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BRETT MICHEL

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attack the block 3

Review: Attack the Block

London crawling
As a group of teenage thugs approach their intended victim (only their eyes are visible as they glare at the trainee nurse who's walking the cold south London streets alone on the way home from her shift), you'll be forgiven if you recall the recent wave of rioting in the UK.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  August 23, 2011

backtalk miranda july 3

Miranda July takes a cookie break

Meow!
July had just nabbed a chocolate-chip cookie from a table set up for a conference of visiting doctors. She was surprised — not only by the fact that one of the physicians had recognized her — but that the woman had also already seen July's latest, which is set to open in the Boston area next Friday.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  July 27, 2011

short takes - the smurfs

Review: The Smurfs

An uninspired rip-off
It may be a 3D movie set in a world populated by computer-animated blue-skinned natives, but this isn't Avatar .
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  July 26, 2011

Winnie the Pooh review

Review: Winnie the Pooh

Disney dusts off the bear of little brain
If you don't mind paying full price for something so brief, you'll be delighted to find a musically driven film the whole family can enjoy.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  July 19, 2011

bosses list

Review: Horrible Bosses

Overplayed quirks
After two comedies, it's clear Seth Gordon is good at making . . . documentaries.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  July 12, 2011

betterlife list

Review: A Better Life

The illegal immigrants keeping LA afloat
A Better Life  tells a tale of a father's love and his struggles to give his son the opportunities he never had.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  July 12, 2011



lc list

Review: Larry Crowne

A lighter-than-air trifle
Coming 15 years after That Thing You Do!, Tom Hanks's second, confident outing as a feature director finds him co-writing a lighter-than-air trifle with old family friend Nia Vardalos, who's made nothing but awful films since initially charming audiences with My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  July 05, 2011

just like us list

Review: Just Like Us

Leave the directing to someone else
This brainchild of Egyptian-American comedian Ahmed Ahmed is basically a collection of his home movies as he travels from the US alongside comics like Maz Jobrani and Whitney Cummings to perform stand-up in Dubai, Beirut, Cairo, Riyadh, and back.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  July 05, 2011

rossi list

Andrew Rossi gets the story on Page One

Good Times, bad Times
Despite the Gray Lady's disdain for his own effort, Rossi nonetheless had only good things to say about the paper's media editor, Bruce Headlam, reporter Brian Stelter, former reporter Tim Arango, and, especially, media columnist David Carr.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  June 29, 2011

bt list

Review: Bad Teacher

All talk and no action
Both Bad Santa and the Bad Lieutenants (Keitel and Cage) were really bad, but they were entertaining. Cameron Diaz's Bad Teacher, Elizabeth, is neither.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  June 29, 2011

bride flight list

Review: Bride Flight


Sombogaart contrives to place the would-be couple in front of a mirror on the plane, her in a wedding gown, him standing behind her, reflecting a life that cannot be.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  June 16, 2011



bigelow list

Kathryn Bigelow introduces her retrospective at MoMA

Bin there, done that
For the first woman ever to be awarded the Best Director Oscar, and who most recently has set out to make a film about the biggest triumph in the war against terror, the killing of Osama bin Laden, Kathryn Bigelow certainly is humble.  
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  June 09, 2011

super 8 movie review by brett michel

Review: Super 8

8 and a half
Arriving on a wave of secrecy that the projects of J.J. Abrams have become known for, Super 8 turns out to contain hardly any secrets at all.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  June 13, 2011

kf l

Review: Kung Fu Panda 2

The unlikely Dragon Warrior returns
The original cast is back, but is there anything left to the story?
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  May 26, 2011

pir list

Review: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

A total bore
It's been four years since the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy ended, and Jerry Bruckheimer hasn't produced a hit in that time — which is the sole reason On Stranger Tides is beaching itself in theaters now.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  May 26, 2011

Thor list

Review: Thor

 Love blooms alongside the war
Not as much fun as Iron Man, Kenneth Branagh's take on Marvel's God of Thunder is nevertheless an electrically charged superhero romp while being less of an extended Avengers advertisement than Iron Man 2.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  May 09, 2011



13 list

Review: 13 Assassins

 The latest from prolific director of extreme films, Takeshi Miike.
A prolific director of extreme films, Takeshi Miike (Ichi the Killer) sets his latest in the waning days of feudal Japan's samurai era.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  May 09, 2011

short-take-greatest-story_l.jpg

Review: Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

Morgan Spurlock's new "docbuster"
Morgan Spurlock ( Super Size Me ) is at it again.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  April 19, 2011

watch the movie trailer for the music never stopped

Review: The Music Never Stopped

An exploration of music’s power to heal
An exploration of music's power to heal, this maudlin movie (based on Oliver Sacks's essay "The Last Hippie") features go-to supporting player J.K. Simmons in a rare leading role.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  March 31, 2011

super

Review: Super

Tailor-made-for-the-midnight-circuit curio
If, unlike me, you wish there had been more to the brief exchanges between Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page in Juno , then the dark new comedy from James Gunn ( Slither ) might be for you.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  March 31, 2011

limitless_list

Review: Limitless

Making up for lost time
Neil Burger ( The Illusionist , The Lucky Ones ) hasn't previously displayed much of a personal style, but here he opens with street-level power-of-ten shots, his camera zooming forward, through people and vehicles alike.
By: BRETT MICHEL  |  March 25, 2011


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