June 24, 2011

Bad Teacher (2011)



Cameron Diaz is a teacher in search of a boob job and game for anything, even writhing on the hood of a car, in her first R-rated comedy since There’s Something About Mary. The movie is so much fun it hardly matters that bad triumphs over good (Lucy Punch).

d: Jake Kasdan | imdb.com | Sexy car wash

Page One: Inside the New York Times (2011)



This documentary is all over the place, a mish-mosh of ideas surrounding the paper’s survival, its newly formed media desk and the unlikable David Carr. If the Times wants to save money, it should move out of its post-modern palace.

d: Andrew Rossi | imdb.com | trailer | Tick-Tock | Charlie Rose

Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop (2011)



The documentary of Conan O’Brien’s 32-city, post-“Tonight Show” tour is a road picture full of backstage preparation and post-show whining, a portrait of Conan, circa 2010. But director Rodman Flender has edited the life out of the concert bits.

d: Rodman Flender | imdb.com | trailer

June 17, 2011

Green Lantern (2011)



The latest $150 million comic book fanboy inside joke isn’t good enough to be bad. It’s just boring — and it looks cheap. Ryan Reynolds, a maverick test pilot, finds this ring and then ... there’s this backstory, and you’ll wish you’ve never heard of planet Oa.

d: Martin Campbell | imdb.com | trailer | WonderCon 2011

June 10, 2011

Super 8 (2011)



Steven Spielberg presents and J.J. Abrams directs a crappy mash-up of Spielberg’s early work — the kids (including a fat one) on an adventure in “Goonies,” the lens glare in “Close Encounters” and an alien who wants to go home. Naturally, it’s set in 1979.

d: J.J. Abrams | imdb.com | trailer | Charlie Rose

June 3, 2011

X-Men: First Class (2011)



Matthew Vaughn directs the “X-Men” prequel, the sort of corny comic book movie that he satirized so well in last year’s “Kick-Ass.” This time, Vaughn provides the fodder, including hackneyed dialogue and 12 mutants who rewrite the Cuban Missile Crisis.

d: Matthew Vaughn | imdb.com | trailer | Training montage