Woody Allen signs up Scarlett Johansson for Spanish lessons in love with Professor Javier Bardem. Director: Woody Allen   One of the most annoying things about being a writer is that I’m best able to process things with my pen or at my keyboard when I’ve had a moment to let things sink in. I’m a big believer in note-taking, especially in film criticism because automatic writing allows some pools of unrealized creativity to eke out. Sometimes I discover things of which I’d been previously... Read Full Story

Originally Published at Blogcritics: A veritable "Ball of Confusion" to "Run Through The Jungle”-- hilarity is this soundtrack’s “Name Of The Game.” Propelled by one of the strongest movie marketing campaigns of the summer from offering up fake documentary clips online to echo the film’s Apocalypse Now roots, becoming the subject of a mock E! True Hollywood Story, and producing enough posters and ads to fill a football field, as a film critic I’ve been bombarded by Tropic Thunder... Read Full Story

Director: Ben Stassen In the woefully misguided feature Fly Me to the Moon, when you mix NASA with talking insects, that’s one small step for man but one annoying subplot involving houseflies. Instead of highlighting houseflies in space, it should have been called Fly Me to footage of Frank Sinatra singing the best version of this song and let’s call it a day. The promising premise sounded like one that couldn’t miss by using outer space and colorful child friendly animation to introduce... Read Full Story

If your house is made of stucco, run like the wind. Director: Mark PellingtonAfter getting his start directing some of the '90’s most recognizable and lauded music videos, including Pearl Jam’s controversial MTV award-winning “Jeremy” and U2’s moving “One,” film critics took note of director Mark Pellington with his 1999 paranoid, terrorism chiller Arlington Road starring Jeff Bridges and Tim Robbins. In fact, in retrospect it seems all the eerier for having been released just two years... Read Full Story

Director: Ben Stiller Former highbrow theatrical director turned filmmaker Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) is in trouble. When the explosives expert (Pineapple Express scene stealer Danny McBride) working on his big budget Vietnam epic film debut misinterprets Cockburn’s temper tantrum for a cue, four million dollars in explosives are wasted, everything is blown to smithereens, and the worst thing is that the camera wasn’t even rolling. Unable to control the actors on his set and... Read Full Story

Partying with Drew Barrymore one day and chasing Tom Cruise the next, an extra's work is never done in Jason Connell's award-winning documentary. Director: Jason Connell Whether the shoot requires a man who can operate a forklift, a young man who plays a violin, a Caucasian grandmother who smokes, or a professional manicurist, chances are an extra can be found among the 45,000 active background actors currently living in the Los Angeles area. With no questions asked as more than 1,000... Read Full Story

Director: Nic Bettauer As I’m sure that Michael Moore will attest, one of the greatest challenges in setting out to make a "message movie" is that, no matter how admirable your intentions may be, you have to fight the urge to preach while reconciling the best way to tell the story. And while at least Moore has the advantage of working in the realm of nonfiction documentary filmmaking — despite critical accusations to the contrary — it’s far more difficult when you’re working in the... Read Full Story

Composer Clint Mansell is a Definitely; the soundtrack is a Maybe Review Originally Published at Blogcritics:Prior to his breakout success composing the score for Darren Aronofsky’s groundbreaking Sundance Film Festival winning directorial debut, Pi, Clint Mansell was best known in his native England as the front-man for his band Pop Will Eat Itself. And although he earned some cult status following the success of Aronofsky’s independent sensation, it wasn’t until he composed not just the... Read Full Story

Director: James Marsh He walks through the air with the greatest of ease, this daring Frenchman brings audiences to their knees. In one of 2008’s most surprising and tightly crafted documentaries, we’re introduced to the notorious and charming daredevil Philippe Peitit in director James Marsh’s Man on Wire. While admittedly he’s so egomaniacal that Petit claims with the utmost conviction that he felt like the Twin Towers had been built for his own personal pleasure, I forgave this bold... Read Full Story

Director: David Gordon Green Let me lay a few images on you: 1) Environmental activist and electric car poster boy Ed Begley Jr. packing heat and dropping f-bombs like pocket change. 2) Petite Rosie Perez putting the smack down on James Franco. 3) Danny McBride baking a cake to commemorate the birthday of his dead cat. 4) Seth Rogen feels insecure when he meets his high school girlfriend’s hot male classmate who’s impressed her, not with his muscles, but his ability to do a killer... Read Full Story