'Mirror Mirror' Review

Mirror Mirror is the first of two Snow White movies we're getting this year. This one has Julia Roberts in it. The other, Snow White and...

Massive Attack - "Weather Storm"

Take a deep breath. Hold it in. OK, now, let it out. Feel the anxiety leaving your body.

Debating the 'Bully' Ratings Controversy

Earlier this week, I wrote about the brouhaha over the documentary Bully and its R rating. Matt Singer, who writes the Criticwire blog ov...

Back Stage: Reviews of 'Wrath of the Titans,' 'Intruders,' 'Bully'

It's time for this week's installment of Screen Grab, my weekly Back Stage column where I give you a quick rundown of what's co...

'Fear and Desire' at New Directors/New Films

For years, Stanley Kubrick didn't want you to see Fear and Desire , his debut feature that he made in the early 1950s. Naturally, that m...

Harvey Weinstein and the Ratings Controversy Over 'Bully'

By and large, I don't care what movies are rated. I don't have kids, so it doesn't make a difference to me. But when I saw Bully...

Sam Worthington Knows You Didn't Like 'Clash of the Titans'

I've never quite understood this tendency to promote a sequel by badmouthing the movie you made before it. Last year, everybody associat...

The Future Ain't What It Used to Be, 'Hunger Games' Edition

For Deadspin , I did a fun little piece in which I looked at how The Hunger Games depicts our bleak future and then compared it to other way...

Brad Paisley - "Oh Yeah, You're Gone"

Of all the many reasons that music critic Robert Christgau is a national treasure and a constant must-read, he's responsible for gettin...

My Back Stage Column: 'Hunger Games,' 'The Raid,' 'The Deep Blue Sea'

A lifetime ago, an actress girlfriend of mine would go to the newsstand every week to pick up the latest copy of Back Stage , which was know...

'The Raid: Redemption' and the Lure of Ultra-Violence

Above is the trailer for The Raid: Redemption , the buzzed-about film that finally hits U.S. theaters this weekend. For Gawker , I wrote abo...

The Pressure on Hollywood's Next Generation of Stars

With The Hunger Games coming out on Friday, I was thinking about Jennifer Lawrence. Two years ago, most people didn't know her at all....

'The Hunger Games' Review

The wait is over: The Hunger Games comes out next Friday... and I think the movie is just OK. In fact, I was reminded of the first film I ev...

Will Ferrell Sure Loves the Bizarre, Huh?

In honor of Casa de Mi Padre , I did some thinking about Will Ferrell's career. He's always had a love for the weird -- "Goulet...

Cathy Dennis - "Too Many Walls"

As I continue to digest Sleigh Bells' Reign of Terror , I saw that Spin talked to the band about their musical inspirations for the al...

'Jeff, Who Lives at Home,' the Duplass Brothers, and That Whole Mumblecore Thing

For Gawker , I shared my enthusiasm for Jeff, Who Lives at Home , which really impressed me. I'd heard such mediocre things from friend...

What's Next for Andrew Stanton, Director of 'John Carter'?

For this week's IFC Fix piece, I did some thinking about Pixar's Andrew Stanton, who ( as I've mentioned before ) I really like...

'Casa de mi Padre' Review

Of Hollywood's A-list stars, Will Ferrell is the one whose movies are the trickiest for me to review. I thought Talladega Nights was pr...

Is It Time to Give Up on Eddie Murphy?

A Thousand Words comes out today, and the reviews have been pretty wretched . To be fair, it's a movie that Paramount has been keeping ...

Sleigh Bells - "Comeback Kid"

I'm still processing Sleigh Bells' Reign of Terror , but my preliminary take is that if Treats was their Fever to Tell , this is the...

'Silent House,' 'Open Water' and Horror Movies Based Around Gimmicks

Over at Deadspin , I wrote about Silent House , which stars Elizabeth Olsen. (It's funny to think that Silent House debuted at the same ...

'John Carter' Review

Outside of John Lasseter, Pixar's two biggest creative forces are arguably Andrew Stanton and Brad Bird. Stanton worked on the screenpla...

'Myth of the American Sleepover' > 'Project X'

As you may recall, I wasn't too high on Project X . Over the weekend, I was thinking about recent teen films that I did like, and one i...

Yuck - "Shook Down"

Yuck's self-titled debut came out just a little over a year ago. It made my Pazz & Jop ballot , which prompted a colleague to commen...

'Project X' Review

When I first saw the trailer for Project X back in November , I seriously thought for a second that it was a horror movie. (With all the ha...