Up in the Air
March 16, 2010
With the phenomenonal success of Juno (2007), director Jason Reitman could have easily faded into obscurity and been labeled a one-hit wonder. Undaunted, he followed up that film with the equally successful Up in the Air (2009), which, like his previous...
Jennifer’s Body: Unrated
December 23, 2009
There is a scene in Juno (2007) where two characters argue about who makes gorier horror films, Herschell Gordon Lewis or Dario Argento. The film was written by Diablo Cody and she went on to win an Academy Award for her screenplay full of witty, stylized...
Extract
December 23, 2009
Mike Judge may have enjoyed considerable success on television with Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill but he continues to have an unlucky streak with feature films. His first two efforts – Office Space (1999) and Idiocracy (2006) – were given...
I Love You, Man
August 7, 2009
Thanks to the success of Judd Apatow comedies, many of the actors in his unofficial repertory company have parlayed their memorable supporting roles into starring turns in their own films. Case in point: Paul Rudd (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) and Jason Segel...
Juno: Two-Disc Special Edition
April 14, 2008
Juno was The Little Miss Sunshine (2006) of 2007 – the little independent film that could. Once the studio realized that it had a successful crowd-pleaser on its hands, the film was promoted from the art-house circuit to the multiplexes. Actress Ellen...
Spider-Man 2.1
April 30, 2007
In a blatant attempt to cash in on the theatrical release of Spider-Man 3 (2007), the powers that be have revisited Spider-Man 2 (2004), added eight minutes and re-released it on DVD with the nifty 2.1 moniker and a few new extras so that Spidey completists...
Harsh Times
March 22, 2007
Once again Christian Bale disappears into another role, demonstrating how he is not afraid to play an unlikable character. Jim is certainly an amoral piece of work and Bale attacks the role with his customary gusto playing the character as a cocky, super-confident...
Thank You For Smoking
October 10, 2006
As more and more cities, states and countries ban smoking in public places (Philadelphia has been one of the latest) and the government tries to make us more conscious of our health, the more pressure is on the tobacco companies to find other, creative...
The Ladykillers
January 31, 2005
For years, the Coen brothers have been trying to achieve mainstream acceptance. Their first real attempt was with The Hudsucker Proxy (1994). Not even the presence of big-time Hollywood producer Joel Silver helped and the film was a critical and commercial...
Hidalgo
November 28, 2004
Filmmaker Joe Johnston is something of a curious anomaly in Hollywood. He got his start as a protégé of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and adopted their style of filmmaking once he became a director. He has since made retro adventure films his forte...