|
Movie Reviews by
the U.S. Bishops'
Office for Film & Broadcasting
Brideshead Revisited
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Aficionados of Evelyn Waugh 1945 masterpiece and of its faithful 1981 Granada Television adaptation will find the film version of "Brideshead Revisited" (Miramax/BBC) well acted and lushly outfitted, but substantially re-imagined in its essentials.
Step Brothers
NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Step Brothers" (Columbia/Relativity) is a confrontational comedy that takes the Peter Pan syndrome to frantic extremes.
Space Chimps
NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Space Chimps" (Fox) is a lively computer-animated children's adventure that, despite some obvious limitations, provides warm family entertainment and offers lessons about maturity, resourcefulness and self-sacrifice.
The Dark Knight
NEW YORK (CNS) -- As the title implies, "The Dark Knight" (Warner Bros./Legendary) is not your grandfather's heroic "Batman," but an emotionally complex vigilante, reviled as much as hailed by a populace he's risking himself to help.
Meet Dave
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Eddie Murphy plays both a tiny alien and the human-shaped spaceship he captains in the whimsical comedy "Meet Dave" (20th Century Fox/Regency).
Journey to the Center of the Earth
NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (New Line/Walden) is little more faithful to Jules Verne's classic 1864 novel than the 1959 Hollywood version, but proves an enjoyable retread nonetheless.
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" (Universal/Relativity) chronicles the further adventures of the hulking vermillion demon, again embodied by Ron Perlman, who's really just a blue-collar guy who likes candy bars, TV and singer Al Green.
The Wackness
NEW YORK (CNS) -- "The Wackness" (Sony Classics) is an offbeat coming-of-age drama -- set in 1994 New York to a hip-hop soundtrack -- concerning Luke (Josh Peck), a pot-dealing high school graduate with a troubled home life.
Hancock
NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Hancock" (Columbia/Relativity) offers a new twist on a hoary Hollywood genre by presenting viewers with a superhero who's dyspeptic, alcoholic and destructively inept. But its clever premise and dizzying special effects only sustain the film to its halfway mark.
Tell No One (Ne Le Dis a Personne)
NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Tell No One" ("Ne Le Dis a Personne") (Music Box) is an absorbing mystery thriller, set in Paris, about Alexandre Beck (Francois Cluzet), a pediatrician under renewed suspicion for the death of his wife, Margot (Marie-Josee Croze), eight years earlier.
WALL-E
NEW YORK (CNS) -- The combination of Pixar Animation Studios and Disney continues its winning streak with this latest feature, "WALL-E," a beautifully imaginative and touching tale set 800 years in the future.
Wanted
NEW YORK (CNS) -- It's more fun to be an assassin than an accountant. That's the basic message of the overheated action rampage "Wanted" (Universal/Spyglass).
The Love Guru
NEW YORK (CNS) -- "The Love Guru" (Paramount/Spyglass) is a flat comedy, only fitfully enlivened by some clever gags, with Mike Myers as Pitka, an American-born guru loosely inspired by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, spiritual guide to the Beatles in the 1960s.
Finding Amanda
NEW YORK (CNS) -- The back streets of Las Vegas are the setting for the pungent, semi-autobiographical black comedy "Finding Amanda" (Magnolia).
Get Smart
NEW YORK (CNS) -- The pop culture cross-pollination continues apace with "Get Smart" (Warner Bros.), the good-natured update of the fondly remembered 1960s TV series created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry.
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Yes, Virginia, there was life before cell phones. For proof, see "Kit Kittredge: An American Girl" (Picturehouse/New Line).
The Incredible Hulk
NEW YORK (CNS) -- It's not easy being green; just ask "The Incredible Hulk" (Universal/Marvel).
Poisoned by gamma radiation in an Army-sponsored experiment, mild-mannered scientist Dr. Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) finds himself transformed, whenever sufficiently provoked, into the titular chartreuse-tinted, rage-tormented behemoth. Fleeing the scene of his alter ego's first murderous rampage, Banner washes up in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he toils as a day laborer in a bottling plant as he searches for a cure.
The Happening
NEW YORK (CNS) -- With its shifting clouds and creepy music, the opening credit sequence of "The Happening" (Fox) bodes well for a return to form for director M. Night Shyamalan, whose most recent films, though atmospheric, have failed to match the overall quality of his breakout hit, "The Sixth Sense."
You Don’t Mess With the Zohan
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Read as a critical admonition, the title of Adam Sandler's latest comedy should serve as fair warning. Approaching his projects with caution is always advisable and this typically vulgar effort is no exception.
|
|
|
|
