to romance

  

Review: Meryl Streep's 'Iron Lady' Is Margaret Thatcher as King Lear With a Wink

December 29, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

The film lacks the eloquence of Shakespeare’s drama about an aging king heading into madness, but it does convey that the passing years spare no one

  

Review: Way Too Many Happy Feet in Penguin Sequel

November 17, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

“Happy Feet Two” may be set in Antartica, but it's only a lukewarm effort

  

Review: No, Zeus, 'The Immortals' Isn't Supposed to Be a Comedy in Leather

November 10, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

The movie has about as much to do with actual Greek mythology as Mickey Mouse cartoons do with the study of rodents

  

Review: 'Another Happy Day' = Another Unhappy, Weepy Weddding

November 3, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

The Altman-esque drama marks a mostly promising debut for director-writer Sam Levinson, son of director Barry Levinson

  

Review: Yo-Ho-Ho, Johnny Depp Phones It In for 'Rum Diary'

October 27, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

The meandering comic drama is Depp's second film to be based on a work by gonzo journalist and hard drinker Hunter S. Thompson

  

Review: Cage, Kidman's 'Trespass' a Sadistic Trifle

October 13, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

Think “Panic Room” or “Cape Fear” and then lower your expectations

  

Review: Roman Polanski's 'Carnage'-- Just a Fang-Less 'Virginia Woolf'

September 30, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

Jodie Foster is the weakest link in the director's adaptation of the Tony-winning play, opening the New York Film Festival

  

Review: Even With Robert De Niro, 'Killer' Isn't So Elite

September 22, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

Assassination thriller takes promising ingredients -- including an intriguing subplot about the Feather Men -- and then squanders them

  

Review: Sarah Jessica Parker? I Really Don't Care How She Does It

September 15, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

Oh, look, it’s rich people in beautifully appointed houses and they’re worried that the nanny might not arrive on time -- boo-boo!

  

Review: 'The Debt,' a Taut Thriller Well Worth the Wait, Ushers in Fall Season

August 30, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

Finally seeing light of day, having gotten lost in the corporate shuffle when Disney sold Miramax, movie is well worth the wait

  

Review: Hallelujah for the Non-Preachy But Spiritual 'Higher Ground'

August 25, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

Actress and new director Vera Famiga looks at an evangelical Christian community with an open and a (mostly) nonjudgmental eye

  

Review: 'Flypaper' Just Like 'Pulp Fiction' -- But a Decade Too Late

August 18, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

Written 12 years ago by the "Hangover" team, it's neither clever nor funny enough to make a viewer care.

  

Review: John Sayles Casts His War Net Too Wide in 'Amigo'

August 18, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

You don’t need a Ph.D in history to see the obvious parallels between the story that Sayles is telling in “Amigo” and more recent American conflicts

  

'Whistleblower': 'Inspired by,' but Not Very Inspired

August 4, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

With its ballsy heroine who zealously attempts to right injustices and uncover corruption, is in spirit if not overall achievement a throwback to films of the ‘70s and ‘80s like “Norma Rae,” “Silkwood”

  

'Attack the Block': Giant Feral Chia Pets Gone Wild

July 28, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

British monster mash is equal parts funny and entertaining and even offers some genuine scares

  

'Cowboys & Aliens': Yeah, There Are Cowboys ... and Aliens -- But Not Much Else

July 27, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

“C&A” illustrates how mechanical and intellectually lackluster movies have become in the age of global-minded studios

  

'Another Earth': A Thoughtful Sci-Fi Romance -- Without Aliens

July 21, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

Instead, the movie’s all-too-human characters are alienated from their own feelings at times, as a second Earth appears

  

'Friends With Benefits': Standard Rom-Com but New Product Placements

July 21, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

Oddly, it makes fun of the clichés of the genre even as it indulges in them

  

'Snow Flower': Tasteful, Watered Down and Just for the Book Club Set

July 14, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

Not content to leave well enough alone, for viewers too antsy to sit through a period piece, it adds on to the bestseller a parallel, contemporary story

  

'Project Nim': Dramatic Warning About Monkeying Around With Mother Nature

July 7, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

Latest doc from 'Man on Wire's' James Marsh nimbly serves up a profoundly sad tale of '70s chimp experiment

  

'Larry Crowne': So Flaccid It Seems Written by a Q-Tip

June 30, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

See Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts make nice ... in fact, too nice!

  

Review: 'Cars 2' Isn't Just a Kiddie James Bond on Tires, It's Tired

June 23, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

“Cars” -- though the least compelling of Pixar’s 11 previous features -- is a Lamborghini compared to the Edsel that is its sequel

  

Review: Why 'Green Lantern' Is One Men-in-Tights Too Many

June 16, 2011 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

The latest in a long string of superhero movies is ho-hum dopey fun with no magic