Reviews THE WORLD’S END. I think I expected this long-awaited conclusion to the so-called Cornetto Trilogy to alter the cinematic landscape of the summer. While I wasn’t disappointed in it, the film didn’t blow my mind, either. Troubled, perpetual adolescent Gary King (Simon Pegg) cons his boyhood friends into some unfinished business back in their […]
John J. Bennett
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Growing Pains
Reviews Kick-Ass 2. Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass (2010) is that rare comic book movie that balances humor, violence and style with unique cinematic technique. This follow-up has some of the original’s essence, but so diluted that it feels more like a pale imitation than a proper sequel. The movie opens with Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) back […]
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Occupy Space Station
Reviews ELYSIUM. Writer/director Neill Blomkamp left a pretty outsized footprint on the cinematic landscape with his breakthrough 2009 debut, District 9. With its elegant visual effects, delicately balanced humanism and uniquely shabby dystopian aesthetic, that movie became a runaway hit and was eventually nominated for a best picture Oscar. As a follow-up, Elysium feels a […]
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Double Trouble
Reviews 2 GUNS. Mark Wahlberg previously worked with director Baltasar Kormákur on Contraband (2012), which became a surprise hit. This time they’ve enlisted Denzel Washington and a solid supporting cast to make another mildly fun, inconsequential caper picture borrowed from the catalog of Michael Mann. With Contraband I was struck by Kormákur’s liberal use of […]
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Angst on a Waterslide
Reviews THE WAY WAY BACK. The title refers to the backward-facing third-row seat in a station wagon, which is where our protagonist, 14-year-old Duncan (Liam James), sits sullenly in the movie’s opening scene. It’s a clever, not overly precious metaphor, and a neat encapsulation of this story’s tone and intelligence. Writer-directors Nat Faxon and Jim […]
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Gimme the Creeps
Reviews THE CONJURING. James Wan and I have come a long way. In 2004 he came to prominence as writer-director of the vastly successful Saw. That movie (and the franchise it spawned) did more for torture-porn than any other single project. Reactionary as I am (I’d put torture-porn right up there with found-footage in the […]
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The Idiocracy is Upon Us
Reviews GROWN UPS 2. Two years ago, when I watched Jack and Jill, it occurred to me that Adam Sandler movies are kind of unassailable. They don’t break any new ground and they’re not consistently funny, but he and his buddies seem to have fun making them, and they seem generally good-hearted. But this new […]
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What Happened to You, Johnny Depp?
Reviews THE LONE RANGER. Johnny Depp used to be one of the most charming and versatile actors in Hollywood. Nowadays he’ll occasionally show up in something interesting (Public Enemies, The Rum Diary). But even these late-period highlights demanded little more than his rakish charm and tried-and-true oddball swagger. Instead of stretching his range he’s tied […]
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Stonerpocalypse
Reviews THIS IS THE END. I feel somehow out of line for not liking this movie all that much. For years now I’ve been tracking the careers of the principal actors, who all play tweaked versions of themselves here. And as a writing team on movies such as Superbad and Pineapple Express, Evan Goldberg and […]
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Hey Look, It’s Us!
Previews AFTER EARTH. Friends who attended last Thursday’s premiere warned me that this might be the worst movie of the year. I didn’t find it quite that bad — not really any damn good, either, but certainly not the worst. Having missed last week’s gala event at the Broadway Cinema, I was able to meet […]
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Get Torqued!
Reviews FAST & FURIOUS 6. Since director Justin Lin took over this then-dying series with The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), it has become one of the biggest, silliest and most satisfying franchises in movies. This time out, L.A. motorhead-turned-international super-criminal Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew have comfortably situated themselves in […]
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Spock versus Spock
Reviews STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS. My personal investment in all this Star Trek business is pretty minimal. Years ago, I burned through the first four or five movies over the course of a languorous, lost afternoon. I enjoyed the experience, but I chose those movies because they were the only ones in the house where […]