Friday, May. 24, 2013
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Film

Hammer time

THOR, WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? ABSOLUTELY SOMETHING

By Carey Norris
The new superhero movie Thor, the latest in the long line of Marvel Comics movies leading to next year’s epic team-up The Avengers, is an exciting, funny and epic adventure that gives an appealing introduction to the character despite not necessarily having found the most cohesive or urgent story within which to do it.
Film

Victory for losers

Win Win is charming film about people with problems

By Carey Norris
One of the great joys of the movie may be watching Paul Giamatti frown, and the warm new comedy Win Win gives us plenty of opportunities to see it. The movie gives us some wonderful, interesting chara
Film

Return to F4rm?

SCREAM 4 IS INTERMITTENTLY EFFECTIVE, COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY

By Carey Norris
Anyone wondering whether there was a burning creative urge that led the filmmakers of Scream 4 to take up the franchise again after 10 years can rest assured: There wasn’t.
Film

Swords and silliness

YOUR HIGHNESS AMUSES WITH WHIMSICAL NAUGHTINESS

By Carey Norris
Imagine that you found a 12-year-old boy who had just watched The Beastmaster on HBO in the middle of the night and thought it was awesome, and you gave him $30 million or so to make his own movie.
Film

I can’t go on; I’ll go on

By Carey Norris
We can all understand the desire to get another chance at something, another chance to do it just a little bit better.
Film

Sweet dreams aren’t made of this

SUCKER PUBCH IS A STYlISH, AMBITIOUS NEAR-MISS

By Carey Norris
If you have seen any of director Zack Snyder’s films, such as 300, Watchmen or the Dawn of the Dead remake, then you know that he isn’t a particularly subtle or timid filmmaker.
Film

Killing cliché

BATTLE: LOS ANGELES WALLOWS IN WELL-WORN MEDIOCRITY

By Carey Norris
The premise of Battle: Los Angeles—a grunt’s-eye view of an alien invasion—was initially an intriguing one that seemed like it could breathe a little life into a genre that needs it, but the execution is pretty dire. In trying to combine Black Hawk Down and Independence Day, the filmmakers have utilized the most tiresome parts of both of them. The film has some exciting action sequences, but remains largely inert under the weight of all the clichés.
Film

Do we dream of electric love?

THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU FINDS THE ROMANCE IN PHILIP K. DICK

By Carey Norris
An old-fashioned romance and a paranoid conspiracy thriller may not seem like the likeliest of combinations, but the new film The Adjustment Bureau takes a sci-fi premise that raises existential questions about free will vs. predestination and turns it into what may be the sweetest movie ever made from a Philip K. Dick story.
Film

Race with the Devil

DRIVE ANGRY IS SLEAZY, RAUCOUS AND A HELL OF A LOT OF FUN

By Carey Norris
The new supernatural thriller Drive Angry opens with Nicolas Cage chasing down a bunch of bad guys in his muscle car, killing them and then blowing up their car for no particular reason. So, that’s what kind of movie this is, and how much you will enjoy it will depend largely on your appetite for amped-up exploitation nonsense.
Film

Missing the mark

UNKNOWN IS UNIMPRESSIVE

By Carey Norris
It seems like if a movie is called Unknown, then the plot should be genuinely mysterious, but this new thriller, despite being a slick and fastmoving piece of entertainment, features a plot that manages to be both ludicrous and not that difficult to predict.