CinemaUS Reviews

Of all of the popular series of computer animated films that have come along in the past decade plus, I’ve always felt that the “Ice Age” series was often dismissed. Which is a shame because, along with the “Toy Story” films, I’ve always thought that they featured the most consistent story and writing excellence as [...]

Like the best examples form the independent sci-fi genre lately, ”Safety Not Guaranteed” contains a great idea about something fantastical that turns out to merely be an effective platform for a story about people finding connections. Just like ”Never Let Me Go” was a cold treatise on destiny and purpose and Another Earth was about [...]

In hindsight you wonder what took so long. Blurring the line between real and fictional is a beloved theme in literature and movies, everything from characters imagining entire episodes of their lives because of psychosis (see the work of David Lynch) to simply keeping the fact that certain aspects of the story aren’t true from [...]

Jonathan Caouette’s 2004 film ”Tarnation” blazed hot and bright as its maker cleaned up kudos on the indie awards circuit. Central to the marketing buzz about the film was the fact that it cost $218 to make on his iMac. The poster prominently displayed a quote by The Boston Globe, which called it ‘a heartbreaking [...]

Rodrigo Cortes bought us one of the most tightly-wound thrillers of the last few years with the excellent ”Buried”. With a brilliant lead in Ryan Reynolds, he built a very credible world without ever leaving a single (tiny) location. There’s a moment in his next film, ”Red Lights”, where two characters are talking in a [...]

Even in this age of Hollywood re-boots, it seems odd that, only five years after “Spider-man 3,” a new Spidey-flick, with a new, but familiar, origin story would be made. But the powers that be at Columbia, seeing how well the “Batman” franchise has done, have given us a darker look at Peter Parker and [...]

When a movie’s opens with a half-naked Matthew McConaughey donning cowboy attire and grabbing himself in front of a crowd of hyperventilating women…that can go one of two ways. Either the film tumbles into a pit of disastrous clichés or it provides the basis of a standout foray into something that hasn’t been adequately captured [...]

First there was the Australian comedy series “Wilfred” which featured a pot smoking, beer drinking, junk food eating, foul mouthed and horny pet dog, now comes “Ted”, brainchild of “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, which features a pot smoking, beer junk food eating, foul mouthed and horny teddy bear. Is nothing sacred? No. Is it [...]

History tells us that Abraham Lincoln was a great man. What it doesn’t tell us is that, long before he became President he had a little side job. Seems the old rail splitter put that handiness with an axe to good use and killed him some vampires! No, really. While living with his parents in [...]

Fairytale shows are the new Viagra – massively produced things that seem to only be on the up and up. Just one difference, films like “Snow White and the Hunstman” are doing gangbusters at the box office, and Grimm small-screen series like “Once Upon A Time” are working their magic on Nielsen boxes, so there’s [...]

There are three things to keep in mind when approaching ”Prometheus”. First (and let’s be honest) even though Ridley Scott’s shadow looms large over alien and sci-fi lore, he’s been a disappointment lately. From the been-there-done-that ”Kingdom of Heaven” to the redundant ”Robin Hood”, Sir Ridley’s films have been adequate more than outstanding over the [...]

I must admit at the start that I had a major crush on one of my teachers in high school. I’m not going to name her (she knows who she is) but it appears to be something that everyone goes through at one time or another. It happened to Donny Berger (Justin Weaver) when he [...]

A small town girl (Julianne Hough) and a city boy (Diego Boneta) meet on the Sunset Strip, while pursuing their Hollywood dreams. Sounds like the opening of a song, right? It’s not a coincidence. “Rock of Ages” has music in it. Take note, this might be important later. The two leads are cute, even if [...]

It’s been 10 years since Agent’s “J” and “K” have made our world safe from aliens. A lot of things have changed since then. A lot hasn’t. But when the fate of the world depends on things changing 40 years in the past, who you gonna call? No, not the Ghostbusters! The original “Men in [...]

When it comes to DVD and Blu-ray, you’re either an audio commentary type or you’re not. Usually it’s the film aficionado that will gladly let the talent speak over the top of whatever is going on on the screen; most others will quickly switch audio tracks so they can mute Jason Segel and hear the [...]