Chicago Tribune: Jessica Reaves
The jaunty, energetic first 10 minutes of "The Brothers Bloom" are easily the best first 10 minutes of any film I've seen recently. And while the succeeding hour and 43 minutes doesn't hold up to the movie's opening scenes, the whole endeavor is still an awfully good time. more
Chicago Tribune: Glenn Whipp
After flashing a dismal dance move that would make "Dancing With the Stars" judge Len Goodman weep uncontrollably, the emcee in the Wayans brothers' latest parody, "Dance Flick," holds his nose and proclaims, "That's not just bad. That's everything on the CW bad." more
Chicago Tribune: Michael Phillips
I admit it: I was a little tough on the first "Night at the Museum." My son and I disagree all the time on movies, yet I suppose it took his delight in the film's simple but surefire premise (to preteens especially) to make me reconsider. Also, repeated encounters with the movie on a family vacation after it came out on DVD didn't hurt. That's the key to revising an opinion upward a half-star or so: hammering repetition. more
Chicago Tribune: Betsy Sharkey
This fourth edition of the "Terminator" franchise comes at us with what can only be called McG-force. The director, whose reputation was made in 2000 on the restyled jiggle of "Charlie's Angels," has found in "Salvation" a world that will almost, almost contain his unrestrained energy and rabid optimism, which makes for a movie mash-up of everything that manic imagination and money will buy. more
Chicago Tribune: Michael Phillips
What do you remember about the film version of "The Da Vinci Code," exactly? I remember two things. One is Jean Reno's surprising show of feeling when his character, the weaselly French police inspector, learned he had been betrayed. For a brief, shining moment all the plot mechanics mattered in human terms. more
Chicago Tribune: Michael Phillips
Stephen Belber can write, and in more than one medium. He adapted his play "Tape" in 2001 into an intriguing and well-plotted feature-length indie film, and his TV credits are plentiful. more
Chicago Tribune: Betsy Sharkey
"Adoration," Atom Egoyan's new drama, is about coming of age in the shadow of death. This should have been terra firma for Egoyan. The legacy of a tragic death is the filmmaker's metier, his obsession. Not the death itself, though it might be achingly sad and absolutely senseless. It is what happens next that he is always drawn to - who will be damaged; how is the damage inflicted; what does it mean, if anything at all. more
Chicago Tribune: Betsy Sharkey
"Adoration," Atom Egoyan's new drama, is about coming of age in the shadow of death. This should have been terra firma for Egoyan. The legacy of a tragic death is the filmmaker's metier, his obsession. Not the death itself, though it might be achingly sad and absolutely senseless. It is what happens next that he is always drawn to - who will be damaged; how is the damage inflicted; what does it mean, if anything at all. more
Chicago Tribune: Betsy Sharkey
"Little Ashes" is a trifling historical fantasy, gossip wrapped in gossamer, beautiful to watch, but it takes only a light wind to leave the story in tatters. more
Chicago Tribune: Michael Phillips
Donald Faison plays a Philadelphia courier whose chronic use of the chronic causes him to drop a big box of cocaine at the door of the wrong apartment. The cokehound hood (Cisco Reyes) under the thumb of Mr. Big (Emilio Rivera) realizes he's a dead man unless he retrieves the shipment, now in the hands of the astonished dealers portrayed by Mike Epps and Wood Harris. more
