Action/Adventure Rated PG-13
“Oppressive but never overwrought, the movie takes us deep into pop madness.”
"…a far more conventional narrative arc, not to mention an alarming amount of franchise care."
Comedy Rated PG-13
This sequel to 2000’s delightfully goofy action comedy offers mostly lukewarm leftovers, as Owen Wilson’s wannabe outlaw and Jackie Chan’s Chinese Imperial Guard find themselves in Victorian England. Shanghai Knights is no I Spy, and it’s certainly not The Tuxedo, but both Wilson and Chan have done far better work. In fact, it’s called Shanghai
Drama Rated R
“…about the very idea of legends: how they grow, what they reveal, what they conceal.”
“…inflates one man’s privileged angst to mythical status.”
Nothing really works in this jousting adventure – about a 14th-century squire (Heath Ledger) who pretends to be a knight – although just about everything is tried. Ledger delivers an unironic, Charlton Heston-like performance, the soundtrack is full of campy ’70s rock standards and writer-director Brian Helgeland tries in vain to give the lackluster battle
Say what you will about Tom Cruise’s loony, off-screen behavior – the guy remains a star in front of the camera. Like many Cruise characters, the spy he plays here has a nice balance of confidence and charm. In real life, these qualities can curdle into smarm, but in action fluff such as Knight and
Horror Rated PG-13
Though it never lives up to the ghost story that serves as its prologue – about a vengeful spirit who attacks kids the night they lose their last baby tooth – Darkness Falls remains serviceably creepy throughout. The main story follows one of the ghost’s former victims – now a predictably disheveled adult – as
Horror Rated R
Nearly 14 paragraphs of introductory, explanatory text still couldn’t make sense of this video-game adaptation, which involves ancient civilizations, creatures of darkness, secret government agencies and bizarre experiments on orphans. Oh, and yes, there is a mad scientist. It’s all bad-movie good for a while, then just deadening. With Christian Slater and Stephen Dorff –
Horror Rated NR
“A werewolf movie that isn’t a werewolf movie, but really kind of is…”
