Category Archives: 2010 movie reviews

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Knight and Day

On her show last week, Oprah Winfrey referred to Knight and Day — the new Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz action comedy — as a perfect date movie. And that about sums up the appeal of this ridiculous but fun mash-up of James Bond and Romancing the Stone.

You don’t watch this movie to dissect the craft or to seek some insight into the human condition. You watch it while sharing a tub of popcorn and an overpriced Coke with your best girl (or guy) and you hope that you’ll both walk out with a smile on your face.

On that front, Knight and Day accomplishes its mission.

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Toy Story 3

This weekend was a great one to be a movie fan. I saw the funniest movie of the year, the most exciting action film of the year and the sweetest, most touching piece of filmmaking of the year. And I did it all in the course of the 103 minute running time of Toy Story 3.

It’s become a cliche to sing the praises of Pixar year after year, as they clear hurdle after hurdle, extending the longest winning streak in Hollywood. Can they make transcendent entertainment out of a rat who can cook? A trash compacting robot? A man who lifts his house with balloons? Yes, they can, again and again.

And now this. How many third films in series not intended as trilogies have ever been any good? I can’t think of even one. Sequels to sequels are always cash grabs conceived not as artistic statements but as a way to beef up a studio’s portfolio. Can a third film about toys that talk really be creatively necessary, poignant and profound?

Yes, it can, again and again.

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City Island

City Island is a good movie that could have been great if it didn’t spend so much time getting in its own way.

A cousin to Moonstruck, the film follows a quirky Italian-American family living on City Island, an old-fashioned fishing village nestled in the Bronx. That setting is one of the most interesting aspects of the movie… it’s strange and wonderful to see a cluster of fishing boats against a backdrop of the Manhattan skyline. I had no idea such a place existed.

Andy Garcia plays paterfamilias Vince Rizzo, a corrections officer who prefers not to be called a prison guard. His wife Joyce is played by the wonderful Julianna Margulies, a long way from ER and The Good Wife. Their teenage children are portrayed by Dominik García-Lorido (Garcia’s real-life daughter) and Ezra Miller.

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Iron Man 2

You don’t go into a movie like Iron Man 2 expecting greatness. It’s graded on a curve.

Does it make you laugh? Excite you? Show you things you haven’t seen before? Does it make for a diverting two hours away from the summer sun?

Iron Man 2 does most of those things but it doesn’t do much else. It’s a hodge-podge of ideas and characters that never coalesce into anything meaningful.

This isn’t always the case with sequels, particularly comic book sequels. Superman II raised the stakes of the first film, introduced three formidable villains and stripped Superman of his powers as it developed his relationship with Lois Lane. Spider-Man 2 was a major improvement on the first film, with Alfred Molina’s Doctor Octopus as the perfect foil for a maturing Peter Parker. And The Dark Knight built on the solid reboot of Batman Begins and, thanks in large part to Heath Ledger’s iconic performance as The Joker, emerged as a visionary masterpiece of a gothic crime movie.

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How to Train Your Dragon

Dreamworks Animation has thrived as a smart-ass, pop culture savvy alternative to more innocent kiddie fare. Many of the jokes in films such as Shrek and Madagascar are designed to fly right over children’s heads and get a few chuckles out of the adults forced to accompany them to the theater.

Contrast that to the films of Pixar, which are powerfully heartfelt and human (even when about toys, car or rats) and more interested in character development and story than in-jokes and alternative soundtracks.

There is certainly a place for the films produced by both of these studios, but when it comes to true quality, it’s no contest.

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