Go Memphis Stories: Movie Reviews

Movie Capsules: Now Showing

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0000

The Box (PG-13, 116 min.) Director Richard Kelly follows the modern cult classic "Donnie Darko" with another implausible yet compelling science-fiction mystery about the hidden dark forces that control "reality." The first half is a brilliantly realized exercise in sustained tension, as mysterious stranger Frank Langella tells married couple Cameron Diaz and James Marsden they will earn $1 million if they only push a button and cause the death of a stranger.

Film Review: 'Twilight' sequel has more life than first movie

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:33:00 -0000

“The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” also known as “Twilight: The Squeakquel,” is actually pretty good — a tick better than the first “Twilight,” which wasn’t bad either. These are hardly superlatives on the order of “shattering” and “beautiful,” but compared to the film versions of “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons,” the only two movies ever made with less sex than the first two “Twilights,” they’re matchless.

Movie Capsules: Now Showing

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0000

The Box (PG-13, 116 min.): Director Richard Kelly follows the modern cult classic "Donnie Darko" and the ambitious failure "Southland Tales" with another implausible yet compelling science-fiction mystery. The first half is a brilliantly realized exercise in sustained tension, as mysterious stranger Frank Langella tells married couple Cameron Diaz and James Marsden they will earn $1 million if they only push a button and cause the death of a stranger.

Film Review: 'Fourth Kind' tries too hard to be real

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:45:00 -0000

The Fourth Kind” is a “found footage” horror movie with a few new tweaks, though not enough to escape a certain clunkiness. At the onset of Olatunde Osunsanmi’s film, actress Milla Jovovich addresses the camera to announce that she’ll be playing real-life Alaska psychologist Abigail Emily Tyler in re-enactments of actual events. These re-enactments, we are assured, are based on genuine video and sound recordings of Tyler and her patients in Nome.

Movie Capsules: Now showing

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0000

Capsule descriptions and starred mini-reviews by The Commercial Appeal movie writer John Beifuss.

'Coco Before Chanel': Biography of fashion designer hardly seamless

beifuss@commercialappeal.com (John Beifuss) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0000

When the movie ends with a brief sequence showing the now-celebrated French designer, Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel (Audrey Tautou), observing a lineup of models draped in her latest fashions, the sudden glamor and style appear to our eyes like a desert oasis to a man dying of thirst. We're made aware of just how tedious the movie had become in its slow, inevitable plod to Coco's triumph.

Film Review: 'Serious' comic comment

beifuss@commercialappeal.com (John Beifuss) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:05:00 -0000

"No Jews were harmed in the making of this motion picture." Those words appear near the end of the final credits of "A Serious Man." They may be accurate, but they may not provide much reassurance to those grappling with this fascinating, disturbing film, which takes the concept of the self-loathing Jew to an arguably loathsome new level.

Movie Capsules: Now showing

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:00:00 -0000

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (PG-13, 109 min.) The first of Darren Shan's Young Adult vampire novels comes to the screen in a fun, energetic adventure with plenty of inoffensive ghoulish touches that should please kid and adult horror buffs alike. Chris Massoglia and Josh Hutcherson are teenage best friends whose arachnophilia and adolescent rebelliousness, respectively, lure them into the ancient rivalry between a traveling carnival of Tod Browning/Ray Bradbury oddities.

Film Review: Up, up and away: Astro Boy is hero of high-tech 'toon

beifuss@commercialappeal.com (John Beifuss) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:10:00 -0000

Because the new computer-generated animated feature "Astro Boy" is faithful in some respects to its key sources, the 1950s comic book and 1960s TV series created by the so-called "God of Manga," Osamu Tezuka, it may creep some people out — parents more than children, no doubt.

Movie Capsules: Now showing

beifuss@commercialappeal.com (John Beifuss) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:00:00 -0000

Capsule descriptions and starred mini-reviews by The Commercial Appeal movie writer John Beifuss.

Film Review: 'Amelia' aims at heights; character remains elusive

beifuss@commercialappeal.com (John Beifuss) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:59:00 -0000

If good intentions could counteract gravity, "Amelia" would soar. Unfortunately, this handsome but somewhat leaden production burns a lot of fuel as it circles the same theme over and over: That Amelia Earhart, the pioneering "aviatrix" of the 1920s and '30s, was not just a hero of the air but one of the original feminists. Hilary Swank is a sure bet to earn a third Academy Award nomination here.

Film Review: 'The Stepfather' doesn't step up to the plate

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:42:00 -0000

Finally, a horror thriller served up straight. No werewolves, Lycans or jerks named Jigsaw. No “killer who will not die.” OK, check that. Hollywood spells money “S-E-Q-U-E-L.” And best of all, no freaking vampires. But the best you can say about the remake of “The Stepfather,” that serial-killer-in-mommy’s-bed tingler of 1987, is that it efficiently goes about its business. The suspense is there, but because there’s no mystery to this thriller, it’s all about how soon the teen (Penn Badgley) will figure out who that creep Mom wants to marry really is

Vengeful husband attacks 'imperfect' system in 'Law Abiding Citizen'

beifuss@commercialappeal.com (John Beifuss) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:00:00 -0000

The grieving yet bloodthirsty antihero played by Gerard Butler in "Law Abiding Citizen" is a movie avenger who might have been produced by gene-splicing the Charles Bronson of "Death Wish" with Jigsaw, the mastermind of the "Saw" franchise, or perhaps — for those with longer memories — Vincent Price as "The Abominable Dr. Phibes."

Movie Capsules: Now showing

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 05:00:00 -0000

Capsule descriptions and starred mini-reviews by The Commercial Appeal movie writer John Beifuss.

Film review: 'Wild Things' a welcome escape from scary real world

beifuss@commercialappeal.com (John Beifuss) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:52:00 -0000

Destined to be a favorite of artists, folkies, hipsters, cultists, therapists, film theorists and depressives, if not necessarily children, "Where the Wild Things Are" is a distinctive, perhaps unprecedented, project. It uses its 1963 picture-book inspiration to probe and illuminate the themes of loneliness, insecurity and love embedded within the crosshatch patterns of Maurice Sendak's drawings of furry monsters, magical trees and cozy bedrooms.

Scenery's the star; actors on 'Couples Retreat' do just that

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:00:00 -0000

"Couples Retreat" was made because of its sunny, sandy location: scenic Bora Bora. Judging from the light, cast members slept late and took it pretty easy, even in the "We rise at dawn" scenes. Pals Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau team up again. They co-wrote this and still love working together, even though their banter isn't what it was in their "Swingers" days.

Movie Capsules: Now showing

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:00:00 -0000

Capsule descriptions and starred mini-reviews by The Commercial Appeal movie writer John Beifuss.