Hollywood is hoping this weekend will prove to be that moment when audiences are tired of the blockbuster action and will be looking for laughs. But, with Get Smart and The Love Guru opening Friday, are they going to be looking for yuks in all the wrong places? Read more »

For all the sci-fi geeks out there, we have two movies opening this weekend that should keep them happy. First up, we have a remake of The Incredible Hulk a scant five years after the last version. Then we have The Happening, a look at a mysterious eco-disaster that puts a confused look on Marky Mark Walhberg 's face. Read more »

You Don't Mess with the Zohan is another unfunny disaster from Adam Sandler, but not one lacking ambition or drive. Usually, Sandler simply puts on some funny voices and acts like a emotionally-stunted man-child as he acts out against father figures who only slightly resembles a college of patriarchal resentment. (Why else would watching Sandler beat up Bob Barker resonate so fully within his work?) With Zohan, there is something larger at play in the story of a Mossad agent (That's Israel's version of the CIA) who dreams of moving to America away from the constant conflict of his country in order to pursue his dream as a hair stylist. No one can slam the movie for un-originality: This is probably the first big summer movie that uses the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a starting point. But the script - as done by Sandler, former SNL Robert Smigel, and comic mastermind Judd Apatow (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up) - suggests that it started out as a parody of every conceivable stereotype conceived by modern society but ended up embracing those same stereotypes for cheap laughs. Read more »

We get rather two rather cartoonish flicks this week. Read more »

I didn't hate the HBO series "Sex and the City" because I am a guy. I hated that very popular show because it sought to promote tired sitcom clichés about woman (materialism over substance, being focused on career in sacrifice of personal lives) and attempted to make those clichés “fresh” by adding a layer of profanity and sexual material. Some would call this "provocative and daring" but such aspiration would require some sort of intellectual curiosity on the part of the writing staff. Not to mention performances whose shallowness matches the level of the characters they were playing. Just because I am of the less fair gender doesn't mean I can't appreciate bad writing and faux trend-i-ness for what it really is. Read more »

The Strangers, by first-time writer/director Brian Bertino, is a film that starts out with massive potential; a rare horror film that builds up dread and suspense not with blood and guts but with silence and atmosphere. A film that ratchets up the audience for a good hour in a way that hasn’t been seen since the silent movie era and certainly not seen in “victim porn” decade of Saw and Hostel . What’s so frustrating is that the last half-hour of the film completely wastes everything that came before and devolves into an ending that is as tired and well-worn as it is squirm-inducing and unpleasant. How can The Strangers be so bad after starting so good? Read more »

It's time for the kids to head back out of the multiplexes as Hollywood decides to offer some adult fare after a May of blockbusters. Up first is the Sex and the City film and, for everyone else who already know they don't want to see that, we have the spooky flick The Strangers.
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