movie buzz

Peter Howell in the Toronto Star claims to have for us “the ugly truth about Knocked Up”: Funny, isn’t it, how willingly we buy movie plots about impossible casino heists, miraculous spider bites and rock-star pirates. And yet something as simple as a beautiful woman getting involved with a not-so-beautiful man strikes some of us … more…

I laughed out loud the first time I saw this bus ad recently. And as most of the dissenters of my review of Knocked Up are probably aware, there’s not a lot that makes me laugh out loud. Yes, I am sooo looking forward to Live Free or Die Hard. Bruce Willis is my second … more…

seeing red… I don’t need anything from Ocean’s 13 except two hours of George Clooney in a tux, some snarky and snappy dialogue, and clever thieving. Here’s hoping I get it. I see the film tonight, and I can’t wait. [opens June 8] More hopes: Can Nancy Drew be as cute as it looks? Nancy … more…

While I get beat up for being my regular ol’ biased self, here’s a great example of a bias that just accidentally happens to come out. It’s from, coincidentally enough, Time critic Richard Schickel’s review of Knocked Up: Alison (Katherine Heigl) and her sister Debbie (Leslie Mann) are out clubbing, celebrating the former’s promotion from … more…

Film critics are often accused of being failed filmmakers. It’s no secret that I am, in addition to being a film critic, a failed (as yet) screenwriter. Granted, I haven’t put quite in the effort into writing scripts (as yet) that I have into writing film reviews, so I really can’t complain that my scripts … more…

I saw the trailer for Transformers on a big screen for the first time this weekend, at a showing of Pirates of the Caribbean, and the groaning/ giggling reaction of the pumped crowd seemed to agree with me that this looks like the biggest-dumbest-movie-that’s-gonna-be-a-whole-lotta-fun ever made. And a geeky friend who was with me started … more…

I hate, hate, hate this poster! What if this guy got you pregnant? I hate to sound like one of those awful anti-sex, anti-woman prudes, but just the concept of this flick is enough to make me concede they might have a point: If the idea of “this guy” fathering your child makes you want … more…

The calendar may think it’s still spring, but the summer movie season got underway with Spider-Man 3 a few weeks ago, and it revs up this weekend with Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. And no one needs a crystal ball to predict that those two flicks — as well as Harry Potter 5, … more…

It’s the 30th anniversary of Star Wars. I feel old. I was eight that summer, so I’ll be 38 this summer. Which is better than the alternative (not getting any older at all), but still. Millions of parsecs of virtual ink are being expended on the milestone, and there is much celebrating: tens of thousands … more…

No, really. I’m guessing he won’t be happy if you have Han Solo going on a rampage at the Mos Eisley cantina, shootin’ up all the lowlife alien smuggler scum who deserve it, but still: George Lucas, creator of “Star Wars,” has never hesitated to protect his intellectual property, which is why some call him … more…