10s movies
Movie Review: The Skeleton Twins
3.5 stars out of 5 As we adjust to yet another new SNL cast, we get nostalgic for not-ready-for-prime-time players past. So sure I was going to see Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig, the strongest male and female cast members of recent vintage, in their new movie. Heck, I was just happy that Hader had […]
Movie Review: The Drop
3 stars out of 5 I was at the movies when James Gandolfini died. I remember driving back with my buddy Sean, looking at my phone, and seeing everyone writing to me on Facebook or texting, “Dude, where’s your R.I.P.?” So that was real sad. Especially with the Jersey connection. Still, now that more than […]
Movie Review: The Trip to Italy
3.5 stars out of 5 You could call this Comedians in Cars Eating Pasta, except Coogan and Brydon hit the road first. Their original Trip movie arrived in 2011, cobbled together from a U.K. TV series. The concept is the same for the sequel: The two competitive pals drive around, ostensibly reviewing restaurants, but really […]
Movie Review: Magic in the Moonlight
3.5 stars out of 5 We have kind of an arrangement: Woody Allen makes movies, and I go see them. There’s a certain comfort level. The credits font, the old-timey music. I always think they’re good—and sometimes they’re very good. Sometimes they’re more developed, and sometimes—like with this one—they’re more like a novella. Or maybe […]
Movie Review: Into the Storm
2 stars out of 5 I’ll admit it: I’m a storm-porn addict. Hurricane Irene on the Weather Channel? Ohhh that was good stuff. And Sandy? Well why watch when you can LIVE it—oh yessssssss!!! So, with no knowledge in my head about this film except that the word “storm” was in the title and it […]
Movie Review: Boyhood
4 stars out of 5 I haven’t seen a movie with Ethan Hawke in it since 1989. He and I have a complicated history. But when I heard all the amazing buzz about the movie Boyhood, I figured the quarter-century boycott would finally come to an end. I am glad it did. This is an […]
Movie Review: Monty Python Live (Mostly)
4 stars out of 5 Pallbearers carrying a coffin along a country road. This was my first memory of Monty Python. I was too young to watch it—my parents were watching, I suppose?—but the scene caught my eye. One of the pallbearers collapsed. The other pallbearers took notice, put the coffin down, opened it, put […]
Movie Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
3.5 stars out of 5 I began my review of 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes by calling it “quite entertaining but also tremendously stupid” and ended the review by saying “I will see the sequel, however. Oop oop.” Well, guess what I saw last night? (No, not Boyhood. Good guess, though!) And […]
Movie Review: Jersey Boys
2 stars out of 5 I felt almost legally obliged to see a movie called Jersey Boys. And as it began, I thought, “This is for me.” It’s 1951 in Belleville, New Jersey. Hey, Belleville is right up the street from me! And there’s Lucky Luciano from Boardwalk Empire! Now Christopher Walken is getting a […]
Movie Review: The Amazing Spider-Man 2
2.5 stars out of 5 Wait, X-Men 18 can’t come out yet, I still need to review Spidey 2! For the first… I don’t know, hour?… I was basically enjoying this. Despite the fact that it’s not great, the writing is flimsy, and Spider-Man’s suit looks really cheap. I know, I know, teenage Peter made […]
Jack Silbert, curator