CinemaUS Reviews

  The film “On the Road” is a young man’s journey to self-discovery – as wild, intense and questioning as only a Jack Kerouac based-project can be. Directed by Walter Salle and executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola, the semi-autobiographical film based on Kerouac’s book of the same name begins in 1947. Sal Paradise (Sam [...]

At first I found the idea of recasting Santa Claus as a sword-wielding Cossack ridiculous, like some screenwriter was scraping the bottom of the ideas barrel. But when you see the entire mythology behind ”Rise of the Guardians”, the characterisations work. Santa (Baldwin) is joined by a ninja-like, boomerang-wielding rabbit who speaks like Steve Irwin [...]

Questions about how filmable Yann Martel’s smash hit novel is swirled everywhere when Fox announced they were adapting it. As soon as Ang Lee was confirmed as director, any residual fears about the movie should have been dispelled, and the experience of seeing it makes you realise just how filmable the story always was with [...]

The Hulk needed have gone so big in previous efforts. Eric Bana’s made a name for himself stateside thanks to roles in big, splashy blockbuster fare like ”Hulk”, ”Black Hawk Down”, ”Troy” and “Star Trek”, but if 2010′s “Funny People”, last year’s revenge thriller ”Hanna”, and now ”Deadfall”, prove anything it’s that the Aussie thesp [...]

In the winter of 1942 a terrible drought came over the Henan province in China. The drought, combined with a locust invasion and the continued war with Japan, eventually left 3 million people dead. Based on the novel “Remembering 1942” by Zhenyun Liu (who also did the screenplay), “Back to 1942” is an epic telling [...]

One of the best things about ”Hitchcock” – despite it being a good film by any measure – is the pleasure of seeing Anthony Hopkins act again. Sure, he’s been in projects almost continually for the last decade or more, but look at the characters; Odin in ”Thor”, Father Lucas in ”The Rite”, John Talbot [...]

January 1865. Having just won re-election to a second term as president, Abraham Lincoln is greeting soldiers, black and white, at an encampment. The black soldiers ask Lincoln if there will ever be a black soldier made an officer. Another asks him how tall he is. The white soldiers claim to have seen Lincoln that [...]

Let’s say you come home early and are surprised to find your wife in the shower. With another man. What would you do? If you’re Pat Solitano, Jr. (Cooper) you beat the hell out of him. Of course you now find yourself out of a job, out of a wife and spending eight months in [...]

”Spider-Man” trilogy co-stars Tobey Maguire and Elizabeth Banks (Peter Parker and Betty Brant, respectively) get themselves entangled in another sticky, messy web of trouble in the new black, black, black comedy “The Details”. Maguire, still donning the baby face looks that helped him snag the role of Spidey all those years ago, is the headline [...]

It’s over. Finally. The epic vampire meets girl, girl meets vampire, wolf-boy takes his shirt off a lot adventures known as “The Twilight Saga” has reached its end with “Breaking Dawn: Part II.” For those of you that may have missed the story: Bella (Stewart) is a high school girl living in a remote town [...]

One of the things you learn as a film critic is to always hedge your bets. Which is why, six years ago this month, I called ‘Casino Royale’ “possibly the best Bond movie ever!” Thank goodness for the word “possibly.” In the 50 years since James Bond first hit the big screen in “Dr. No” [...]

The usually buttoned-up Stephen Frears’ unhooks the neck-tightening top button from its thread hole to make a slightly less shameful version of “Showgirls”, where the boobs are substituted for bookies. A gambling dramedy, complete with the young wannabe-older mentor relationship subplot (that’s merely hinted, never followed through), the golden-strip set flick fixes on a young [...]

It’s been almost four years since airline pilot Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger landed his crippled jet safely on the Hudson River. Ever since that day, whenever I fly, I always wonder to myself if the pilot flying the plane I’m on could pull that landing off. Because when you think about it, when you’re 30,000 feet [...]

As an unabashed Tony Bennett fan, I’ve listened to his CDs, viewed his television shows, heard him sing twice in person and tried to figure out: just what makes Mr. Bennett so mesmerizing? After viewing the documentary “The Zen of Bennett,” I began to get an idea. Bennett reveals a part of himself that is [...]

What do you get when you pair two of Hollywood’s best directors, a talented leading man and a tale that assures audiences it’s based on a true story? If you guessed a mediocre film called “Chasing Mavericks” then pat yourself on the back. Eight year old Jay Moriarty (Cooper Timberline) and his friend Kim (Harley [...]