Weekly Movie Roundup

Here is my first post in the Weekly Movie Roundup Series

James Berardinelli

Baghead
2/4
"Not clever enough to form the foundation of an 80-minute feature film."

Elegy
3.5/4
"The movie tells the poignant tale of how one man - intelligent, urbane, and witty - represents his own worst enemy when it comes to relationships."

Hell Ride
2/4
"The film is at times enjoyable in a lurid, campy way, although not so consistently that I can recommend it to anyone who isn't a die-hard fan of the genre."

In Search of A Midnight Kiss
3.5/4
"In Search of a Midnight Kiss is wonderfully romantic and romantically bittersweet.

Man on Wire
3/4
"Man on Wire is a fascinating time capsule: a combination of talking-head interviews, actual footage, and re-creations that evokes a kinder, gentler world and provides insight into one of the most audacious stunts of the 20th century."

Pineapple Express
3/4
"The humor in this movie is smart enough that even a moderate level of intoxication or inebriation is not necessary to enjoy it."

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
3/4
"The strength of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, like its unnumbered predecessor, lies in the appeal and complexity of the characters."

Roger Ebert

Alexandra
3.5/4
"The color strategy of the movie is part of its effect. It is drab, brown, desaturated."

Bottle Shock
3.5/4
"The director milks great entertainment, if not actual suspense, out of the competition."

Boy A
3.5/4
"...paints an accurate portrait of working-class life in the north of England, the grimness of the streets contrasting with the beauty of the countryside."

Frownland
3.5/4
"It centers on an extraordinary performance that plays like an unceasing panic attack."

Hell Ride
1/4
"The movie was executive produced by Quentin Tarantino. Shame on him. He intends it no doubt as another homage to grindhouse pictures, but I've seen a lot of them, and they were nowhere near this bad."

Man on Wire
4/4
"...the documentary, a hybrid of actual and restaged footage, is constructed like a first-rate thriller."

The Pineapple Express
3.5/4
"It's a quality movie even if the material is unworthy of the treatment."

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
3/4
"The movie intercuts quickly but not confusingly from one story to another, is dripping with seductive locations, is not shy about romantic cliches and has a lot of heart."

Dustin Putman

Bottle Shock
1.5/4
"A curiously languid, emotionally detached experience. "Bottle Shock" is light on plot, which would be fine if the characters were well-formed and given interesting things to say. They aren't, and they do not."

Hell Ride
1.5/4
"The action is negligible. The wordplay is awkward. The revenge plot is perfunctory since no one seems all that upset about the initial victim. Like a dream that vanishes the moment you awake, the memory of "Hell Ride" is foggy and half-forgotten mere hours after seeing it."

The Pineapple Express
2.5/4
"Begins as a been-there-done-that stoner romp before turning into an outlandishly silly and graphically violent action-thriller. The tone may be schizophrenic, but the sheer, unabashed showmanship of the whole thing warrants praising."

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2
2.5/4
"A solid if not wholly necessary sequel, but Carmen, Tibby, Lena and Bridget are so pleasant to spend a couple hours with that it hardly matters. "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2" never talks down to its audience, and that alone is worth more than most female-bonding pictures of this ilk."

Enjoy!

Until this week...