Movie Reviews

Genre:  SciFi/Fantasy» Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 5/16/2008
Running Time: 140 mins
Director: Andrew Adamson
Cast: Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Ben Barnes, Peter Dinklage, Pierfrancesco Favino, Sergio Castellitto and Liam Neeson
Producer: Mark Johnson, Andrew Adamson and Philip Steuer
Writer: Andrew Adamson, C.S. Lewis, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
Distributor: Buena Vista

Genre:  Program»
Release Date: 5/14/2008
Running Time: 190 mins
Director: 
Cast: 
Producer: 
Writer: 
Distributor: 

Genre:  Program»
Release Date: 5/15/2008
Running Time: 130 mins
Director: 
Cast: 
Producer: 
Writer: 
Distributor: 

No doubt your history teacher failed to tell you of the long-lost Yagahl tribe, which apparently thrived on snowy mountainsides 6,000 years before Mike Huckabee believes the Earth even existed and consisted of one Jamaican (Mona Hammond), one... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Drama» Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 3/7/2008
Running Time: 109 mins
Director: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Steven Strait, Camilla Belle, Cliff Curtis, Joel Virgel, Affif Ben Badra, Mo Zinal, Nathanael Baring, Mona Hammond, Marco Khan and Reece Ritchie
Producer: Roland Emmerich, Mark Gordon and Michael Wimer
Writer: Harald Kloser, John Orloff, Matthew Sand, Robert Rodat and Roland Emmerich
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Ben Mezrich’s 2002 best-seller Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions was a smart narrative about . . . well, you did see the subtitle, right? It was a risky proposition for Mezrich,... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Drama»
Release Date: 3/28/2008
Running Time: 123 mins
Director: Robert Luketic
Cast: Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne, Jim Sturgess, Jack McGee, Liza Lapira, Aaron Yoo, Sam Golzari, Spencer Garrett and Kieu Chinh
Producer: William S. Beasley
Writer: Allan Loeb and Ben Mezrich
Distributor: Sony/Columbia Pictures

Here's a forgettable, formulaic comedy so predictable that seeing it and skipping it are the exact same thing. Fox sneak-previewed the movie during the holidays, between the Christmas buzz and New Year's hangover, and like everything else consumed... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Romance» Comedy»
Release Date: 12/27/2007
Running Time: 107 mins
Director: Anne Fletcher
Cast: Katherine Heigl, James Marsden, Malin Akerman, Judy Greer and Edward Burns
Producer: Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum and Jonathan Glickman
Writer: Aline Brosh McKenna
Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Jon Avnet’s cheesy new thriller is 105 minutes long, and I feared that 100 of them would be eaten up by Al Pacino chewing scenery. Alas, it’s worse than that. Though his hair looks like Mount St. Helens preparing to blow, Pacino’s... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Suspense/Thriller» Drama»
Release Date: 4/18/2008
Running Time: 108 mins
Director: Jon Avnet
Cast: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski, Amy Brenneman, Deborah Kara Unger, Benjamin McKenzie, Neal McDonough, Brendan Fletcher and Michal Yannai
Producer: Randall Emmett, George Furla, Avi Lerner, Jon Avnet and Gary Scott Thompson
Writer: Gary Scott Thompson
Distributor: Sony Pictures/TriStar

"I'm Jim Cameron, and here's the deal: I love this stuff!" Well, duh. Starting to wonder if you'll ever go back to making plain old blockbuster movies again, Jim. Cameron looks like a kid in a candy store in this 3-D IMAX documentary, co-directed... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Documentary»
Release Date: 1/28/2005
Running Time: 47 mins
Director: James Cameron and Steven Quale
Cast: James Cameron, Pamela Conrad, Dijanna Figueroa, Kelly Snook and Kevin Hand
Producer: James Cameron
Writer: 
Distributor: Buena Vista Distribution

The only way a Chipmunks movie could be even remotely interesting would be for it to deconstruct the characters, à la Scrappy in the live-action Scooby-Doo : Make them evil bastards who secretly plan to drive Dave Seville (here played by... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Family» Comedy» Animation»
Release Date: 12/14/2007
Running Time: 92 mins
Director: Tim Hill
Cast: Jason Lee, Ross Bagdasarian Jr., Janice Karman, Don Tiffany, David Cross, Cameron Richardson, Jane Lynch, Jordan Green, Allison Karman and Tiara Parker
Producer: Janice Karman and Ross Bagdasarian Jr.
Writer: Jon Vitti
Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Genre:  Drama»
Release Date: 1/1/2003
Running Time: 132 mins
Director: Kay Pollak
Cast: Michael Nyqvist, Frida Hallgren, Lennart Jähkel, Ingela Olsson, Niklas Falk, Helen Sjöholm, Ylva Lööf, Per Morberg, André Sjöberg and Mikael Rahm
Producer: Anders Birkeland
Writer: Anders Nyberg and Ola Olsson
Distributor: 

Could have sworn I’ve seen this episode of Baby Mama before—like sometime in January 2007, when it was originally titled “The Baby Show” and aired on the other prime-time series starring Tina Fey, 30 Rock .... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Comedy»
Release Date: 4/25/2008
Running Time: 96 mins
Director: Michael McCullers
Cast: Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Sigourney Weaver, Greg Kinnear, Romany Malco, Dax Shepard, Maura Tierney, Holland Taylor, Curt Carlson and Dennis Albanese
Producer: Lorne Michaels and John Goldwyn
Writer: Michael McCullers
Distributor: Universal Pictures

Genre:  Comedy» Drama»
Release Date: 5/9/2008
Running Time: 90 mins
Director: David Ross
Cast: Katherine Waterston, John Leguizamo, Cynthia Nixon, Andy Comeau, Lauren Birkell, Louisa Krause, Denis O'Hare, Halley Wegryn Gross, Ethan Phillips and Alexandra Daddario
Producer: Kathy DeMarco, Jason Dubin, Jennifer Dubin, John Leguizamo and Cora Olson
Writer: David Ross
Distributor: Peace Arch Releasing

Rob Reiner's latest film is, among other things, a reflection of our persistent cultural belief that you haven't really lived until you've ticked off a list of Earth’s greatest hits. Jack Nicholson plays Edward, a four-times-divorced... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Drama» Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 12/25/2007
Running Time: 97 mins
Director: Rob Reiner
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Morgan Freeman, Sean Hayes, Rob Morrow, Hugh B. Holub, Serena Reeder, Jonathan Mangum, Angela Gardner, Christopher J Stapleton and Roy Vongtama
Producer: Alan Greisman, Neil Meron, Rob Reiner and Craig Zadan
Writer: Justin Zackham
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Less a movie than a collection of family-friendly platitudes rationed out at regular intervals, College Road Trip concerns overly protective police chief James (Martin Lawrence), who wants his daughter Melanie (Raven-Symoné) to attend... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Comedy»
Release Date: 3/7/2008
Running Time: 83 mins
Director: Roger Kumble
Cast: Martin Lawrence, Raven-Symone, Brenda Song, Kym Whitley, Adam LeFevre, Eugene Jones III, Margo Harshman, Lucas Grabeel, Matthew Schlein and Eshaya Draper
Producer: Louanne Brickhouse, Kristin Burr and Andrew Gunn
Writer: Carrie Evans, Cinco Paul, Emi Mochizuki and Ken Daurio
Distributor: Buena Vista

When an Austrian filmmaker who makes no secret of the fact that his grandparents were Nazi sympathizers makes a fact-based movie (nominated by the Academy for best foreign film) about a Jewish forger who survived the concentration camps by... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  War» Drama»
Release Date: 2/22/2008
Running Time: 98 mins
Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky
Cast: Karl Markovics, August Diehl, Devid Striesow, Martin Brambach, August Zirner, Veit Stübner, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Andreas Schmidt, Tilo Prückner and Lenn Kudrjawizki
Producer: Josef Aichholzer, Nina Bohlmann and Babette Schröder
Writer: Adolf Burger and Stefan Ruzowitzky
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

Genre:  Suspense/Thriller» Horror»
Release Date: 5/2/2008
Running Time: 83 mins
Director: Bernadine Santistevan
Cast: Adriana Domínguez, Christian Camargo, Carlos Leon, Miriam Colon, Kate Blumberg, Jayden Vargas, Quinn McCann, Jane Petrov, Ron Dailey and Lisa G.
Producer: Laura Blum
Writer: Bernadine Santistevan and Monique Salazar
Distributor: Monterey Media Co.

Lonely is the life of the mogul. The long hours and hectic schedule make dating a headache, but who needs romance when you have the services of an anonymous sex club at your disposal? Like Rideshare with benefits, the “list” around which... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Suspense/Thriller» Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 4/25/2008
Running Time: 108 mins
Director: Marcel Langenegger
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Maggie Q, Rachael Taylor, Natasha Henstridge, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Joe Huu Nguyen, Zoe Perry and Daisy Bates
Producer: Marjorie Shik
Writer: Jason Keller and Mark Bomback
Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Sandwiched somewhere between the American Spirit commercials and the Clinton campaigning that make up Definitely, Maybe is a surprisingly rewarding romantic comedy. Imagine old-school Woody Allen starring that shit-eating smirker from Van... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Romance» Comedy»
Release Date: 2/14/2008
Running Time: 112 mins
Director: Adam Brooks
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher, Derek Luke, Abigail Breslin, Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz, Greg Abbey, Liane Balaban and Marc Bonan
Producer: Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner
Writer: Adam Brooks
Distributor: Universal Pictures

Genre:  Action/Adventure» Documentary»
Release Date: 3/30/2007
Running Time: 40 mins
Director: David Clark and Bayley Silleck
Cast: Michael Douglas, Roy Chapman Andrews, Mike Novacek and Mark Norell
Producer: David Clark
Writer: Bayley Silleck and David Clark
Distributor: Giant Screen Films

Genre:  Documentary»
Release Date: 2/15/2008
Running Time: 42 mins
Director: Jean-Jacques Mantello
Cast: Daryl Hannah and Jean-Michel Cousteau
Producer: Francois Mantello
Writer: Dr. Elisabeth Mantello and Jon Michael Johnson
Distributor: 3D Entertainment Distribution

Remember that scene in The Warriors where the Turnbull ACs chase the heroes in a pimped-out bus? Whoa! And remember that part in Escape From New York where Snake Plissken pulls the switcheroo on the commander-in-chief? Cool! How about that... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Suspense/Thriller» Horror» Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 3/14/2008
Running Time: 105 mins
Director: Neil Marshall
Cast: Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, Adrian Lester, Alexander Siddig, Malcolm McDowell, Sean Pertwee, Nora-Jane Noone, MyAnna Buring, Emma Cleasby and Craig Conway
Producer: Steven Paul and Benedict Carver
Writer: Neil Marshall
Distributor: Universal Pictures

Genre:  Family» Animation» Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 3/14/2008
Running Time: 88 mins
Director: Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino
Cast: Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, Isla Fisher, Dane Cook, Jaime Pressly, Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
Producer: Bob Gordon
Writer: Cinco Paul, Dr. Seuss and Ken Daurio
Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Rare is the star vehicle that is as poorly matched to its star as Drillbit Taylor , which casts Owen Wilson as a homeless army deserter and con man, able to fool people into believing he’s both a substitute teacher and a master of... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Comedy»
Release Date: 3/21/2008
Running Time: 102 mins
Director: Steven Brill
Cast: Owen Wilson, Alex Frost, Matt Gallini, Troy Gentile, Nate Hartley, Janet Varney, Josh Peck, Rakefet Abergel, Christopher L. Antie and Stacy Arnell
Producer: Judd Apatow, Susan Arnold and Donna Roth
Writer: Edmond Dantes, Kristofor Brown and Seth Rogen
Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Ben Stein became a minor cultural icon with Ferris Bueller’s Day Off , almost making people forget that, from his early days as a Nixon speechwriter on, he’s been a rigid cultural conservative. Stein capitalizes on that good will with... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Documentary»
Release Date: 4/18/2008
Running Time: 90 mins
Director: Nathan Frankowski
Cast: Ben Stein and Jason Collett
Producer: Logan Craft, Walt Ruloff and John Sullivan
Writer: Kevin Miller and Walt Ruloff
Distributor: Rocky Mountain Pictures

Ever had a premonition of imminent catastrophe, only to watch helplessly as the worst unfolded? You have if you saw the previews for this snoozer of a paranormal shocker and bought a ticket anyway. Adapted from a derivative Pang brothers thriller... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Suspense/Thriller» Horror» Drama»
Release Date: 2/1/2008
Running Time: 97 mins
Director: David Moreau and Xavier Palud
Cast: Jessica Alba, Alessandro Nivola, Parker Posey, Rade Serbedzija, Fernanda Romero, Rachel Ticotin, Obba Babatunde, Danny Mora, Chloë Grace Moretz and Brett A. Haworth
Producer: Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner
Writer: Hillary Seitz and Sebastian Gutierrez
Distributor: Lionsgate Films

The CV of director Michael Radford is nothing if not a lesson in cultural diversity: Born in India to a British father and an Austrian mother, he has directed films in England, Italy (that Oscar-nominated trifle of tourist porn, Il Postino ),... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Drama»
Release Date: 3/28/2008
Running Time: 100 mins
Director: Michael Radford
Cast: Demi Moore, Michael Caine, Lambert Wilson, Nathaniel Parker, Shaughan Seymour, Joss Ackland, Jonathan Aris, Simon Day, David Henry and Kim Hermans
Producer: Stephen Margolis
Writer: Edward Anderson
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures

Is Fool's Gold really a new movie, or is it just some infernal clip reel cut together from that first Matthew McConaughey-centric Indiana Jones knockoff ( Sahara ), that romantic comedy in which Kate Hudson falls for a shaggy slacker against... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Romance» Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 2/8/2008
Running Time: 110 mins
Director: Andy Tennant
Cast: Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey, Donald Sutherland, Ewen Bremner, Roger Sciberras, Alexis Dziena and Kevin Hart
Producer: Donald De Line, Bernie Goldmann, Jon Klane and Wink Mordaunt
Writer: John Claflin and Kenneth Lonergan
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

The plot is pure choose-your-own-adventure: A bullied wuxia fanboy from South Boston (Michael Angarano) is teleported back into a LARP fantasia of feudal China, where he’s singled out as the long-anticipated “Chosen One”... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 4/18/2008
Running Time: 113 mins
Director: Rob Minkoff
Cast: Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Michael Angarano, Collin Chou, Yifei Liu and Bingbing Li
Producer: Ryan Kavanaugh and Casey Silver
Writer: Ch'eng-En Wu and John Fusco
Distributor: Lionsgate

Jason Segel puts it all out there--and, like, it’s all out there in Forgetting Sarah Marshall . It takes all of five minutes for Segel, who wrote and stars in the movie, to drop towel: His character, Peter Bretter, is on the verge of being... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Romance» Comedy»
Release Date: 4/18/2008
Running Time: 111 mins
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Cast: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, Bill Hader, Jonah Hill, Liz Cackowski, Maria Thayer, Jack McBrayer and Davon McDonald
Producer: Judd Apatow and Shauna Robertson
Writer: Jason Segel and Judd Apatow
Distributor: Universal Pictures

Palace--age 7--unleashes a blood-curdling scream Poly Styrene would be proud of, then smiles demurely. So it goes at the Rock ’n’ Roll Camp for Girls, a femme-only affair where grrl luminaries like Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Documentary»
Release Date: 3/7/2008
Running Time: 90 mins
Director: Arne Johnson and Shane King
Cast: 
Producer: Arne Johnson
Writer: 
Distributor: Shadow Distribution

Genre:  Comedy» Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 4/25/2008
Running Time: 102 mins
Director: Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg
Cast: John Cho, Kal Penn, Eric Winter, David Krumholtz, Neil Patrick Harris, Robert Corddry, Christopher Meloni, Ed Helms, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Paula Garces
Producer: Greg Shapiro and Nathan Kahane
Writer: Hayden Schlossberg and Jon Hurwitz
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Black, fluffy, and gloriously unilateral, Colin Farrell's eyebrows aren't the prettiest features of In Bruges . That honor falls to the Belgian city itself, known for its scenic medieval turrets, bourgeois tedium, and unfavorable comparisons with... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Drama» Comedy»
Release Date: 2/8/2008
Running Time: 101 mins
Director: Martin McDonagh
Cast: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Poésy, Thekla Reuten, Jérémie Renier, Mark Donovan, Jordan Prentice, Robbie Kay and Eric Godon
Producer: Jeff Abberley
Writer: Martin McDonagh
Distributor: Focus Features

Nothing if not a product of his moment, Tony Stark, the billionaire weapons-designer-cum-rocket-powered-superhero better known as Iron Man, first appeared in March 1963, just in time to fight the encroaching Red menace in Southeast Asia. In the... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  SciFi/Fantasy» Drama» Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 5/2/2008
Running Time: 126 mins
Director: Jon Favreau
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L. Jackson, Hilary Swank, Leslie Bibb, Stan Lee, Shaun Toub and Bill Smitrovich
Producer: Avi Arad
Writer: Arthur Marcum, Don Heck, Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber, Matthew Hollaway and Stan Lee
Distributor: Paramount Pictures

In director Doug Liman's adaptation of Steven Gould's young-adult sci-fi novels, Hayden Christensen stars as David Rice, an Ann Arbor teen who discovers he has the ability to "teleport" himself anywhere in the world just by, you know, clicking his... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  SciFi/Fantasy» Drama» Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 2/14/2008
Running Time: 88 mins
Director: Doug Liman
Cast: Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, Diane Lane, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Rooker, Annasophia Robb, Max Thieriot, Jesse James and Tom Hulce
Producer: Jay Sanders, Lucas Foster, Simon Kinberg and Stacy Maes
Writer: David S. Goyer, Jim Uhls, Simon Kinberg and Steven Gould
Distributor: 20th Century Fox

During its early moments, Jason Reitman's second feature threatens to choke on its quotation-marks catchphrases, as when The Office 's Rainn Wilson, cameoing as a convenience-store clerk, tells Ellen Page's 16-year-old Juno MacGuff that her... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Drama» Comedy»
Release Date: 12/5/2007
Running Time: 91 mins
Director: Jason Reitman
Cast: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Olivia Thirlby, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney, Daniel Clark and Valerie Tian
Producer: Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich, Mason Novick and Russell Smith
Writer: Diablo Cody
Distributor: Fox Searchlight

On-screen and off, George Clooney is like a holdover from a time—which, admittedly, may only have ever existed in the movies—when men were witty gentlemen who knew how to dress, how to charm the pants off a lady, and how to throw a punch... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Romance» Comedy»
Release Date: 4/4/2008
Running Time: 114 mins
Director: George Clooney
Cast: George Clooney, Renee Zellweger, John Krasinski, Jonathan Pryce, Ezra Buzzington, Wayne Duvall, David de Vries, Rick Forrester, Craig S. Harper and Malcolm Goodwin
Producer: Grant Heslov and Casey Silver
Writer: Duncan Brantley and Rick Reilly
Distributor: Universal Pictures

Riddled with high concept, this florid adaptation of Laura Kasischke’s 2002 novel is a horror picture of sorts that plays off a Columbine-style high-school shooting from the victims’ point of view. For all I know, the author, who’s... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Suspense/Thriller» Drama»
Release Date: 4/18/2008
Running Time: 90 mins
Director: Vadim Perelman
Cast: Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood, Eva Amurri, Brett Cullen, James Urbaniak, Oscar Isaac, Nathalie Paulding, Peter Conboy, Sonny Vellozzi and Brett Epstein
Producer: Mark Cuban
Writer: Emil Stern and Laura Kasischke
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures

In Made of Honor , Patrick Dempsey plays a conveniently rich and willfully single serial “fornicator” slowly but surely domesticated by his unspoken love for longtime BFF Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), who’s on her way to Scotland to... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Romance» Comedy»
Release Date: 5/2/2008
Running Time: 101 mins
Director: Paul Weiland
Cast: Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin McKidd, Busy Philipps, Sydney Pollack, Kelly Carlson, Kathleen Quinlan, Beau Garrett, Sarah Wright and Kadeem Hardison
Producer: Tania Landau
Writer: Adam Sztykiel
Distributor: Sony Pictures/Columbia

For an obscure tale of a virginal London governess who discovers her true calling running interference for a giddy night-club singer, British homemaker Winifred Watson’s 1938 novel, knocked off in six weeks while she washed dishes under the... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Drama» Comedy»
Release Date: 3/7/2008
Running Time: 92 mins
Director: Bharat Nalluri
Cast: Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Ciaran Hinds, Shirley Henderson and Lee Pace
Producer: Nellie Bellflower
Writer: David Magee and Simon Beaufoy
Distributor: Focus Features

Wong Kar Wai called Chungking Express , his fourth film but first international calling card, “a road movie of the heart.” My Blueberry Nights , his first film in English, has been called an actual road movie, but it’s more of a... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Drama»
Release Date: 4/4/2008
Running Time: 111 mins
Director: Wong Kar Wai
Cast: Norah Jones, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz, Chad R. Davis, Katya Blumenberg, John Malloy, Demetrius Butler, Frankie Faison and David Strathairn
Producer: Jean-Louis Piel
Writer: Wong Kar Wai
Distributor: The Weinstein Company

Oscar winner in hideous haircut? Check. Love interest with foreign accent? Yup. Insanely convoluted treasure hunt involving multiple ancient clues to solve historical mystery? You know it. But this ain't The Da Vinci Code , folks. How can we... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 12/21/2007
Running Time: 124 mins
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, Ed Harris, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Bruce Greenwood and Helen Mirren
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer and Jon Turteltaub
Writer: Cormac Wibberley, Marianne Wibberley, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio
Distributor: Buena Vista Pictures

With a generic title like Never Back Down —what, was Action-Related Content already taken?—there’s no way this unlikely hybrid of The Karate Kid and Fight Club could set your hopes lower without scraping the Mariana Trench.... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 3/14/2008
Running Time: 106 mins
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Cast: Amber Heard, Djimon Hounsou, Sean Faris, Cam Gigandet, Evan Peters, Steven Crowley, Wyatt Smith, Tilky Jones and Neil Brown Jr.
Producer: Craig Baumgarten and David Zelon
Writer: Chris Hauty and Robert Munic
Distributor: Summit Entertainment

About 30 years ago, this is precisely the kind of film that would’ve had Jodie Foster starring as the willful, resourceful, imaginative kiddo stuck on Paradise Island and waiting for her father to return—or not—following a storm... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Family» Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 4/4/2008
Running Time: 95 mins
Director: Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin
Cast: Jodie Foster, Abigail Breslin, Gerard Butler, Morgan Griffin, Christopher Baker, Peter Callan, Alphonso McAuley, Sean Keenan and Michael Carman
Producer: Paula Mazur
Writer: Jennifer Flackett, Joseph Kwong, Mark Levin, Paula Mazur and Wendy Orr
Distributor: Fox Walden

The Duke of Norfolk, obsessed with gaining the favor of King Henry VIII (Eric Bana), plans to have his niece Anne Boleyn (Natalie Portman) become Henry’s mistress and bear him a son--something that Henry’s current wife, Katherine of... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Romance» Drama»
Release Date: 2/29/2008
Running Time: 114 mins
Director: Justin Chadwick
Cast: Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, Benedict Cumberbatch and Christopher Fosh
Producer: Alison Owen
Writer: Peter Morgan and Philippa Gregory
Distributor: Sony Pictures/Columbia

“A Fairytale Like No Other”? Penelope ’s influences are right up front--there’s the Tim Burton production design (overstocking each frame with curios) and Amelie music-box wistfulness tinkling all about. The film’s... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  SciFi/Fantasy» Drama» Comedy»
Release Date: 2/29/2008
Running Time: 89 mins
Director: Mark Palansky
Cast: Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Catherine O'Hara, Reese Witherspoon, Peter Dinklage, Richard E. Grant, Simon Woods, Ronni Ancona, Jason Thornton and Russell Brand
Producer: Christian Arnold-Beutel
Writer: Leslie Caveny
Distributor: Summit Entertainment

Genre:  Comedy»
Release Date: 3/28/2008
Running Time: 104 mins
Director: Pierre Salvadori
Cast: Audrey Tautou, Gad Elmaleh, Marie-Christine Adam, Vernon Dobtcheff, Jacques Spiesser, Didier Brice, Annelise Hesme, Jean-Michel Lahmi and Blandine Pélissier
Producer: Philippe Martin
Writer: Benoît Graffin and Pierre Salvadori
Distributor: Samuel Goldwyn Films

This gore-free PG-13 slasher film bears the same title as a fondly remembered and very bad 1980 horror movie that starred Jamie Lee Curtis. It wasn’t her finest hour, nor is this quasi-remake likely to do much for Brittany Snow, who stars as... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Horror»
Release Date: 4/11/2008
Running Time: 88 mins
Director: Nelson McCormick
Cast: Brittany Snow, Brianne Davis, Kellan Lutz, Kelly Blatz, Andrew Fiscella, Jana Kramer, Hugh Scott, Collins Pennie, Madison Riley and Marcuis Harris
Producer: Neal H. Moritz
Writer: J.S. Cardone
Distributor: Screen Gems

With his 10th feature—an entertaining tale of high-stakes martial arts—David Mamet has infused the trademark sleight of hand with a measure of two-fisted action. Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an exponent of Brazilian jujitsu, teaches... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Drama» Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 5/9/2008
Running Time: 99 mins
Director: David Mamet
Cast: Emily Mortimer, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Max Martini, Rebecca Pidgeon, Cathy Cahlin Ryan, Ricky Jay, Alice Braga, Bob Jennings and Enson Inoue
Producer: Chrisann Verges
Writer: David Mamet
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics

This 40-minute IMAX presentation traces the missions of the two successful Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. One of them is described as a blue-collar machine that had to crawl long distances for everything it accomplished; the other was... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Documentary»
Release Date: 1/27/2006
Running Time: 40 mins
Director: George Butler
Cast: Paul Newman, Stephen Squyres, Rob Manning, Charles Elachi and Wayne Lee
Producer: Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy, George Butler and Caroline Alexander
Writer: George Butler and Robert Andrus
Distributor: Buena Vista

Genre:  Suspense/Thriller» Horror»
Release Date: 4/4/2008
Running Time: 97 mins
Director: Carter Smith
Cast: Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Shawn Ashmore, Laura Ramsey, Joe Anderson, Dimitri Baveas, Sergio Calderon, Bar Paly and Jesse Ramirez
Producer: Ben Stiller, Stuart Cornfeld and Chris Bender
Writer: Scott B. Smith
Distributor: Dreamworks/Paramount Studios

Toshio, that malicious, pale little boy from The Grudge , will follow you home with his pissed-off mother in tow and maybe rip your jaw off. Ringu ’s watery witch Sadako will reach out from your TV set and paralyze you with her stare of... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Suspense/Thriller» Horror»
Release Date: 3/21/2008
Running Time: 85 mins
Director: Masayuki Ochiai
Cast: Joshua Jackson, Rachael Taylor, James Kyson Lee, John Hensley, David Denman, Maya Hazen, Adrienne Pickering, Megumi Okina, Albert Smith and Daisy Betts
Producer: Doug Davison
Writer: Luke Dawson
Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid, beneath a greasy moptop and a brushy beard) is a misanthropic college prof who, when he’s not willfully forgetting his students’ names or altering clocks to duck office hours, is out peddling a... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Romance» Drama» Comedy»
Release Date: 4/11/2008
Running Time: 93 mins
Director: Noam Murro
Cast: Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page, Thomas Haden Church, Ashton Holmes, Christine Lahti, Camille Mana, David Denman, Barret Hackney and Amanda Jane Cooper
Producer: Bill Block, Michael Costigan, Bridget Johnson, Michael London and Bruna Papandrea
Writer: Mark Poirier
Distributor: Miramax Films

In the 1980s, three Mississippi 12-year-olds famously spent six years filming a shot-for-shot VHS remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark . The misfit heroes of writer-director Garth Jennings’s whimsical comedy—two enterprising British... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Comedy»
Release Date: 5/2/2008
Running Time: 96 mins
Director: Garth Jennings
Cast: Bill Milner, Will Poulter, Jules Sitruk, Jessica Stevenson, Neil Dudgeon, Anna Wing, Ed Westwick, Eric Sykes, Adam Buxton and Adam Godley
Producer: Nick Goldsmith and Garth Jennings
Writer: Garth Jennings
Distributor: Paramount Vantage

Converting a fondly remembered cartoon series into a prospective franchise, the Matrix masters, Larry and Andy Wachowski, have taken another step toward the total cyborganization of the cinema. Gaudier than a Hindu-temple roof, louder than the... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 5/9/2008
Running Time: 135 mins
Director: Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski
Cast: Emile Hirsch, Nicholas Elia, Susan Sarandon, Melissa Holroyd, Ariel Winter, Scott Porter, Gian Ganziano, Peter Fernandez, Harvey Friedman and Sami Loris
Producer: Joel Silver, Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski
Writer: Andy Wachowski, John Lau, Larry Wachowski, Patrick Read Johnson and Tatsuo Yoshida
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Genre:  Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 5/9/2008
Running Time: 135 mins
Director: Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski
Cast: Emile Hirsch, Nicholas Elia, Susan Sarandon, Melissa Holroyd, Ariel Winter, Scott Porter, Gian Ganziano, Peter Fernandez, Harvey Friedman and Sami Loris
Producer: Joel Silver, Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski
Writer: Andy Wachowski, John Lau, Larry Wachowski, Patrick Read Johnson and Tatsuo Yoshida
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Freud lives and prospers in The Spiderwick Chronicles , an exceptionally oedipal fantasy adventure based on the popular children's novels by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. The story is stuffed with defaulting dads ripe for slaying; a freshly... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  SciFi/Fantasy» Drama» Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 2/14/2008
Running Time: 97 mins
Director: Mark S. Waters
Cast: Freddie Highmore, Mary-Louise Parker, Nick Nolte, Joan Plowright, David Strathairn, Seth Rogen and Martin Short
Producer: Mark Canton, Larry Franco, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Karey Kirkpatrick
Writer: David Berenbaum, Holly Black, John Sayles, Karey Kirkpatrick and Tony DiTerlizzi
Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Genre:  Drama»
Release Date: 2/14/2008
Running Time: 98 mins
Director: Jon Chu
Cast: Briana Evigan, Robert Hoffman, Will Kemp, Cassie Ventura, Adam G. Sevani and Telisha Shaw
Producer: Patrick Wachsberger, Erik Feig, Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot
Writer: Duane Adler, Karen Barna and Toni Ann Johnson
Distributor: Touchstone Pictures

Though conceived as yet another sobering frontline report on law enforcement’s ever-expanding gray area, director David Ayer’s grim police thriller mostly plays as one long dick-measuring competition. Keanu Reeves (blank as ever) is Los... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Drama»
Release Date: 4/11/2008
Running Time: 107 mins
Director: David Ayer
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, Chris Evans, Naomie Harris, Jay Mohr, John Corbett, Cedric the Entertainer, Amaury Nolasco and Terry Crews
Producer: Lucas Foster
Writer: James Ellroy and Kurt Wimmer
Distributor: 20th Century Fox/Regency Films

Genre:  Comedy» Action/Adventure»
Release Date: 3/28/2008
Running Time: 85 mins
Director: Craig Mazin
Cast: Sara Paxton, Drake Bell, Leslie Nielsen, Christopher McDonald, Brent Spiner, Jeffrey Tambor, Jonathan Chase, Marion Ross, Ryan Hansen and Kevin Hart
Producer: Craig Mazin, Robert K. Weiss and David Zucker
Writer: Craig Mazin
Distributor: The Weinstein Company/Dimension Films

First-time writer-director Helen Hunt stars as April Epner, a schoolteacher desperate to have a child before she turns 40 (Hunt herself turns 45 this year, but never mind that). Adapted by Hunt and two other writers from Elinor Lipman’s... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Romance» Drama» Comedy»
Release Date: 5/9/2008
Running Time: 100 mins
Director: Helen Hunt
Cast: Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, Colin Firth, Matthew Broderick, Lynn Cohen, Cherise Boothe, John Benjamin Hickey, Tommy Nelson, Ben Shenkman and Florence Annequin
Producer: Connie Tavel, Helen Hunt, Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler
Writer: Alice Arlen, Helen Hunt and Victor Levin
Distributor: ThinkFilm

Genre:  Romance» Drama» Comedy»
Release Date: 3/21/2008
Running Time: 100 mins
Director: Tyler Perry
Cast: Tyler Perry, David Mann, Tamela Mann, Angela Bassett, Lance Gross, Chloe Bailey, Mariana Tolbert, Rick Fox, Sofia Vergara and Irma P. Hall
Producer: Reuben Cannon
Writer: Tyler Perry
Distributor: Lionsgate Films

Genre:  Drama»
Release Date: 3/19/2008
Running Time: 109 mins
Director: Patricia Riggen
Cast: Adrian Alonso, Kate Del Castillo, Eugenio Derbez, Maya Zapata, Carmen Salinas, Angelina Pelaez, Gabriel Porras, Maria Rojo, Ignacio Guadalupe and Pailo Heitz
Producer: Patricia Riggen, Ligiah Villalobos, Gerardo Barrera, Norman Dreyfuss and Ram Bergman
Writer: Ligiah Villalobos
Distributor: The Weinstein Company

Set in Spain during an international counterterrorism summit, Vantage Point depicts an assassination attempt on the president of the United States from the perspectives of five witnesses and the members of the terror cell responsible for the... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Suspense/Thriller» Drama»
Release Date: 2/22/2008
Running Time: 90 mins
Director: Pete Travis
Cast: Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, William Hurt, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, Shelby Fenner, Ari Brickman, Rodrigo Cachero, Dolores Heredia and Richard T. Jones
Producer: Neal H. Moritz
Writer: Barry Levy
Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing

The Station Agent ’s writer-director, Tom McCarthy, follows up that surprise success with another self-consciously whimsical tale of an unlikely threesome—except this time he decides to get political, making a liberal-guilt-trip movie... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Drama»
Release Date: 4/11/2008
Running Time: 108 mins
Director: Tom McCarthy
Cast: Richard Jenkins, Hiam Abbass, Haaz Sleiman and Danai Gurira
Producer: Mary Jane Skalski and Michael London
Writer: Tom McCarthy
Distributor: Overture Films

In this overlong but exuberantly performed comedy from writer-director Malcolm D. Lee ( Undercover Brother ), Martin Lawrence is R.J. Stevens, a tabloid TV talk-show host who takes his Survivor -winning fiancée (Joy Bryant, terrific) home... Read the Mini-Review
Genre:  Comedy»
Release Date: 2/8/2008
Running Time: 114 mins
Director: Malcolm D. Lee
Cast: Martin Lawrence, Margaret Avery, Joy Bryant, Louis C.K., Michael Clarke Duncan, Mike Epps, Mo'Nique, Nicole Ari Parker, Cedric the Entertainer and James Earl Jones
Producer: Scott Stuber, Mary Parent and Charles Castaldi
Writer: Malcolm D. Lee
Distributor: Universal Pictures

Genre:  Romance» Comedy»
Release Date: 5/3/2008
Running Time: 99 mins
Director: Tom Vaughan
Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Cameron Diaz, Queen Latifah, Lake Bell, Zach Galifianakis, Michelle Krusiec, Krysten Ritter, Maddie Corman, Rob Corddry and Jason Sudeikis
Producer: Dean Georgaris and Michael Aguilar
Writer: Dana Fox
Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Genre:  Documentary»
Release Date: 4/18/2008
Running Time: 107 mins
Director: Stephen Walker
Cast: Young@Heart Chorus and Bob Cilman
Producer: Sally George
Writer: 
Distributor: Fox Searchlight