Articles tagged "greg kinnear"

Film Review

Flash of Genius

by Cynthia Fuchs

[3.Oct.08] :. Robert Kearns' saga is more complicated than its trite "stalwart individual against the system" scaffolding suggests. Still, the movie sticks mostly to the scaffolding.

Recent Film reviews

 

Film Review

Ghost Town

by Cynthia Fuchs

[19.Sep.08] :. As you endure Ghost Town's unfunny "unfinished business," you can't help but be thankful for Téa Leoni's precision and classically screwballish physicality.

Recent Film reviews

 

Short Ends and Leader

‘Ghost Town’ is a Little Gem

by Bill Gibron

[19.Sep.08] :. Hollywood used to excel at what could best be described as the “little” movie. You know the type - small in scope, limited in appeal, and never overreaching beyond its certain purpose....

Short Ends and Leader

 

The PopMatters Fall 2008 Movie Preview Feature

Talk, Talk, Talk: October 2008

by Bill Gibron

[10.Sep.08] :. What studio suit thought this was a good idea? With four months to schedule your high priced efforts, you instead unload almost 30 overpriced pictures on an unsuspecting movie audience.

The PopMatters Fall 2008 Movie Preview

 

The PopMatters Fall 2008 Movie Preview Feature

Talk, Talk, Talk: September 2008

by Bill Gibron

[9.Sep.08] :. From wars both past and present to a number of nail-biting thrillers, September is sizing up as a potentially profitable one.

The PopMatters Fall 2008 Movie Preview

 

Film Review

Baby Mama

by Cynthia Fuchs

[25.Apr.08] :. If he's not precisely magical in Baby Mama, Oscar (Romany Malco) does function as wise advisor for white women who should know better.

Recent Film reviews

 

Feast of Love

by Cynthia Fuchs

[28.Sep.07] :. Because Morgan Freeman is so good at such voiceovers, in which he patiently explains the good intentions of "humans" (usually white humans) who make terrible mistakes and hurt one another, the role is the one he seems destined to play -- for the rest of his life.

 

Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema (2006)

by Brian Holcomb

[8.Mar.07] :. This was never intended to be a conventional movie, but more like a personal industrial film illustrating the process that brings the corpse of a cow to your dinner table.

 

The Pay Off: The Best Film of 2006

by PopMatters Staff

[11.Jan.07] :. For many of the movies on PopMatters' 2006 list of the year's best films, it is clear that a heavy personal and professional stake was riding on the final product.

 

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

by Kate Williams

[8.Jan.07] :. Little Miss Sunshine is that rare comedic film that earns its laughs through textured characterizations and authentic, humanizing contradictions.

 

Fast Food Nation (2006)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[16.Nov.06] :. Unabashedly didactic, Fast Food Nation points out the cruel lot of immigrant laborers without rights.

 

Unknown (2006)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[3.Nov.06] :. One or two resist their designations: Bound Man doesn't want to be bound, Broken Nose resents that mishap.

 

Invincible (2006)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[25.Aug.06] :. The hard-charging practice and game scenes take you onto the field and slam you into large, shoulder-padded men.

 

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

by Daynah Burnett

[26.Jul.06] :. Even as Sheryl and Grandpa try to soothe little Olive, her father's "refuse to lose" credo creates a mountain of expectation.

 

The Matador (2006)

by Kevin Wong

[20.Jan.06] :. While the next Bond film is stuck in pre-production as producers search for an A-List Bond girl, Pierce Brosnan is having the last laugh with his new film.

 

Bad News Bears (2005)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[14.Dec.05] :. The DVD extras are mostly valuable for the access they grant to Richard Linklater, who is a terrific storyteller and articulate filmmaker.

 

Bad News Bears (2005)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[21.Jul.05] :. Morris Buttermaker's (Billy Bob Thornton) efforts to 'get down' with his token black player lead to slogany appreciation for the struggle ('Don't trust whitey') and the requisite 'the shizzle'.

 

Robots (2005)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[11.Mar.05] :. Valiant and righteous, the old-fashioned robots fight back against the slick, wealthy, huge machine.

 

Stuck on You (2003)

by Bill Gibron

[7.Jun.04] :. While the initial twins material is weak, the Hollywood lampoon barely gets off the ground, and the love story is so lightweight, it practically floats.

 

Godsend (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[29.Apr.04] :. Jessie is slow to react to all this weirdness, feeling understandably protective of her child and unfathomable trust in Richard.

 

Stuck on You (2003)

by Jesse Hassenger

[18.Dec.03] :. Draggy as its comedy can be, Stuck on You's humanity is always sprightly and engaging.

 

Auto Focus (2002)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[18.Mar.03] :. 'Auto Focus' is, as its title suggests, about self-interest and -obsession.

 

Auto Focus (2002)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[24.Oct.02] :. Paul Schrader's 'Auto Focus' is, as its title suggests, about self-interest and -obsession.

 

We Were Soldiers (2002)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[28.Feb.02] :. 'We Were Soldiers' is, above all, an earnest film, working overtime not to be a standard U.S. war movie where the good (white) boys fight against diabolical 'others'.

 

What Planet Are You From? (2000)

by Anne Daughtery

There are great films; some of them win Oscars. There are truly bad films; some of them attract cult followings. Then there are mediocre films. And What Planet Are You From? is mediocrity at...

 

Someone Like You (2001)

by Cynthia Fuchs

Instead, 'Someone Like You' follows formula, which means that Jane will realize her folly and realize that Eddie is really the guy for her (this is telegraphed when the pretty couple shares their feelings and eats Chinese food while seated on the kitchen counter and dressed in their fashionable underwear).

 

Someone Like You (2001)

by Mike Ward

'Someone Like You''s press kit describes Eddie and Jane as a 'Hepburn and Tracy of the modern era', but its undercurrent of painful loss and compulsive grief avoidance is precisely missing from movies like 'Desk Set' and 'Adam's Rib'.

 

Nurse Betty (2000)

by Cynthia Fuchs

It's revealing that Wesley (Chris Rock) remains locked in an ignoble self-image born of gangster and 'hood movies: eager to emulate and please his mentor, he explains his flamboyant violence by saying, 'I'm just trying to make a statement.'"

 

Nurse Betty (2000)

by Lesley Smith

Perhaps LaBute's willingness to let the audience close enough to his characters, both psychologically and physically, to appreciate such minor-key modulations, is the movie's biggest surprise.

 

Loser (2000)

by Lucas Hilderbrand

With Loser, Heckerling faces the challenge of measuring up to past success in a decade that doesn't even have its own colloquialism. If in no other way but numerically, Loser functions as a reflection of the '00s.

 

Loser (2000)

by Cynthia Fuchs

All this said, I'm inclined to like Loser, because it wants so badly to do well by its college-age heroes, and there are so many movies that have exactly the opposite intention.

 

The Gift (2000)

by Cynthia Fuchs

Sam Raimi's new scary movie isn't nearly scary enough.