Alison Willmore

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REVIEW: Shrek Spin-Off Puss in Boots Purrs with Genuine Charm

After the Shrek series used up its charm on rote third and fourth installments that nevertheless raked in giant piles of box office bullion, the prospect of a spin-off…

6 years ago

REVIEW: The Three Musketeers is a Tedious, Incoherent Drag

If Sherlock Holmes could be successfully steampunked into a rakish action hero, there's no reason The Three Musketeers couldn't be gearpunked into some tolerable 17th…

6 years ago

REVIEW: Tense, Timely Margin Call Evokes Occupy Wall Street Outrage

Margin Call isn't the first film to peer into the moneyed, aspirationally heartless world of finance, and it's not going to be the last, but it's got a fair shot at…

6 years ago

REVIEW: Paranormal Activity 3 Good for a Few Jumps and Giggles, But Evaporates Almost Immediately

My complicated muddle of feelings toward the Paranormal Activity franchise are directly related to my acute personal susceptibility to jump scares. They work on me…

6 years ago

REVIEW: Nicole Kidman and Nicolas Cage Fend Off Half-Assed Home Invasion in Trespass

There's so much shouting in Joel Schumacher's hostage thriller Trespass that you start to imagine the cast must have had to take every third day off to sit around in…

6 years ago

REVIEW: Almodóvar's The Skin I Live In a Twisty, Sci-Fi Psychosexual Melodrama

The idea of building a person to spec -- especially when that person is some form of ideal woman -- is one that's haunted the movies in variations from My Fair Lady to…

6 years ago

REVIEW: Gorgeous Doc Bombay Beach Seems Earnest But Raises Questions of Exploitation

Where does appreciation end and exploitation begin? Gorgeous and disquieting, the documentary Bombay Beach wobbles between the two like a beginner gymnast on her first…

6 years ago

REVIEW: Genial Birder Comedy The Big Year Ponders Life's Big Questions, with Few Goofy Hijinks

The Big Year has such an overstuffed comedic cast that it's a shock to realize how modest and unconcerned with generating broad laughs it is. Directed by David Frankel…

6 years ago

REVIEW: The Swell Season Revisits the Stars of Once and Finds Bittersweet Romance

Once casts a long shadow over the The Swell Season, a black-and-white tour documentary co-directed by Nick August-Perna, Chris Dapkins and Carlo Mirabella-Davis. For one…

6 years ago

REVIEW: 1911, Jackie Chan's 100th Movie, a Dour Historical Affair

1911 may be filled with lavish battle sequences and scenes involving masses of extras in picture perfect period garb, but the most breathtaking thing about Jackie Chan's…

6 years ago

REVIEW: Clever Horror Premise Fails Tucker & Dale vs Evil Halfway Through

While it's not quite enough to fuel a whole feature, the premise of Tucker & Dale vs Evil is a slice of meta-genre brilliance: What if the creepy, forbidding locals who…

6 years ago

REVIEW: Kenneth Lonergan's Flawed But Glorious Margaret Somehow Hits the Mark

There's always been a soft spot in my heart for grand, uncompromising, crazy-eyed acts of directorial ambition/folly -- films like Southland Tales and The Fountain…

6 years ago

REVIEW: Kevin Smith's Red State Offers Easy Cynicism and Little Else

If you need yet another sign of how impossible it's become to separate the public persona of Kevin Smith from his films, look no further than the posters for Red State…

6 years ago

REVIEW: Taylor Lautner Avoids Poking Himself in the Eye — Barely — in Abduction

It's been established that Taylor Lautner can shuck a mean shirt, but can he hold together an action movie in its lead role? Over the approving shrieks of the Twilight…

6 years ago

REVIEW: Machine Gun Preacher Fails as a Tale of Rebirth, Redemption and Kicking Ass

There's a theoretical sweet spot to be found for Machine Gun Preacher -- that of the multi-quadrant film, as the marketers say. It aims to be a hard-charging actioner…

6 years ago

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