When time travel is part of a sci-fi thriller or action-adventure film, we usually get caught up in how it all works and excitement of a journey that defies our current scientific capabilities. “Safety Not Guaranteed” takes the indie approach, exploring the more grounded aspects of time travel (as oxymoronic as it sounds), or in [...]

The moment “Moornise Kingdom” graces the screen, it is a Wes Anderson film. The first major sequence, the symmetrical exploration of the Bishop house, couldn’t be mistaken for any other filmmaker’s style — nor could the rest of the film, honestly. So if Anderson is just as divisively quirky as ever, why has “Moonrise Kingdom” [...]

The recent trend of comedies centered on experimental relationships continues with “Friends with Kids,” which explores what happens when longtime best friends who both want kids decide to have a baby to avoid the complications raising children has on romantic relationships. It seems like a Hollywood-typical setup, but writer, director and star Jennifer Westfeldt (“Kissing [...]

Brothers Jay and Mark Duplass have made their name as filmmakers to this point by examining uncomfortable personal relationship dynamics and exaggerating all things awkward that arise in those situations. With “Jeff, Who Lives At Home,” they focus on life’s essential relationships with an entirely different sense of purpose and humor appears to be a [...]

For the most part, hockey movies have been treated the same every other sports comedy or drama — with an underdog story and plenty of in-game footage. Enter “Goon,” a comedy that depicts the sport for all the guts and little of the glory. Not since “Slap Shot” has a hockey flick been this violent [...]

Coming-of-age stories come in all forms, though one would expect a New York City drug dealer at the height of hip-hop in the mid ’90s to have already experienced a loss of innocence. For Luke Shapiro (Josh Peck), however, dealing pot is just a summer job, and for all his street cred, he’s a lonely [...]

In an era when a lot of movies don’t know when to shut up, how nice to have “The Artist.” So much of Hollywood is the search for the next big thing (looking at you, 3D), yet the Silent Era and those who clung to its sinking ship back in the late 1920s understood a [...]

Paul Rudd gets a lot of love from moviegoers, just not enough love. It’s not a wayward assessment to say that other than (arguably) Steve Carell, Rudd is the best actor doing comedy right now, in the sense that he could do so much, but he sticks to the joyful life of comedy. Thankfully he’s [...]

When Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody struck gold with “Juno” in 2007, they did so with a rare combination of contemporary wit, quirkiness and heart. Their four-year reunion in “Young Adult” won’t be nearly as heralded, but it might arguably be a better film. 

“What happens in Cedar Rapids stays in Cedar Rapids,” says Joan, a “one of the guys” kinda woman played by Anne Heche who views her yearly trip to an insurance conference in Cedar Rapids as momentary liberation from her life’s irrevocable commitments. For those of us who’ve tried to spend as little time in Iowa [...]

Nostalgia. Now that’s a word not uncommon around a Woody Allen picture. His films have always oozed of it, and now that his filmmaking legacy spans more than 40 years, to some people, an Allen film equates to it. “Midnight in Paris” falls under both categories. Remarkably, only Woody has been able to riff on [...]

Don’t mistake the gay characters and situations of “I Love You, Phillip Morris” for being original story components. Sure, not many movies of this caliber are so carefree and open about homosexuality, but underneath, the fact that the main character Steven Russell (Jim Carrey) is gay has no bearing on the story John Requa and [...]

The superhero film craze has led to a lot of ordinary main characters taking justice into their own hands. In that sense, nothing will strike you as original about “Super,” the latest film from James Gunn (“Slither”) and one made on a shoestring budget. Rainn Wilson stars as Frank, a man who loses his cool [...]

As sports fans, we always consider the degree to which we support or dedicate ourselves to the team. “Big Fan” is a character study of a man who has formed his identity and life around the New York Giants. The film preys on our expectation that every fan has a clear line when it’s time [...]

Lance Clayton’s (Wiiliams) son Kyle (Sabara) is a perverted and disrespectful jackass. He’s obsessed with pornography, despises music and movies entirely, is flunking his classes and most of all, he hates his dad. Lance is a failed writer trying to keep his job as a high school poetry teacher and his co-worker girlfriend. But all [...]