Yearly Archives: 2011

Conan the Barbarian (2011) review

Directed by Marcus NispelWritten by Thomas Dean Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer and Sean Hood, fromthe Robert E. Howard characterConan The Barbarian is violent, bloody fantasy, a relentless collection of action sequences barely strung together around a revenge plot and a couple of nasty supernatural villains. It's big, burly and not very smart. In other words, it's…Read More

Joe Queenan on Alien Invader movies

For those who don't know, Joe Queenan is a talented and hilarious commentator onfilm. I recommend his book, "If You're Talking to Me Your Career Must Be In Trouble."He writes periodically for The Guardian. His column today is on the jaw-dropping stupidity of recent escapist fare. He makes a reasonable point.Read More

Captain America: The First Avenger review

Directed by Joe Johnson, Written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, adapted from comics by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby In 2011 we've had five big budget superhero movies, going back to January's Green Hornet and including Thor, X-Men: First Class and Green Lantern in order of release. It's understandable that one might be feeling a little Powers Fatigue, a condition…Read More

Crazy, Stupid, Love review

            Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa Written by Dan Fogelman Oh, I had high hopes for Crazy, Stupid, Love. The directors' previous work includes Bad Santa and I Love You Phillip Morris, both genre-pushing in their own ways. And then there's this cast, which assembled for a romantic…Read More

Bill Murray’s movies

Through the rest of July and August, there's a Bill Murray film festival happening here in Halifax. Every Friday night you can check out one of his movies down at the waterfront: Outdoor movie joy. The big ones are represented, including Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day and Rushmore. This week I wrote a piece in The…Read More

Horrible Bosses review

Directed by Seth Gordon Written by Michael Markowitz, John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein If you've seen the trailer, you know the deal. Three buddies, Nick (Jason Bateman) Dale (Charlie Day) and Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) complain to each other over beers that they each have the world's worst boss. Nick's boss Harken (Kevin Spacey,…Read More