Weekly Volcano - Film ReviewsLatest articles posted in Film Reviews
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/feature/13
2008-05-16T23:20:41+01:00text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comRoger EbertRambow has charm
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/2192
<p>The two friends in Son of Rambow hang out in a backyard shack that rewards close study. It’s made of rough lumber, hammered together into not quite parallel lines; it’s out of plumb. It could be drawn, but not easily built. Since the 1 ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comBill ZweckerSolid sequel
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/2193
<p>Movies based on books should always tell their stories without the presumption that all audience members have read the book that inspired it. That’s one of the few problems with Prince Caspian, the second Narnia film from director Andrew Ada ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comBill ZweckerIt’s in the stars
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/2165
<p>There’s kind of an unwritten rule about romantic comedies that is pretty much a given. No matter how formulaic the script or pedestrian the direction or even how silly the basic premise, if the audience falls in love with the main stars as m ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comJim EmersonPsychedelic eye sore
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/2166
<p>Evil is not a primary color. <br />
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That is the point of the Wachowski brothers’ video-arcade treatment of Speed Racer, insofar as one can be determined. Blue, you can trust. Red and yellow, black and white — they’re all ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comBill ZweckerBeen there, seen that
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/2135
<p>So often as I sit in a dark theater screening a new film, a little voice in my head goes off saying, “Here we go again! You’ve already seen this film.” <br />
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Of course, it’s not that I’m actually watching th ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comBill ZweckerIron Man solid
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/2136
<p>The delightful and well-crafted Iron Man, based on the Marvel Comics franchise, is one of the smartest superhero films to come down the pike in some time. <br />
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Robert Downey Jr. again reveals why he is one of the best actors of his gene ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comJeff JohnsonGrannycore
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/2105
<p>In School of Rock, Jack Black taught a classroom of 10-year-olds that rock ’n’ roll music is always about one thing: sticking it to the man. Young@Heart, a documentary about a chorus of performers in their 80s and 90s, shows that no on ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comBill ZweckerOh Baby!
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/2110
<p>Maybe it’s the approximately 15 years of doing improv sketches together, both in Chicago at Second City and the iO Theater and then more famously on Saturday Night Live, that Tina Fey and Amy Poehler share. Or perhaps it’s that other m ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comBill ZweckerA waste of 88 Minutes
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/2078
<p>It’s hard to know where to begin to discuss the laundry list of silly concepts, illogical premises and examples of overacting and poor production values that made the 108 minutes I had to sit through 88 Minutes one of the most unpleasant mov ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comJim EmersonLike a Virgin
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/2079
<p>Jason Segel’s penis probably would not sell a lot of tickets all by itself. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but most of us don’t think of the co-star of Freaks and Geeks, Knocked Up and How I Met Your Mother in THAT way. ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comJim EmersonBad cop, bad movie
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/2058
<p>The alarm clock buzzes. Keanu Reeves wakes up fully dressed in a striped shirt, raises his gun and rolls out of bed. He puts his piece on the bathroom sink, next to his toothbrush, and takes a good long look at himself in the mirror. Then he pukes ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comJim EmersonDark cloud hangs over Smart People
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/2059
<p>Ask most reasonably bright, movie-review-reading people what qualities they value most in a mate or a motion picture, and the winning combo will likely be “smart and funny.” “Beautiful” is right up there, too, though not ev ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comJim EmersonClooney on top of his game
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/2023
<p>In sports and in movies, star quality counts. We may already know the rules of the game and what strategy’s going to be used in each inning, but it can be a joy just watching the pros perform. George Clooney’s <em>Leatherheads</em> goe ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comRoger EbertLight shines brightly on The Rolling Stones
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/2025
<p>Martin Scorsese’s Shine a Light may be the most intimate documentary ever made about a live rock’n’ roll concert. Certainly it has the best coverage of the performances on stage. Working with cinematographer Robert Richardson, Sc ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comNell MinowHollywood no match for reality
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/1992
<p>A young soldier home from Iraq is forced to rethink his ideas about heroism and patriotism when he is “stop-lossed:” informed that instead of leaving the Army he has been involuntarily assigned to another tour of duty. <br />
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...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comJim Emerson21 a bust
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/1993
<p>If the thrill of gambling were really about winning, there would be too few gamblers to support the multibillion-dollar Vegas gambling industry. Everybody knows that the odds are predetermined to favor the house and that people play the games for ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comDarel JevensNot quite a wedgie
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/1961
<p>For middle schoolers who love movies from the Judd Apatow funny factory, the best thing about Drillbit Taylor is that there’s finally a PG-13 edition they can see without bringing Mom, or convincing the ticket seller they’re really at ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comRoger EbertInspiration in a blink of the eye
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/1963
<p><em>T</em><em>he Diving Bell and the Butterfly</em> is a film about a man who experiences the catastrophe I most feared during my recent surgeries: “locked-in syndrome,” where he is alive and conscious but unable to communicate with th ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comJim EmersonNothing funny about it
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/1937
<p>“Anyone who leaves the cinema doesn’t need the film, and anybody who stays does.” — Michael Haneke, on his previous version of Funny Games. <br />
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The new Hollywood edition of Funny Games, writer-director Michael H ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comRoger EbertBrilliantly discomforting
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/1938
<p>Gabita is perhaps the most clueless young woman to ever have the lead in a movie about her own pregnancy. Even if you think Juno was way too clever, two hours with Gabita will have you buying a ticket to Bucharest for Diablo Cody. This is a powerf ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comMary HoulihanMiss Pettigrew
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/1909
<p>Miss Pettigrew is not having a good day. For that matter, she hasn’t had a good day, week or month for as long as she can remember. Recently fired from a job as governess, another in a long line of failures, she is facing the stern proprieto ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comJim EmersonJust an average Bank Job
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/1912
<p>A serviceable B-grade British heist movie, The Bank Job is no better than its generic title. It front-loads the naughty sex and back-loads the plot twists (the titular crime takes place in the middle), but apart from the prominence of Princess Mar ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comJeff JohnsonWill Ferrell delivers
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/1883
<p>Sports bush leagues are populated by a few bright shining prospects and plenty of has-beens and never-weres, guys who go on playing games to prolong their adolescence. Their boozing, bimbos, bus rides and brawls provide stranger-than-fiction momen ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comRoger EbertLaughing through the tears
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/1889
<p><em><strong>Editor’s note: </strong>The Savages opened in select cities Dec. 21, 2007. It opens in Tacoma tomorrow.</em></p>
<p>The Savages seemed a curious movie to be opening four days before Christmas, but maybe not: Christmas Day itself ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comBill ZweckerTwo views on thriller
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/1853
<p>In any crisis situation — particularly ones that involve shootings or other lethal attacks — it’s a safe bet that witnesses to the event would each have a slightly different take on things as they recalled the frightening moment. ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comJim EmersonLiving up to Ferris Bueller
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/1854
<p>Remember the scene in Juno where Juno (Ellen Page) tells Paulie (Michael Cera) that he’s cool without trying and he heartbreakingly replies: “Actually, I try a lot”? Well, if that’s true, the effort doesn’t show, and ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comMary HoulihanNo "Maybe" about it
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/1835
<p>Ryan Reynolds has always shown promise. The young actor proved he had a comedic spark in the mediocre television series Two Guys and a Girl, as well as forgettable movies like Van Wilder, Waiting ... and Just Friends. Unfortunately, that spark nev ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comJim EmersonDon't Jump
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/1832
<p>In a world gone horribly wrong, where actions have no consequences, where all of humanity has become unaccountably oblivious to blatant violations of the time-space continuum, where rules exist not to be broken but to be disregarded, where continu ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comRoger EbertDon't be Fool-ed with this flick
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/1803
<p>The ads would have you believe Fool’s Gold is pure rom-com, with two sunkissed alpha babes trading patter and pratfalls on their way to renewed love, but there is more to it than that. Oh, nothing intrusive like depth or character developmen ...text/html1970-01-01T00:00:00+01:00http://www.weeklyvolcano.comRoger EbertGhost film's failures are scary
http://www.weeklyvolcano.com/article/1776
<p>Why is nobody utterly in awe of ghosts in “Over Her Dead Body” and so many other ghostcoms? Here is a supernatural manifestation from another realm, and everybody treats it as a plot device. The movie even drags in a Catholic priest, w ...