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BRETT MICHEL

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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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review: Paul

E.T. riff confuses fanboy-baiting references with actual gags
American excess replaces the British austerity vibe that defined the Simon-Pegg-and-Nick-Frost-starring genre send-ups Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz in this love letter to Reagan-era Spielberg.

By: BRETT MICHEL | March 17, 2011

Review: Rango

Johnny Depp stars in Rango. Best of all? It’s not in 3D!
Roger Deakins (True Grit) may have just lost the Academy Award for a criminal ninth time, but his talent as a cinematographer is one of the secret weapons in the first CG movie from live-action director Gore Verbinski (the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy).

By: BRETT MICHEL | March 11, 2011

Review: Just Go With It

Alert social services: this movie is an exercise in abuse
Has Jennifer Aniston's career gone so far off track that she needs to slum in this year's Dennis Dugan–directed Adam Sandler vehicle?

By: BRETT MICHEL | February 15, 2011

Review: Country Strong

Pretty weak
Too-soon-out-of-rehab country star Kelly Canter (a bronzed Gwyneth Paltrow) attempts to twang her way back from a drunken stage dive in Dallas that resulted in a miscarriage.

By: BRETT MICHEL | February 24, 2011

Review: Little Fockers

A transparent cash grab for everyone involved
Mean Streets , Taxi Driver , and . . . Little Fockers ?

By: BRETT MICHEL | December 22, 2010

Review: How Do You Know

Where's the Brooks of Broadcast News ?
It's strange that James L. Brooks should take so long to make his movies, since he started out writing for TV shows like That Girl and My Mother the Car .

By: BRETT MICHEL | December 14, 2010

Review: Tiny Furniture

Lena Dunham makes herself at home
Writer/director/star Lena Dunham's portrait of post-graduate haze finds her character, Aura, moving back to her "photo-artist" mother's TriBeCa loft/studio.

By: BRETT MICHEL | December 07, 2010

Review: Tangled

By: BRETT MICHEL | February 24, 2011

Review: Today's Special

A satisfying dish indeed
Director David Kaplan trades the Cinderella story of 2007's Year of the Fish for the formulaic but still tasty recipe behind his screen adaptation of The Daily Show correspondent Aasif Mandvi's Obie-winning play, Sakina's Restaurant .

By: BRETT MICHEL | November 16, 2010

Review: Cool It

Bjørn Lomborg: environmental Antichrist or nice guy? Or both?
Bjørn Lomborg, the Danish director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, and author of The Skeptical Environmentalist , has been called an idiot and a traitor by his critics — none of whom is given a forum to speak in the new documentary.

By: BRETT MICHEL | November 16, 2010

Review: Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer

Was the Gov a victim of a political hit?
Once the "sheriff of Wall Street," Eliot Spitzer was a "fucking steamroller," flattening foes like former NYSE head Dick Grasso and destitute former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg (his "worthless" stock valued at a paltry $100 million, boo-hoo) during his rise from NY AG to popular governor.

By: BRETT MICHEL | November 11, 2010

Review: Megamind

Let’s hear it for celebrity voices and an excess of licensed pop music!
Did you like Universal's Despicable Me and its computer-animated 3D tale of a misunderstood criminal mastermind? Well, then, you're in luck.

By: BRETT MICHEL | November 03, 2010

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