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ALICIA POTTER

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Review: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Animated fare will leave kids unsatisfied
This bizarre animated adaptation of Judi Barrett's cult-classic children's book by Phil Lord and Chris Miller ladles up much to chew on yet little that's appetizing.

By: ALICIA POTTER | September 16, 2009

Review: Post Grad

Kooky!
Vicky Jenson's grainy Little Miss Sunshine spawn starts promisingly, with Carol Burnett as a caftan-clad coffin dodger inhaling oxygen and a bag of Cheetos.

By: ALICIA POTTER | August 19, 2009

Review: G-Force

Surprisingly satirical
A hero named Darwin and a convoluted plot about "global extermination" are the first clues that director Hoyt Yeatman isn't taking the cute route with his cast of animated guinea pigs.

By: ALICIA POTTER | July 28, 2009

Review: Herb and Dorothy

Affecting, yet leisurely
Over a 50-year marriage in a cramped, pet-filled New York City apartment, Herb and Dorothy Vogel amassed a multi-million-dollar 4800-piece collection of contemporary art.

By: ALICIA POTTER | July 08, 2009

Review: I Love You, Beth Cooper

A special brand of teen pain
Hayden Panettiere provokes many emotions as the title object of desire in Chris Columbus's dreadful teen romance. Love is not one of them.

By: ALICIA POTTER | July 08, 2009

Review: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Pummeling awfulness
Directed by Carlos Saldanha and Mike Thurmeier, the third go-round of the animated franchise — this time in 3-D — is as numbing as its geological era.

By: ALICIA POTTER | July 01, 2009

Review: Imagine That

Forces you to follow its eponymous directive
Eddie Murphy proves he doesn't need a fat suit to play soft in Karey Kirkpatrick's surprisingly nuanced family comedy.

By: ALICIA POTTER | June 10, 2009

Review: The Country Teacher

Risible
Czech writer/director Bohdan Sláma's histrionic drama finds dour teacher Petr (Pavel Liska) fleeing from a private Prague academy to a rural elementary school.

By: ALICIA POTTER | May 19, 2009

Review: Management

Logic checks out
With a tip of the name badge to Norman Bates, a mama's boy of a motel manager hooks up with an emotionally stunted executive for a romance that's stiffer than a Radisson bedspread.

By: ALICIA POTTER | May 13, 2009

Review: Trinidad

Vacillates between revelation and reality-show shtick
In contrast to its eloquent subjects, director P.J. Raval's documentary about Trinidad, Colorado — the "Sex Change Capital of the World" — seems uncertain about its aspirations.

By: ALICIA POTTER | April 15, 2009

Review: Shall We Kiss?

Is a kiss ever without consequence?
Writer/director Emmanuel Mouret fancies himself Éric Rohmer, Woody Allen, or maybe both in this talky romantic trifle.

By: ALICIA POTTER | April 15, 2009

Review: The Black Balloon

The complicated nature of acceptance
Toni Collette as another unflappable mother? This time to a spoon-banging, shit-smearing autistic teen?

By: ALICIA POTTER | April 06, 2009

Rachel Getting Married

An exhausting march down the aisle
By the time the Ganesha cake is cut, you’re left with the poodle as the only family member worthy of empathy.

By: ALICIA POTTER | October 09, 2008

A Man Named Pearl

An earnest yet inspiring documentary
The film makes up for its lack of conflict with the quiet power of its imagery: a descendant of sharecroppers coaxing scrubby brush into great green gumdrops and sculptural swirls.

By: ALICIA POTTER | October 01, 2008

Baby Mama

Largely laugh-barren
Not even SNL’s whipsmart Tina Fey and Amy Poehler can save writer/director Michael McCuller’s pregnancy comedy from its fate as another condescending, self-congratulatory fantasy of maternal bliss.

By: ALICIA POTTER | April 23, 2008

P.S. I Love You

A middling effort for Hilary Swank
Gerry is the perfect dead man, showing up shirtless à la Ghost or in stagy flashbacks.

By: ALICIA POTTER | December 19, 2007

The Life of Reilly

Flamboyant revelations
Equally at ease reciting a soliloquy from Hamlet as he is imitating Meryl Streep, Reilly flips off those who dismiss him or, worse, think he’s dead.

By: ALICIA POTTER | November 14, 2007

Fred Claus

Bad Santa ripoff
As for infusing the ol’ ho-ho-ho, the most Christmasy moments for this reviewer arose whenever a nearby critic groaned, “Oh Christ!”

By: ALICIA POTTER | November 08, 2007

My Kid Could Paint That

A layered art-world exploitation
Marla Olmstead, the subject of Amir Bar-Lev’s absorbing documentary, at once reveals an artist’s temperament: dark moods, fits of inspiration, a reticence to discuss her work.

By: ALICIA POTTER | October 10, 2007

Arctic Tale

Whisker-close footage
All the same, this effort soundly delivers the inconvenient truth to the generation who’ll inherit it.

By: ALICIA POTTER | August 01, 2007

Eagle Vs. Shark

Passion ignites at an animal-themed costume party
Love means never having to admit you deserve better than a dour dork with nunchucks.

By: ALICIA POTTER | June 20, 2007

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