http://www.grouchoreviews.com/ Fri, 17 May 2013 10:16:38 GMT Film/DVD reviews, interviews and features. http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4469 /reviews/4469 The awfulness of the narrative is plain to see, and yet...no one can say Stand Up Guys lacks personality. Thu, 16 May 2013 15:27:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4497 /reviews/4497 Though the film nakedly seeks a wide audience through conventional plotting and characterization…and despite being (like most action movies) guy-centric…Shanghai Noon provides good, clean ‘family‘ fun. Tue, 14 May 2013 18:51:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/684 /reviews/684 This innocent, sixties-style, big-budget comedy-romance-action-adventure romp is solid family entertainment that would make any self-respecting kid‘s jaw drop for a good two hours. Tue, 14 May 2013 18:48:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4503 /reviews/4503 As good as, if not better than, any of the feature films that would later star the Next Generation cast. Tue, 14 May 2013 04:53:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4502 /reviews/4502 Not only did the third season mark a quantum leap in non-niche popularity for the series, but a greater consistency in the show‘s writing and execution that meant a precipitous drop in fan complaints. Tue, 14 May 2013 04:53:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3340 /reviews/3340 All the ingredients for a great evening at the movies: lively music, eye-catching scenery, larger-than-life comic set pieces, suave men and beautiful women, and odd-man-out Clouseau, played to perfection by the one and only Peter Sellers. Mon, 22 Apr 2013 05:07:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4488 /reviews/4488 Day-Lewis...wears well the weariness of the office and Lincoln‘s puckish yet subdued sense of humor, scaling the man closer to life-size than Mount Rushmore monumental. Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:01:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4439 /reviews/4439 Supplements its palace intrigue with the good old-fashioned pull of romance and costume drama...Mikkelsen‘s magnetism and sly expressiveness hold the film‘s center with a quiet potency. Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:57:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4487 /reviews/4487 Monsieur Verdoux can boast a screenplay with a highly unusual moral complexity and a deeply philosophical bent...Yes, Verdoux is a film that name-drops Schopenhauer, but it‘s also damn funny... Mon, 25 Mar 2013 03:21:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4461 /reviews/4461 By most cinematic measures, Zero Dark Thirty is one of the best-made films of 2012. It also probably shouldn‘t exist. Sun, 24 Mar 2013 16:31:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4440 /reviews/4440 In the hands of Ang Lee, a true film artist, Life of Pi elegantly walks Martel‘s philosophical line while also brilliantly using every modern cinematic tool to spin an epic yarn. Tue, 12 Mar 2013 17:17:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4433 /reviews/4433 Built for fun...in its dazzlingly elaborate production design and kinetic 3D action...perfect casting...Who Framed Roger Rabbit-esque video-game-character cameos, and a cramming of clever comic touches... Tue, 05 Mar 2013 18:55:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4407 /reviews/4407 The Master begs for a reorientation of the viewer, perhaps requiring more than one viewing...there‘s nothing easy or conventional about this account of a doomed search for external meaning, doubling as a meditative tone poem on human frailty. Wed, 27 Feb 2013 02:44:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4471 /reviews/4471 While in its romantic and romanticized particulars, this A Star Is Born can often seem silly, hoary, disjointed or meandering, the essence of the showbiz narrative still exerts a powerful pull... Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:16:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4432 /reviews/4432 Gets it right, in the essence of its true story as well as the social discomforts surrounding disability and sane discussion of sexuality. Mon, 25 Feb 2013 18:36:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4463 /reviews/4463 To the extent that Our Man Flint works, it does so due to its tossed-off wit...and the sheer oddity of Coburn, the toothy, gangly character actor who nevertheless charms his way into stardom here with laid-back cool. Wed, 20 Feb 2013 23:41:54 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4474 /reviews/4474 It‘s a shame that In Like Flint plays as such a defensive reaction to on-the-rise American feminism...in most other respects, it‘s a worthy-enough sequel to Our Man Flint. Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:33:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/3623 /reviews/3623 From its jazzy main titles to its gentle fadeout, Monsters, Inc. has something that money can‘t buy. It‘s likeable. Wed, 20 Feb 2013 07:11:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4419 /reviews/4419 Observe the white, middle-class American Catholic teenager in his natural habitat...Though we have, perhaps, never flaunted the fetching eyelashes and perfect skin of these curious creatures...have we not, in a sense, been there? Thu, 14 Feb 2013 01:49:00 GMT Peter Canavese http://www.grouchoreviews.com/reviews/4468 /reviews/4468 Written in four days and shot in fifteen, this homegrown indie shows its seams...in cinematic terms, it‘s pretty weak sauce. Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:06:00 GMT Peter Canavese