reviews

'The Pirates! Band of Misfits' Review: This Clay Play Goes Overboard But Gets the Booty

April 27, 2012 By Alonso Duralde 1 year ago

The latest Aardman Animations adventure is silly enough for kids and smart enough for their parents, but it gets a bit frantic by the end

 

  

'The Five-Year Engagement' Review: Too Long, But Worth the Commitment

April 26, 2012 By Alonso Duralde 1 year ago

Jason Segel and his “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” collaborator score with another hilariously prickly and poignant look at relationships

  

'Safe' Review: Jason Statham Gives This B-Movie Some A-Movie Cred

April 26, 2012 By Alonso Duralde 1 year ago

British action star Jason Statham keeps the adrenaline pumping as he protects a young girl from corrupt cops and Russian and Chinese mobsters in "Safe"

 

  

Jack White CD Review: 'Blunderbuss' Spins Gold Out of Girl Trouble

April 24, 2012 By Chris Willman 1 year ago

White's first solo album has a bit of a bad attitude about women, even as his all-female band helps drive the diversified rockers home

  

Carole King Review: 'Legendary Demos' Honors a '60s Recording Career That Never Was

April 24, 2012 By Chris Willman 1 year ago

King's album of pre-"Tapestry" classics proves she could've ruled as a singer as well as songwriter in the '60s, too

  

'Chimpanzee' Review: Welcome to the Disneyfied, Sanitized Jungle

April 20, 2012 By Alonso Duralde 1 year ago

Stunning photography gets cranked through the happy-ending machine, resulting in a kid-friendly doc that’s neither fish nor fowl

  

'Darling Companion' Review: This Shaggy Dog's a Loveable Mutt

April 19, 2012 By Alonso Duralde 1 year ago

Diane Keaton heads an all-star cast that mixes Lawrence Kasdan’s zingy dialogue with his weakness for spoiled Baby Boomers

  

'Think Like a Man' Review: Cast Makes Romantic Infomercial Click

April 19, 2012 By Alonso Duralde 1 year ago

An engaging cast and a steady stream of laughs help mask the familiarity of this rom-com based on Steve Harvey’s dating guide "Think Like a Man"

  

'Lucky One' Review: It's Got Sparks (and a Grown-Up Zac Efron), But No Charm

April 19, 2012 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

Zac Efron's attempt to transition into adult roles continues to fall flat

  

Jason Mraz CD Review: Severely Laid-Back 'Love' Makes Elevator Music Seem Downbeat

April 17, 2012 By Chris Willman 1 year ago

Jason Mraz abandons all attempts at pop-rap playfulness in favor of trying to revive easy-listening as an artform

  

Train CD Review: 'California 37' Derails With Wacked-Out Wordplay

April 17, 2012 By Chris Willman 1 year ago

Pat Monahan has gone off the rails since writing 2001's "Drops of Jupiter"

  

'The Cabin in the Woods': See It Before Someone Spoils It

April 12, 2012 By Alonso Duralde 1 year ago

Joss Whedon’s "The Cabin in the Woods," a witty and scary take on teenagers on a doomed vacation, is best enjoyed if you go in knowing as little as possible

  

'The Three Stooges': Lots of Yucks Amid the Nyuck-Nyuck-Nyucks

April 12, 2012 By Alonso Duralde 1 year ago

"The Three Stooges," the comedy nobody wanted, turns out to be hilarious. It's the Farrelly Brothers' best since “There’s Something About Mary”

  

Bonnie Raitt Review: For World-Weary Fans, 'Slipstream' Arrives in the Nick of Time

April 10, 2012 By Chris Willman 1 year ago

On her first album in seven years, Raitt splits the difference between quiet covers of Dylan's most depressing ballads and reviving that greasy, slide-guitar-fueled, "Thing Called Love" spirit

  

Monica Review: 'New Life' Makes the Ex-'90s Teen Queen Sound Sleepy Before Her Time

April 9, 2012 By Chris Willman 1 year ago

It's admirable that Monica wants to act her age (31) and eschew hip-hop for R&B. But just one up-tempo club banger wouldn't have killed this collection of droopy ballads

  

'Damsels in Distress' Review: Whit Stillman's Latest Has Great Lyrics, But the Music's a Little Off

April 6, 2012 By Alonso Duralde 1 year ago

“Metropolitan” director Whit Stillman returns after a long hiatus and once again charts the mating habits of the contemporary preppy

  

'American Reunion' Review: This Pie Has Become Tasteless

April 5, 2012 By Alonso Duralde 1 year ago

The balance of sweet and smutty that made the original “American Pie” so memorable is sorely absent from this pointless sequel

  

Nicki Minaj Review: 'Roman Reloaded' Is a Hot-Pink Mess

April 3, 2012 By Chris Willman 1 year ago

Nicki Minaj's second album is full of adventurous hip-hop for its first third. Then it turns into the season's least interesting, most bloated dance-pop record

  

'Goon' Review: Comedy - and Brutality - on the Ice

March 30, 2012 By Alonso Duralde 1 year ago

Seann William Scott’s kindhearted hockey brute anchors this hilariously brutal sports comedy

  

'Bully' Review: Best Intentions Don't Always Lead to Best Movies

March 30, 2012 By Alonso Duralde 1 year ago

"Bully," the buzzed-about documentary, says all the right things about the hot-button issue of bullying but doesn’t say them particularly well

  

'Mirror Mirror' Review: Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho, It's Down the Drain We Go

March 29, 2012 By Leah Rozen 1 year ago

"Mirror Mirror's" contemporized "Snow White" is a sadly earth-bound fairy tale

  

All-American Rejects Experience Growing Pains on 'Kids in the Street'

March 27, 2012 By Chris Willman 1 year ago

Reaching for maturity on an uneven fourth album, the former pop-punk band All-American Rejects sacrifices too much spunk

  

Lionel Richie Goes Barely Country for 'Tuskegee'

March 27, 2012 By Chris Willman 1 year ago

Only Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles cuts through the smooth-pop clutter in their duet on "Hello"

  

Madonna Review: 'MDNA' Has a Great Beat and You Can Pay Alimony To It

March 26, 2012 By Chris Willman 1 year ago

Madonna becomes the Material Matron on her latest album "MDNA." It's two-thirds disco thumper, one-third divorce diary

  

‘The Deep Blue Sea’ Review: Passion and Torment in a Cold-Water Flat

March 23, 2012 By Alonso Duralde 1 year ago

Rachel Weisz mixes sex appeal and melancholy in this examination of an unfaithful wife in post-WWII London

  

Shins Review: 'Port of Morrow' Bogs Down in Studio Splendor

March 20, 2012 By Chris Willman 1 year ago

The first Shins album in 5 years ditches the group's former propulsion for luscious, listless production. It's not a terrible tradeoff, but what would Natalie Portman say?

  
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