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MONICA CASTILLO

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Review: Greedy Lying Bastards

Not just another environmental movie about how we're killing our planet and ourselves, Craig Scott Rosebraugh's documentary focuses on the political manipulation of the debate, both nationally and around the world.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | March 06, 2013

Review: Bullet To The Head

Veteran director Walter Hill's return to the screen looks, sounds, and feels like an '80s action movie beefed-up for modern audiences with heaping helpings of messy blood squibs.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | February 05, 2013

Review: 2012 British Arrow Awards

These British imports come from varying corners of the marketplace, from phone companies to soft-drink makers, and seek to appeal to international jet setters, the child in all of us, or even to the daring bit of ourselves that would like to piss off Chef Gordon Ramsay.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | November 21, 2012

Review: Here Comes The Boom

By: MONICA CASTILLO | October 18, 2012

Review: Pitch Perfect

Jason Moore's musical doesn't hit all the high notes, but guilty pleasures are seldom perfect.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | October 04, 2012

Review: Branded

Borderline offensive and overly dense
It's the American Dream, transposed to a new capitalist Russia: a smart kid works his way up to the top of a marketing empire.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | September 11, 2012

Review: Sparkle

Salim Akil's reinterpretation of the 1976 musical drama
There have been worse swan songs committed to film, but Salim Akil's reinterpretation of the 1976 musical drama leaves much to be desired, since the meteoric rise and fall of a three-piece girl group is now well-tread, Oscar-nominated territory.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | August 22, 2012

Review: Girlfriend Boyfriend

Ya-Che Yang's love story
Politics, love, and friendship collide in director Ya-Che Yang's Girlfriend Boyfriend , a love story spanning almost 30 years of Taiwanese history.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | August 01, 2012

Review: That's My Boy

'90s pop culture
Director Sean Anders does nothing to mop up this gross-out comedy mess about a middle-school boy who gets molested by his teacher and ends up raising their love child — with disastrous results.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | June 21, 2012

Review: Mansome

Morgan Spurlock's latest documentary
Morgan Spurlock's latest nonthreatening documentary fails to find much point in its subject: men's grooming.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | May 15, 2012

Review: Think Like A Man

Cleverer than your average rom-com
I guess you can never judge a book by its cover, even if it is Steve Harvey's obnoxiously titled Act like a Lady, Think like a Man.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | April 18, 2012

Review: American Reunion

The Pie returns
Just as predictable and appetizing as Jason Biggs's penis in a pie, the newest addition to the raunchy American Pie franchise comes to audiences half-baked by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | April 11, 2012

Review: 21 Jump Street

More than just a rehash
Everyone bemoans the endless sequels and remakes, but occasionally a treasure like Phil Lord and Chris Miller's 21 Jump Street comes along that redeems the rehashing.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | March 15, 2012

Review: Casa de Mi Padre

Matt Piedmont's spoof of Mexican cinema
Will Ferrell is the macho ranchero with a heart of gold in Matt Piedmont's parody.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | March 15, 2012

Review: The Vow

Notebook knock-off
Michael Sucsy's The Vow's tag line, "based on a true story," is the only sincere moment in a film that will bring you to tears — of boredom.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | February 15, 2012

Review: Revenge of the Electric Car

Chris Paines's provocative documentary
In Chris Paines's provocative documentary, four contenders from different sides of the business world compete to rescue the electric car from obscurity after the auto industry had abandoned it in the early 2000s.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | November 01, 2011

Review: Magic Trip

Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters
Looking for the real Easy Rider ? Swap the Harleys for a multi-colored bus and we have the legend of Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters, whose road trip would change the course of the counterculture.

By: MONICA CASTILLO | August 30, 2011

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