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New Buddy Movie Uneven But Funny

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Comedies can be either predictable or completely unpredictable. The quality of a comedy is normally unaffected by whichever of these two options the movie employs, although a gut-bustingly hilarious comedy usually requires a few curveballs. Still, people routinely pay large sums and flock to theaters in droves to see Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell or the Farrelly brothers’ films, with Easy-Bake formula plots involving a combination of idiot and fish-out-of-water tropes. If the jokes work and the leads are appealing, the laughs still generate.

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Kevin Smith Makes an Apatow

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It’s been a while since Kevin Smith’s last movie (two years, to be exact, with Clerks II). Clerks II proved that some great filmmaking steps had been made by everyone’s favorite potbellied ’90s independent cinema giant. He had updated the premise of his groundbreaking 1993 film, Clerks, with character growth and arc development, and he also furthered the use of “show, don’t tell” techniques.

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Political Thriller Heavy On Explosions

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Briton Ridley Scott has directed some whoppers of American cinema over the years. Classics such as Alien and Blade Runner established him, and modern visual feasts like Black Hawk Down and Gladiator have cemented his impressive status. And, just to prove his mettle, Scott has ventured into the realm of human drama — of crafting films about characters that transcend flaws to overcome odds … even without shit blowing up in the background. See Thelma and Louise, Matchstick Men, American Gangster, and G.I. Jane (okay, so maybe some of those had an explosion or two). Scott’s name is synonymous with blockbusters that aren’t afraid to make the viewer think. He’s become so consistent that his skills have even rubbed off on his little bro, Tony.

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Breakdance's Global Domination

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To anyone who has ever ventured into Penn Station or Grand Central on a busy afternoon or evening, the sight of a mysterious circle of onlookers oohing and ahing at youths effortlessly gyrating in choreographed tandem is almost taken for granted. They’re street performers to many, but to those youths, and to a widespread global hip-hop culture, they represent the continuing art of b-boy breakdancing.

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Secret Life too Sickly Sweet

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The Secret Life of Bees is the sort of movie where racism functions as a hair-trigger undercurrent. The merest mention of race warrants explosive resentment, the equivalent of a bias-response sledgehammer reaching out of the theater screen and pursuing the genitals with extreme prejudice.

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An Infinitely Awesome Teen Movie

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Teen comedies seemed so hit-or-miss only a few years ago. The dialogue was unrealistic, forcedly profane and the only thing that seemed to advance the ludicrous plots. High schoolers were portrayed by mid-20-somethings, and the cheap fart humor was as unsubtle and intermittent as … well, farts.

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Eagle Eye? More Like an Eagle Clawed out Mine

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There are smart movies and there are dumb movies. Both categories have good and bad versions. Like Roger Ebert once said, “It’s not what a movie is about, but how it is about it.” A good smart movie knows it is smart, and never once acts like it. A good dumb movie knows it is dumb, and winks at the viewer from the screen every so often, saying, “It’s okay, your brain switched on for a moment, let’s turn it back off and cut to the chase.”

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Test Spin: Arsis

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Arsis have been the darlings of the brutal death metal underground since their dazzling 2004 debut, A Celebration of Guilt, which proved that Americans can incorporate beautiful melodies into a raging tornado of tremolo guitar riffs and blast beats even better than European contemporaries.
Now Arsis has returned for their third album, We are the Nightmare, with a brand new lineup. After the disappointment of the last album, United in Regret, founding member Jim Malone decided to start writing catchy melodies again — Nightmare is definitely a heavy album, but when it’s not busy reaching in and tearing the listener’s spine out of his or her nose, the tear-dropping sense of melody from Celebration returns.

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Harold and Kumar 2: Rehashed Potshots Don't Reach Same Highs

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When we last saw Harold Lee (John Cho) and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn) back in 2004, they had just redefined the 21st century’s take on the stoner comedy with Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.
That movie was widely lauded by critics and moviegoers because it took a chance most modern movies pass on: It starred a Korean-American and an Indian-American who refused to behave like stock characters. In fact, while providing a bizarre mix of gross-out humor, shocking sight gags, drug-induced mayhem and the most surreal road journey since … well, since the first time someone decided to watch The Wizard of Oz on mute with Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album as a soundtrack, the first movie also dissected many viewpoints on American race relations. This simple deviation from typical teen comedy formula opened a whole new world of possibilities.

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Test Spin: Shadows Fall

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It took them eight years, but New England’s metalcore-tinged thrashers, Shadows Fall, have finally re-released their seminal album, Of One Blood, with the re-mastered production it truly deserves.
The original mix was abysmal. It sounded like the lesser offspring of Iron Maiden recorded it in a hotboxed garage. (My band’s demo had more clarity, and we recorded that for $200.) None of Shadows Fall’s brilliant twin guitar melodies, catchy alternating vocals or heavy groove riffs were distinguishable. By the time the band could afford a decent studio, they had lost all of their Swedish-influenced, tremolo-picking charm, and we were left with the boring follow-up, The Art of Balance.