The Criterion Collection's latest release, Chuingking Express (Chung Hing Sam Lam, 1994), is the first film the label has released on Blu-Ray as well as DVD. Moreover, it's a film that has long deserved the Criterion treatment. Released under Miramax's label Rolling Thunder a few years ago, Chungking Express was lost among the slew of ostensible Asian genre films promoted by Quentin Tarantino. Little about the previous edition indicated that the film is...

Quantum of Solace is the second chapter of the re-launched and revitalized James Bond franchise begun in 2006 with Casino Royale. The previous film was easily the best action movie in several years, though an argument could be made for fellow spy-actioner The Bourne Ultimatum. In any case, spy movies are as good as they've been in years, certainly much better than they have been since the 1960s. Quantum of Solace, whatever its faults, is no exception to...

Continuing to adjust to life in the big city and absolutely uninterested in Adam Sandler's latest anyway, it's been a couple weeks since I've seen a film. Until then, I thought I'd address an issue I know is on everyone's minds these days: the Cinematic Marvel Universe.

For the uninitiated, the Marvel Universe refers to every character, plot, and setting owned by Marvel Publishing Group, the comic book publishers who own such familiar characters as Spider-Man, The...

The title of Bill Maher's film (directed by Larry Charles) makes the message clear: religion is ridiculous. Lest I be accused of bias in this review, allow me to clarify that yes, to a certain extent I agree. In the 21st century, as the palpable truths of archaeological and scientific discoveries increasingly contradict the abstract truth of word on paper, it's hard for 16% of us to believe the latter over the former. 16%, as Maher tells us, are those Americans who identify with no...

The latest brainchild of Superbad writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, Pineapple Express fits comfortably into the canon of classic stoner-buddy comedies which revel in the misadventures and male comraderie associated with the illegal herb. Like previous entries such as Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke, a summary of the plot reads like either a "what if" story thought up while stoned or one of those...

The Hellboy movie franchise, much like the comic series on which it is based, is an oddball among others of its type. At a time when most comic book films are produced on a budget of upwards of $150 million, the two entries have cost Universal only $145 million combined. And while comic book films released by rival companies have set box office records (Spider-Man 2 in 2004, The Dark Knight this year), the Hellboy films perform modestly. The first one, in...

By insisting that all plot details be shrouded in secrecy, I worried that 20th Century Fox and X-Files creator Chris Carter were merely providing a likely excuse for their decision not to offer advance press screenings of the new film, a usual sign of a studio’s lack of confidence in a product. If this had been their reasoning, it would have been unnecessary, as X-Files: I Want to Believe is not a bad film and is far better than others that have received press screenings in...

Much of the buzz, press, and reviews surrounding The Dark Knight seem to border on hyperbole, as do the laudatory cliches I am resisting hurling your way right now. If you find this film to be over-hyped, over-saturated, over-played and over-praised, then friend, this website is not for you. Because I am about to launch into what might be one of the most enthusiastic reviews of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight on the entire internets.

Nolan and his co-writer,...

This review is rather late in coming, so I feel it's fair to discuss the critical reception of Get Smart. Most reviewers have dismissed this film, basing much of their arguments on its dissimilarity with the old Don Adams TV show. (By the way, for you kids my age who didn't stay up for "Get Smart" on Nick at Nite, you'll remember Don Adams as the voice of Inspector Gadget.) And true, Get Smart the film lands somewhere between True Lies and Spy...

Meet Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy). He works in an unspecified capacity at an unspecified business in Chicago and is prone to anxiety attacks, frequently brought on by his abusive boss Janis. While Wesley toils away at the office, his girlfriend cheats on him with his best friend in their Wrigleyville apartment, right next to a bar I pass every day on the train (cool!) - or, as Wesley's nagging girlfriend points out, right next to where the train passes every day. Wesley is...

Will Smith, whose career I worried was in jeopardy between Wild Wild West (1999) and i, Robot (2004), returns with another $100+ million blockbuster in Hancock, a mere seven months after  the hit I Am Legend. Both are very good choices for the man who might just be our last true action hero (as the careers of Vin Diesel and The Rock continue to idle and superhero movies increasingly cast "real" actors); horror-actioners and superhero flicks...

The will to survive, to prove oneself and to have access to great powers distiguishing one from all others in an already competitive and saturated world differs in degree amongst people, or say, animals. Kung Fu Panda is one such tale of a panda who's willingness to prove himself worthy of acclaim won him Shifu's belief.

Kung Fu Panda is an ordinary story of a panda who is the son of a noodle restaurant owner. His father has a lot of dreams for him in the noodle business, but...