Archive for the 'Catch it on HBO' Category

Shrek the Third

May 182007

Longtime Cinerina readers well know that I am no Shrek fan. Oh sure, the first movie was full of sly digs at Walt Disney animation studios and various corporate America icons - but funny? A little. Not better than Pixar’s Monsters Inc., which it inexplicably beat for the first ever Animated Feature […]

Spider-Man 3

May 42007

I didn’t really want to see this movie. Generally, I have liked the Spider-Man movies more than many of the other comic book adaptations, but I had zero interest in a third go-round. Seventy-five minutes into it, I check my watch and groaned, realizing from the preview that we haven’t even introduced all […]

In The Land of Women

Apr 202007

When I walked out of the theatre, I felt satisfied, as if I had sat down to a good meal at a new restaurant. I thought I had a lot of nice story things to chew on and appreciate…and then I forgot all about it. Signs of age or deceptively shallow filmmaking? […]

The Number 23

Feb 232007

Jim Carrey has made many brave choices, as do so many comedians who parlay their comic skills into acting, and The Number 23 is one of them. I am a noisy advocate of his dramatic work, and this first time he attempting a psychological thriller is a departure from his previous excellent choices. […]

Eragon

Dec 152006

As my companion dourly noted, “I just paid $30.00 to see Star Wars.” (And yes, that’s matinee pricing and all I had was a water.) As you have probably heard by now, the book on which the movie was based was written by Christopher Paolini when he was 15 years old. Now, […]

Fast Food Nation

Nov 222006

Eric Schlosser’s non-fiction book Fast Food Nation is a dense but fascinating (and nightmare inducing) read, an in-depth dissection of the many elements that feed and influence the fast food machine in the U.S. I have to confess I couldn’t get all the way through it - about half way through the chapter […]

Keeping Mum

Sep 152006

Had the lushly shot opening sequence not utterly ruined the film (dramatic irony serves no narrative purpose here except to foment impatience), I think I would have enjoyed this movie much more than I did. I don’t want to ruin it for you (even as I accuse the filmmakers) since maybe you’ll catch it […]

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Aug 42006

Well, if you liked Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, you’ll probably love Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. I keep having great hopes for Will Ferrell. He entices me in a way most of the frat pack does not, drawing me in despite his track record with me (Elf and Bewitched, he was […]

Ice Age: The Meltdown

Mar 312006

How can Robots be so good and both Ice Age movies be so lame? Sure, both Ice Age movies have good attention to detail insofar as biology and various species-specific jokes, but when the best part of both movies is the non-verbal interstitial episodes of Scrat trying to get his walnut, maybe you should […]

Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World

Jan 202006

One mistake one should never make is seeing a movie like this right after seeing a movie like Munich. It will scramble your communication skills completely. Taking advantage of the Ricky Gervaise-inspired craze of comedy through self-immolation (metaphorical), Albert Brooks directs his self-penned trip to a land of self-immolation (literal) to see what […]