Photo: Magnet Releasing In searching for a way to describe John Woo's Red Cliff the best I can come up with is to call it exactly what it is, a beautifully rendered 208 A.D. Chinese epic living in the world of a John Woo blockbuster popcorn feature. However, such a description seems almost contradictory, but nonetheless as accurate as I can get when referring to this equally playful, romantic and violent war story loosely based on the 14th-century Chinese novel "Romance of the Three Kingd... Read Full Story

Quinton Aaron and Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side Photo: Warner Bros. In an attempt at full disclosure, I saw the trailers for The Blind Side and had little hope it could be any good. I walked in expecting yet another sappy melodrama featuring a poor black kid saved by a rich white person story. In reality, that's exactly what this film is, but it's executed on a level where it isn't as dreadful as one would assume, or the trailers would lead you to believe. As a matter of fact, it's act... Read Full Story

#1 movie predicted correctly: 3 Weeks in a Row 1. The Twilight Saga: New Moon Brad and I had one of our rare movie disagreements over this title, and it's most likely because I read the book while he stopped after Twilight. I thought it was a solid adaptation, he didn't dig it. It's okay, we're still pals. As for the box office call here, I'm going above almost everyone I've seen predictions from, but it's an extremely tricky film to project. Before I break it down, please note that the la... Read Full Story

Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner in The Twilight Saga: New Moon Photo: Summit Entertainment Assuming the audience has nothing better to do, The Twilight Saga: New Moon struggles to tell its tiny tale over the course of two hours and ten minutes as a world inhabited by vampires, werewolves and who knows what else is pushed to the side in an effort to watch as a girl is prepared to throw her life away following her vampire lover's departure. To think they could get this film this wrong af... Read Full Story

I am an unashamed Kevin Smith fan, and primarily of his earlier, less mature work. If there's such a thing as quality dick and fart joke movies, I would say Kevin's pre-Jersey Girl films fit the description. While I wasn't a big fan of either Clerks 2 or Zack and Miri Make a Porno, films such as Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Mallrats and Dogma are personal comedic favorites of mine and Miramax's Kevin Smith Blu-ray collection brings two of those along with what may be Smith's most r... Read Full Story

People were starving for an "event" movie and 2012 was definitely that. Brad didn't love it, and I'm right there with him. It certainly had flaws. But it's been months since the last tentpole release, and timing was far more important than quality in this instance. #1 movie predicted correctly: 3 Week In A Row 1. 2012 And really, it could have been much worse. The effects were solid. It was nice to see it outperform Emmerich's 10,000 B.C., a film that was even more flawed. It should have a ... Read Full Story

George Clooney voices Mr. Fox in Fantastic Mr. Fox Photo: Fox Searchlight Pictures I have no idea how Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox will be received by general audiences, or if they will even show up to see it. I can guess, and say many audiences won't find the humor in it. I can also guess those same people will be annoyed as I sit next to them laughing and loving every minute of it. As a so-so fan of Wes Anderson's work I can tell you I think Bottle Rocket is outstanding and I don't ... Read Full Story

Special effects are the star in 2012 Photo: Columbia Pictures Roland Emmerich brought in aliens to destroy the world in 1996 with Independence Day. In 1998 he gave the keys to a giant mutant lizard trying to destroy New York City in Godzilla. Weather was to blame in 2004 when he directed The Day After Tomorrow and now, in 2009, the sun is the culprit as the Earth's core is heating up and 2012 will no longer be known as just another a year as much as it will be the year the Mayans predicte... Read Full Story

Philip Seymour Hoffman in Pirate Radio Photo: Focus Features Richard Curtis's Pirate Radio features a collage of misfits played by some of the U.K.'s greatest comedic actors with Philip Seymour Hoffman bringing a taste of America to the story. The story isn't true, but is loosely based on a very real situation in the 1960s when the government-backed British Broadcasting Company (BBC) broadcast barely played two hours of rock and pop music every week over the U.K. radio airwaves. Compare t... Read Full Story

Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster in The Messenger Photo: Oscilloscope Laboratories The Messenger plays as something of a companion piece to Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, but whereas The Hurt Locker kept your attention with instense action sequences leading into more dramatic "effects of war" elements, The Messenger is a much more somber and depressing feature, which should pretty much seal the fate on its box-office success. However, it has already won the affection of soldiers for its... Read Full Story