Film

'Tropic Thunder': Hilarious Bungle in The Jungle

By Daniel Montgomery

“The best way to criticize a movie is to make another movie,” said French director Jean-Luc Godard. If that’s the case, I needn’t have reviewed ‘Step Brothers’, because Ben Stiller has done it for me. As the co-writer, director, and star of ‘Tropic Thunder’, he has made a film that is everything ‘Step Brothers’ was and wanted to be: loud, ribald, strewn with expletives, and based around characters of shocking self-involvement, but also funny, smart, and unexpectedly endearing. Click here for the full article

'Pineapple Express': A High-larious Action Comedy

By Marcos Bernal-Salas

‘Pineapple Express’ starts off as buddy comedy building on the relationship between two very unlikely characters. Dale is a process server who enjoys his job and wants to become a radio talk show host. Saul on the other hand is the quintessential stoner and drug dealer. The odds of the circumstances bring them together and like any relationship the story goes through the different emotions and hilarious episodes between the two. Click here for the full article

'Step Brothers': Comedy Fumbles for Laughs

By Daniel Montgomery

Judd Apatow has a lot to answer for. It’s not easy to do what he does. He makes romantic comedies with full hearts and filthy mouths, keeping the delicate balance between vulgarity and sincerity. When he’s directing his own scripts, he spins gold: ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin’, ‘Knocked Up’. As a producer, however, letting his friends and colleagues take the reins, his track record is spottier: earlier this year came the abominable ‘Drillbit Taylor’, following last year’s severely overrated ‘Superbad’. Click here for the full article

A Darker Hero in 'The Dark Knight'

By Marcos Bernal-Salas

Batman is back. And this time Christopher Nolan and company introduce the audience to the darkest chapter of the hero’s comic book storyline. ‘The Dark Knight’ is by far the best film in the Batman franchise that will certainly become number one in the box office this weekend. Click here for the full article

'Mamma Mia!' Super Trouper Fun

By Marcos Bernal-Salas

Mamma Mia! is the most entertaining musical picture for this summer. The story and music and lyrics from ABBA will definitely cheer the movie going audiences. If there’s ever a must-see film this summer Mamma Mia! The Movie is definitely the one not to be missed. Click here for the full article

Beating Logic in 'Hancock'

By Daniel Montgomery

‘Hancock’ can be summed up in three words: error in judgment. There are some movies that are born bad; from the drawing board, the pitch meeting, the first word on the first page of the first draft of the screenplay, they seem never even to have been intended to be good. ‘ Click here for the full article

'The Love Guru' Wallows in Juvenile Humor

By Daniel Montgomery

The good news is that it’s not as bad as it looks, which is kind of like saying food poisoning isn’t as bad a cancer, but never mind. Expecting a grand spectacle of awfulness, I was treated instead to a kind of average terribleness, and there are even one-and-a-half chuckles—I counted—courtesy of erstwhile TV host Stephen Colbert as a drug-addled sports commentator, but he should write a letter of apology to any member of the Colbert Nation who foolishly stumbles into the film to see him in it, because they’ll have to sit through the rest of it. Click here for the full article

'Brick Lane': Indie drama is short on nuance

By Daniel Montgomery

As ‘Brick Lane’ begins, it bears no small resemblance to Mira Nair’s ’The Namesake’, in regard to its story—both films follow the lives of young Bengali women married off to husbands living in the Western world—and in regard to its style. As Nair did, director Sarah Gavron focuses her camera on colors and textures—traditional garments in bright hues, clear water and lily pads, and deep, foreboding skies. Click here for the full article

NewFest: Bravo for 'Just As We Are'

By Marcos Bernal-Salas

‘Just As We Are’ is perhaps one of the best documentary films I have seen in the festival circuit so far. It definitely represents the New Fest, NYC’s LGBT film festival, commitment to feature outstanding filmmakers and stories within the community. Director Judith McCray presents an upbeat and unapologetic picture of seven men and one transgender Latina talking about their experiences as gay men. Click here for the full article

NewFest: 'Whirlwind' Falls Flat

By Marcos Bernal-Salas

‘Whirlwind’ misses the mark in many levels. Yes, at the end the glossy ending that true friendship will prevail comes across but to what cost. How can one man – no matter how charming – aggressively change the strong bonds between friends and lovers? Are gay men really that shallow and easily conquerable? Click here for the full article