At last!  A real summer movie, the first real satisfying action blockbuster since 28 Weeks Later.  (That was two months ago, for anyone keeping score.)  This fourth movie in the Die Hard series recaptures the gruff wit of the first, classic installment, while expanding upon the destructive insanity of its wackier but still fun sequels.  […]

Evan Almighty shares little in common with its prequel, Bruce Almoghty beyond the character of Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) and Morgan Freeman pigeonholed as always as God. Here, instead of wicked Bruce temping as a substitute God, Evan is asked to build an ark in preparation for a Flood. (Hey, wasn’t the rainbow […]

Much grumbling was done with regards to the second film in this three part adventure series.  The low expectation and incredible payoff of the first film made the second, written specifically to accompany this the third, bound to disappoint.  My readers know that I found #2 (Dead Man’s Chest) to be action packed, funny, and […]

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 […]

As a sequel with a new director and cast, 28 Weeks Later had the potential to just be a franchise for franchise’s sake, like Halloween 3, or any direct-to-landfill profit release, like Bring It On Again. Thankfully, director/co-writer Juan Carlos Fresnadilla took the psychological zing of 28 Days Later and turned it into an […]

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 […]

I’m not a fanboy. I don’t automatically love something when it has the logo of a beloved icon splashed upon it. I feel that Christopher Reeve was and always will be the definitive Man of Steel. That said, this movie is truly incredible. Director Bryan Singer takes up the mantle left […]

I’ll come clean. After all the slaps I got from fanboys about my subjective, personal opinion of the first two X-Men movies, I am not eager to jump in and comment on the third in the series. Sure, this one is different. It’s got a different director, it’s got a whole political […]

The first Mission Impossible was a fun, empty-headed mid-1990’s boom-boom fest, its virtue actually being its vapidity and silliness (helicopters in train tunnels, anyone?). The second one was a forgettable mess in only the way that a latter-day John Woo movie can be - Chinese food for the soul. This one, directed by […]

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 […]