Liberal? Conservative? Our nation has been split in two; a gangland of citizens who love to bicker over political minutiae, choosing sides with the sort of venom typically reserved for pro wrestling or the finer points of KISStory. However, I think our brittle populace can all agree on one thing: the searing, unyielding pain of an atrocious comedy. "An American Carol" is such a beast, hoping to be the first Conservative-angled production to break free from assured ridicule and enjoy a rich box office life, yet comes staggering to the screen crippled with an absurd agenda, farcical impotence, and necrotic taste in comedic targets.

Michael Malone (Kevin Farley) is a left-wing documentary filmmaker with a healthy appetite for anti-American liberal stunts and an even bigger interest in junk food. Trying to make the ultimate confrontational statement, Malone is campaigning to abolish the Fourth of July on...Read the entire review

The western doesn't get much play these days. It's a genre that's losing ground to the candied thrills of the multiplex, but when a production strolls along that's worth the price of admission, it's something to celebrate. "Appaloosa" is such a film: a carefully metered story of frontier justice, anchored with unusually evocative moments of companionship and invigorating character development.

Arriving in the town of Appaloosa, hired guns Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) assume the role of the law to protect the locals against the outside influence of Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons) and his vicious gang. Settling into town, Virgil and Everett meet Allison French (Renee Zellweger), a polite piano player with designs on both men to suit her needs of domestic comfort. Trying to retrieve Bragg from his compound on murder charges, the gunslingers find the situation complicated by c...Read the entire review

Behold, the sordid, twisted tale of...the intermittent windshield wiper! While a kindly underdog story, "Flash of Genius" is digging pretty low for a concept that could sustain the inspirational cinema treatment, and the picture shows unmistakable fatigue trying to scrounge up a roller coaster ride concerning underhanded automobile industry practices.

College professor and inventing enthusiast Robert Kearns (Greg Kinnear) has come up with a motor that runs windshield wipers automatically, removing the aggravation of drivers forced to control the rain-clearing action on their own. Excited about his invention, Robert, with friend Gil (Dermot Mulroney), takes the wipers to the major automakers, hoping to score big and take care of his large family, including supportive wife, Phyllis (Lauren Graham). While Ford takes on Kearns, pushing him into years of development and encouraging plans for a fact...Read the entire review

Bill Maher has never befriended religion. In fact, widespread subscription to organized faith infuriates him, making his well-read, incredibly researched mind explode with incredulity. To Maher, religion is poison, rotting humanity from the inside with wild promises of heavenly reassurance contrasting a world of direct menace. Trying to make some sense out of the intangible logic of faith, Maher hits the road, roaming all over the globe to question believers on just why they choose to believe.

Recruiting Larry Charles ("Borat") for directorial inspiration, Maher positions "Religulous" as a comedy first, an atheist recruitment device second, and a hard-charging news piece third. That screwy order of purpose is exactly why the picture is such a puzzling effort. Maher has so much to say with this movie, but the execution resembles shotgun blasts of acid, intelligence, and disdain, never gelling into a p...Read the entire review

So, Nick and Nora really like their martinis, right? I mean, really like them. You could say they are living the high life on highballs. That is, until this murder happens, and Nora decides that it would be fun to try to solve it. The murder victim is this really thin guy, and they call him the "the thin man," which a lot of people think is actually a nickname for Nick but that's not true. And--

Wait, wait, wait. Wrong movie. I'm supposed to be talking about Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. That's Norah, with an "h." Maybe I'm the one who should lay off the highballs.

William Powell and Myrna Loy have been dispensed with, and they are now replaced with Michael Superbad Cera and Kat The House Bunny Dennings, two cute kids who like to ...Read the entire review

Some movies start off shaky and get better as they go. Some you are unsure about at first but like more the longer they sit with you. Blindness fits into both of these categories, and though the movie never quite lives up to the level of quality the material demands, it does have a fair amount to recommend it.

The high-concept slug for Blindness is that one day, without warning and without apparent cause, people start losing their sight. As the first victim, a Japanese man (Yusuke Iseya), describes it, it's not like the accepted norm for blindness, the absence of something and a curtain of black. Intsead, it's too much of everything, like all the lights have been switched on at once, creating an expanse of white where the world used to be. He says it's "like ...Read the entire review

As a comedic performer, there are few as sharp as Simon Pegg these days. However, Pegg was introduced to American audiences through witty, intelligent productions such as "Spaced," "Shaun of the Dead," and "Hot Fuzz." Now established as something of a leading man, Pegg's career has swayed toward more predictable fare, lacking the assured punch expected from such a talent. "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People" joins the recent "Run Fatboy Run" as material below Pegg's capability, but nevertheless held together by his growing starpower.

Running a mean-spirited entertainment magazine in London, Sidney Young (Simon Pegg) is brought to America by publishing magnate Clayton Harding (Jeff Bridges, a comedic sniper) to hobnob with the rich and famous and write puff pieces. Eager to make his celebrity acceptance dreams come true, Sidney is paired with Alison (Kirsten Dunst) to learn the ropes, soon fal...Read the entire review

"Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" is based on the novel by Rachael Cohn and David Levithan, a fact that is constantly reinforced to the audience through the film's near total absence of narrative consistency. A flighty, poppy dream factory posing as an articulate teen diversion, "Playlist" is caloric with whimsy but lacks distinctive dramatic weight, to a degree that it ceases to be a movie and transforms into something resembling a tiresome Diet Coke commercial.

Fresh from a gig with his band, Nick (Michael Cera) reluctantly spends a night in New York City with his friends, trying to get over his nasty break-up with spoiled brat Tris (Alexis Dziena). At the club, Nick runs into Norah (Kat Dennings), and the two spark up some chemistry, much to the impatience of Tris and Norah's boozehound friend Caroline (Ari Graynor). When word of a popular band's secret show hits the city, the ragtag posse hit...Read the entire review

Forced to walk a difficult release path since its ill-fated Sundance debut in 2007, "Hounddog" has been reworked and purged of its sins, hoping to drop the unofficial title "The Dakota Fanning Rape Movie" and move on to more promising assessments of quality beyond the superficial. While accusations of sensationalism are unfounded, "Hounddog" remains a crude, tedious affair, providing some insight as to why the film was ignored nearly two years ago and why it should remain so today.

A young North Carolina free spirit, Lewellen (Dakota Fanning) spends her day romping around the backwoods, avoiding the stern punishments of Grammie (Piper Laurie) and her father (David Morse), while dreaming of Elvis and his musical liberation. A pre-teen on the verge of womanhood, Lewellen is unaware of her burgeoning sexuality, attracting the attention of lecherous boys while trying to sort out her own domestic troubles...Read the entire review

To shamelessly purple nerple a popular catchphrase: "What happens in depressing, unfilmable novels stays in depressing, unfilmable novels." "Blindness" is a great candidate for the annual "did we really need this?" awards; it's a dreary jumble of social criticisms and fear mongering that seems perfectly suited to the limitations of a short film. Instead the picture is elongated to a punishing two hours of suffering, infuriatingly slavish screenwriting, and a director who should be gifted the miracle of a tripod this upcoming holiday season.

Out of nowhere, a pandemic of blindness has struck a major city, turning the controlled chaos of life into complete disorder. When the illness hits the home of Doctor (Mark Ruffalo), he's sent to an abandoned sanitarium under Government control, with Wife (Julianne Moore), who remains sighted, along for support. Making a home out of the rancid conditions wi...Read the entire review

"Talk to the paw." Yes, that's an actual line from "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," Disney's latest attempt to induce drastic birth control methods in America. I feel like an ogre beating up on such a mindless, semi-harmless production aimed directly at distracting toddlers while moms and dads fight about house payments, but it's difficult for me to condone such unfunny funny business. "Chihuahua" is terrible and kids deserve better.

A pampered pooch, Chloe (voiced by Drew Barrymore) lives a life of California luxury with her owner, fragrance tycoon Viv (Jamie Lee Curtis). Entrusting Chloe to her niece Rachael (Piper Perabo), Viv takes off on business, leaving Rachael stuck bringing the dog along on an impromptu trip to Mexico. Wandering away from her hotel, Chloe is kidnapped and forced to join an illegal dog-fighting circuit. Finding comfort in former police dog Delgado (Andy Garcia), Chloe manages to es...Read the entire review

The Film:
The complaints, comments and comparisons surrounding Choke, based on Chuck Palahiniuk's novel of the same name, were inevitable and unavoidable. You could hear people after the screening either complaining that it was not enough like the book, or commenting that writer-director Clark Gregg did an admirable job of adapting the source material to film. Likewise, you could hear people complaining that it was either too dark and raunchy, or not nearly dark and raunchy enough. And of course, there was the debate of how it stacked up to another film based on a Palahiniuk book. Such is the unenviable fate of a film like Choke, adapted from a book by a cult novelist, whose rabid fans have been waiting nine years since his last work was turned into the iconoclastic film Fight Club.

Sam Rockwell stars as Victor Mancini, a sex addict making a half-ass attempt at cleanin...Read the entire review

Childhood pangs of loneliness and parental discord are important features of the black comedy "Choke." An adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's 2001 novel, the picture is a difficult amalgamation of tones and characters, lacking a needed core, but nevertheless remains an engrossing observation of diseased people engaged in self-loathing behaviors.

An employee at a Colonial recreation tourist destination, Victor (Sam Rockwell) spends his days barely tolerating his job, and his nights toying with sex addiction and petty scams. His mother (Anjelica Houston) is in a nursing home with dementia, and Victor struggles with his painful past, where he bounced around foster homes while his damaged mother berated his behavior and filled his head with deceit. When a kindly doctor (Kelly Macdonald) enters his life, Victor feels the uncomfortable onslaught of love filling his soul, only he hasn't a clue how to process it...Read the entire review

My beloved readers, this is why they call it "star power." A shameless, sentimental, sudsy soap opera, "Nights in Rodanthe" is kept animated by the superior work of the cast, who take the surface mentality of the source material and make it a deeply felt, agreeably tragic romantic experience. "Rodanthe" is obvious, but it's very effective.

Trying to juggle the demands of her kids and her husband's attempts at reconciliation after an affair, Adrienne (Diane Lane) takes off to the North Carolina coastal town of Rodanthe to play manager for the week at her friend's bed and breakfast beachfront establishment. The only guest during a stormy weekend is Paul (Richard Gere), a troubled doctor looking to sort out his life in the town, attempting to work up the courage to eventually confront his estranged son (James Franco) in South America. Drawn together through conversation, Adrienne and Paul open up their ...Read the entire review

A high-tech paranoia thriller with severe terrorism and patriotism overtones, "Eagle Eye" will be best remembered as the film where director D.J. Caruso sold his soul to the wicked Hollywood machine. An empty calorie, implausible action film with the sort of visual diarrhea most associated with Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay, "Eagle Eye" squanders a stunning start on a wheezing screenplay obese with mass stupidity and grand theft movie.

Reeling from the death of his twin brother, Jerry Shaw (Shia LeBeouf, in full slack-jawed, sprinting mode) has returned to his apartment only to find a wealth of terrorist machinery waiting for him and federal agents on their way (Billy Bob Thornton, Rosario Dawson). Contacting him on his cell phone is a female voice (Julianne Moore) with specific instructions for escape, using all means of technology to guide Jerry to an unknown destination. Teamed up with frighte...Read the entire review

It seems marijuana is not only good for laughs, but it can potentially realign the soul. "Humboldt County" is a prosaic drama about escape and immersion in a foreign land, and while the concept of the movie is tuned into all those warm, important questions of purpose, the execution lacks gravity, making the picture one long, slow spiral into melodramatic hogwash.

When his own uptight father (Peter Bogdanovich) flunks him out of medical school, Peter (Jeremy Strong) finds comfort in the arms of singer Bogart (Fairuza Balk), who takes him into Northern California for the night to meet her family. In this woodsy, remote location lives a community of pot farmers, including Jack (Brad Dourif), Rosie (Frances Conroy), and their son Max (Chris Messina). When Bogart takes off the next day without telling Peter, it leaves the shy, conservative man alone with the family. It doesn't take long for bonds to grow,...Read the entire review

Listen, I was no fan of 2006's sleeping pill "The Illusionist," but its mild box office success paved a very specific road for director Neil Burger to follow; instead, the filmmaker drives straight into a brick wall of complete incompetence. "The Lucky Ones" might have its heart in the right place trying to soften the image of the average Iraq War soldier, but this is a clumsy, insufferable feature film of excessive formula and embarrassing dramatic development.

Cheever (Tim Robbins) has completed his last tour, looking forward to returning home to his wife and son in St. Louis. T.K. (Michael Pena) is on a 30-day leave, trying to get to Las Vegas to ease the severity of a unique war wound. Also on leave is Colee (Rachel McAdams), a naive solider hoping to return a special guitar to the family of her lover, killed during combat. When flight delays halt their travel plans, the trio decides to split a r...Read the entire review

Does Diane Keaton owe some loan sharks a considerable amount of cash? Are there incriminating photos of her that she's insistent never see the light of day? I'm having trouble understanding why Diane Keaton would, over the course of a single year, take part in both "Mama's Boy" and now "Smother." Perhaps she was poisoned by merciless Asian gangsters with strict instructions to make two career-denting comedies that methodically peel away her integrity before she was allowed the sweet kiss of a life-saving antidote. Heavens, I hope that's the impetus behind these recent professional decisions, otherwise Keaton has lost her mind.

Noah (Dax Shepard) is trying to settle down with his ovulating wife Clare (Liv Tyler), searching for gainful employment to support their future family. Into their home comes Noah's mother Marilyn (Diane Keaton), a diabetic motormouth who loves to insert herself into her son's l...Read the entire review

Disney, being Disney, has marketed "Miracle at St. Anna" as something heroic, historically challenging, and action-packed; presenting Spike Lee's latest film as the African-American counterpart to features such as "Saving Private Ryan" and "Flags of Our Fathers." I've seen many cases of outright fraudulent advertising in my day, but "St. Anna" takes the cake. Pushed as a film of astonishing cultural depth, Spike Lee has actually manufactured a picture of numbing constipation, frenzied melodrama, and racial characterization so bitterly one-dimensional, it's almost impossible to believe the feature isn't a flat-out cartoon. The real miracle of "St. Anna" is how anyone could stomach such crude filmmaking and blatant disregard for the finer edge of drama.

In 1944, members of the 92nd Infantry Division (the "Buffalo Soldiers") found themselves behind enemy lines in Italy with German forces breathing down...Read the entire review

The Film:
When you stop and think about it, few film genres require more of a suspension of disbelief than the road picture. Sure, it might not seem like that, especially when you consider how much science fiction and horror films ask audiences to suspend their disbelief. But the road picture grounds itself within a cinematic "real world" that audiences are supposed to relate to as if it were true. But as anyone who has ever been on a road trip can tell you, such journeys are seldom the metaphors for life punctuated with wild and amazing adventures that are depicted in films. In real life, a road trip is usually just driving in a car from one place to another, with a few stops along the way, and maybe a flat tire or an over-heated engine to spice things up. A film, however, with driving from one point to another (even with a flat tire along the way), probably wouldn't be all that interesting,...Read the entire review

I feel I should admit up front here that I have never read a word of Chuck Palahniuk's fiction, and that way if certain members of the Cult of Chuck want to go ahead and label me a square and take a pass on reading my review of Choke, the newest rancid cinematic mess to be adapted from one of his novels, they can do so. I am likely going to fall into the category of "doesn't get it." I have no idea how much of Palahniuk survived the transition into first-time writer/director Clark Gregg's movie, but if it's intended as a commercial for the novel, count me out. You just lost a sale.

Choke concerns itself with the life of sex-addicted conman Victor Mancini, played with the usual able-bodied charisma and an added dose of shlumpiness by Sam Rockwell (Confessions of...Read the entire review

The more Dane Cook craves leading man status and comedy credibility, the more it eludes him.

"My Best Friend's Girl" is Cook's third attempt to turn himself into box office gold, and he's wised up for this effort, luring Kate Hudson and her fan base into the fold for this round of slapstick. However, there could be a supporting turn from Will Smith, gas gift cards under every theater seat, and certified proof who killed JFK revealed only after the end credits and it still wouldn't salvage Cook's remarkable ability to select the worst possible starring vehicles for himself. "Girl" is just another step in the multiplex mangling of Cook's once proud name.

Dustin (Jason Biggs) is a lovesick stooge who pines daily for his ex-girlfriend, Alexis (Kate Hudson). Hoping to win her back, Dustin asks loutish friend Tank (Dane Cook) to take Alexis out on a hideous date to show her how good she had it when she...Read the entire review

The Film:
With a total runtime of 110 minutes, Lakeview Terrace is the sort of excruciatingly bad movie that becomes both physically and mentally painful to endure. I'm sure you've all experienced something like it before, where every minute seems like two minutes. Well, with Lakeview Terrace, every minute seems more like two and a half minutes, which makes sitting through this craptacular garbage feel like over four hours of torture.

Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington co-star as Chris and Lisa Mattson, an interracial couple who buy their first house in the hills that overlook Los Angeles. The Mattson's next door neighbor is Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson), a police officer raising two children after the death of his wife. Early on it is established that Abel is a strict, hard-ass father, and more important to the hackneyed plot, he isn't too fond of white people. More specific...Read the entire review

An unofficial remake of the 1962 film "Carnival of Souls," "Yella" transports the action to modern day Germany, taking a fresh approach on a tattered story of guilt, hostility, and the nightmares the follow us to the very end, and even beyond.

Finding an opportunity to prove her worth, Yella (Nina Hoss) is ready to move away from her glum Eastern neighborhood and the abuse of her husband Ben (Hinnerk Schonemann) to the West, where a job offer might bring her a sense of peace. With trouble shadowing her every footstep, Yella arrives at her destination only to find the job revoked, leaving her open to the charms of a solitary businessman named Philipp (Devid Striesow). Joining Philipp as he assembles shady business meetings, Yella becomes entwined in his life, finding the personal value she so desperately craves. However, with Ben reappearing ready to reclaim his lost bride, Yella is disturbed by her a...Read the entire review

In 1999, while the World Trade Organization was preparing for a massive gathering in Seattle to discuss matters of global economics, thousands of protestors of all shapes and incendiary motivations were planning their attacks. With the media spotlight firmly fixed on the city streets, the police and the protesters marched towards war, leaving a turbulent crater in recent history that has not been easily forgotten.

With the WTO meeting on the horizon, the Mayor (Ray Liotta) trusts all promises for peaceful demonstrations will be honored. However, the protestors, including a group (Andre Benjamin, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jennifer Carpenter) led by Jay (Martin Henderson), have more provocative plans in mind. Taking to the streets, the protestors soon number in the thousands, effectively cutting off the WTO plans, much to the sorrow of a third-world health officer (Rade Sherbedzija) hoping to open eyes w...Read the entire review

A routine CG-animated family film offering, "Igor" does have the novelty of being something darker to offer the little ones as the Halloween season begins to creep into view. Embracing monster movie motifs from the classic era of cinema, "Igor" has charm but misses a grand opportunity to evoke the world of James Whale when it would rather crib blatantly from Tim Burton.

In a far away land called Malaria, evil deeds are encouraged by King Malbert (voiced by Jay Leno) and his population of mad scientists. With the help of their assisting Igors, the scientists are preparing for the annual fair to show off their accomplishments, and the cunning Schadenfreude (Eddie Izzard) is ready to take home the gold again. When Igor (John Cusack) finds his dimwitted master Dr. Glickenstein (John Cleese) killed by his own stupidity, the brilliant young college-educated toady fills in with a special offering: a humongo...Read the entire review

Keira Knightley extravagantly bewigged and tightly corseted is not a sight unfamiliar to the screen. That said, "The Duchess" is a costume melodrama not concerned with familiarity, only passion and how it shaped a momentous moment in English history. "Duchess" takes a dramatic pathway riddled with heavy footprints from previous productions, but the picture is a winner, thanks in no small part to Knightley and her accomplished ability to communicate utter despair with only a faint ripple of her porcelain features.

At 17 years of age, Georgiana (Keira Knightley) is bursting with excitement to marry Duke William Cavendish (Ralph Fiennes), only to realize the union has been forged with eternal emotional ice. Secluded and made to feel worthless due to her inability to produce a male heir for the Duke, Georgiana turns to social gatherings and political causes to fill her days, soon falling for Charles Grey...Read the entire review

Bertram Pincus, D.D.S. (Ricky Gervais) is dead...or at least he was, for just under seven minutes. His brief departure into the afterlife has triggered an "ability" to see and interact with dead people; specifically, those with unfinished business from their former lives. They soon pester the good doctor into helping them resolve said business---but as a man who outright detests social interaction, Pincus simply wants to be left alone. A particularly smooth-talking spirit, Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear), manages to grab his attention with a deal: if Pincus can break up the impending marriage of his widow, Gwen (T a Leoni), Frank promises the reluctant clairvoyant that he will Live In Peace. As fate would have it, though, Pincus develops feelings for Gwen...even though her new fianc e makes the...Read the entire review

Georgiana Cavendish was an English aristocrat in the late 1700s. As the Duchess of Devonshire, married to William Cavendish, one of the most powerful men in the British government, she set the tastes for fashion amongst society women and was involved in promoting the progressive Whig party at a time where women weren't even allowed to vote, much less encouraged to raise their voices. Like most powerful people of history, her life on the public stage paled in comparison to her private dramas, making Georgiana's story ripe for a Hollywood period piece full of lurid scandals and devious plotting.

All the better, then, that writer/director Saul Dibbs, along with screenwriters Jeffrey Hatcher (Casanova) and Anders Thomas Jensen (The Funeral), eschew the typical bod...Read the entire review

Neil LaBute has a lot of apologizing to do after his last picture, 2006's "Wicker Man" remake, failed at the box office and became the unintentional comedy smash of the last decade. While already surfing an unsteady career of provocative curiosities, "Wicker" sent LaBute's credibility into the toilet. "Lakeview Terrace" represents only a slight gasp of oxygen for the filmmaker, helming a mediocre suburban thriller absent any of the LaBute touches admirers have come to expect.

Moving into an idyllic Californian community, interracial couple Chris (Patrick Wilson) and Lisa (Kerry Washington) are eager to start their dream life together. Living next door is police officer Abel Turner (Samuel L. Jackson, doing the traditional Jackson shuffle), a widowed father of two who doesn't take kindly to the pairing paraded in front of him. While Chris considers Abel's initial hostile neighborly invasions to be the...Read the entire review

If it were up to me, I would rather watch Jennifer Love Hewitt run around town conversing with the dead over Ricky Gervais. I mean, he's an amazingly gifted performer with a razor-sharp wit and sniper-accurate delivery, but if there must be another go-around with the guilt-ridden dead trying to correct their errant ways, I'll take Hewitt. It's shallow, but, then again, so is "Ghost Town."

Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) is a misanthropic dentist preparing himself for the humiliation of a colonoscopy. At the hospital, Pincus actually dies for seven minutes, and when he reawakens, he's gifted the ability to see dead people. The departed leap at the chance to communicate with the living, pestering Pincus to help them right their wrongs. The irascible dentist is greatly bothered, but when suave ghost Frank (Greg Kinnear) steps forward with a request and a promise to make all the voices stop, Pincus listen...Read the entire review

A meeting between Al Pacino and Robert De Niro was teased in the 1995 Michael Mann crime saga, "Heat." With only a single scene to share, the titans of method acting left fans unfulfilled, craving more screentime with these superstars. "Righteous Kill" is the pairing the faithful have been drooling for, so it makes perfect sense that Martin Scorsese was brought in to direct. Who better than a true master of cinema, a veritable big screen lion tamer, to properly manage the performance electricity between these two Hollywood knights?

What's that? No Scorsese? Would Jon Avnet do? You know, the fellow who directed "Fried Green Tomatoes" and "88 Minutes," the absolute worst Al Pacino film if we lived in a bizarro world where "Simone" never existed. Avnet is perhaps the last guy on a list of suitable directors to helm a Pacino/De Niro face off, but here we are, and "Righteous Kill" is expectedly ripe with ...Read the entire review

In a shocking change of pace for Tyler Perry, "The Family That Preys" is, get this, a southern-fried melodrama, frosted with overbearing performances, low-budget production polish, and obscene displays of artistic and moral ineptness. It's nice see that Perry, in his fifth directorial effort, has decided to test himself with deeply challenging material, rising above his past transgressions, at last offering the screen a tightly wound story that speaks universal truths about the state of the human condition.

All kidding aside: "Preys" stinks.

Lifelong friends, Alice Pratt (Alfre Woodard) and Charlotte Cartwright (Kathy Bates) have enjoyed watching their children grow and their businesses flourish. When Charlotte's shifty son William (Cole Hauser) begins an extramarital affair with Alice's daughter Andrea (Sanaa Lathan), the secret is impossible to cover, tearing up both families as the lies...Read the entire review

With all due respect to Joel and Ethan Coen's monumental artistic and financial success with last year's Oscar-winning "No Country for Old Men," "Burn After Reading" is potent shot of vintage Coen that works as a tremendous palate cleanser. A back-stabbing, double-crossing, exhaustively absurd caper with pitch-black comedic enhancements, "Burn" is a beauty; a charged symphony of impulsive idiots left to their own devices, leaving behind a trail of bloodshed and bewilderment with every move they make.

Forced out of his C.I.A. analyst job due to excessive drinking, Osborne (John Malkovich) is ready to write his memoirs and deal with his bitter wife (Tilda Swinton). When a CD copy of the rough draft ends up on the locker room floor of the Hardbodies fitness center, employees Chad (Brad Pitt, officially on another planet with this blissfully imbecilic performance) and Linda (Frances McDormand, also hammi...Read the entire review

Sometimes it takes a while to figure out if a film by Joel and Ethan Coen is really any good. That's to say that some of their films require multiple viewings and time for rumination in order to be fully processed. Sure, it was evident with films like The Big Lebowski, Fargo and No Country for Old Men that these were incredible movies. Others, like The Man Who Wasn't There and The Hudsucker Proxy, take time and repeated viewings to fully appreciate (the jury is still out on Intolerable Cruelty). And then there is Burn After Reading, their first film since winning a Best Picture Oscar for No Country for Old Men, which, for whatever strong points it may have, is certainly not an instant classic.

Returning to the sharp comedy that has defined most of their films, and a crime-laced plot that also recalls many of their past movies, <...Read the entire review