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Michael Bay was originally going to direct I Am Number Four, but he passed, and the job went to D.J. Caruso. Good thing, too, because in Bay’s hands this sci-fi action flick would probably have been a bombastic mess, whereas the director of Disturbia and Eagle Eye makes it into a thoroughly entertaining mix of [...]

The characters in Vanishing On 7th Street spend most of the time running away from shadows, a notion that initially may sound as silly as seeing people flee from the wind in The Happening, but one that, in the capable hands of director Brad Anderson, gets turned into a nicely low-key hair-raiser of a [...]

It may share the same plot and title, but this souped-up remake of the 1972 Charles Bronson/Jan-Michael Vincent thriller The Mechanic is really just another excuse for action star Jason Statham to shoot guns and kick butt, albeit one that director Simon West (Con Air) shoots and edits with energetic efficiency.

When I walked out of the theater after seeing Black Swan for the first time, I thought to myself, “Hey, this cinema thing might still have some fresh juice in it after all.” Love it or hate it, I don’t see many people accusing this film of being stale or unoriginal. That [...]

Man, did I not want to watch Fair Game. I remember the actual events, and I just wasn’t in the mood to relive the mistakes of the Younger Bush administration. Also, I’m not a big Sean Penn fan. He strikes me as kind of a jerk most times. I’m sure he’s [...]

Running and reacting is the name of the game in Skyline, an alien invasion flick directed by the Brothers Strause (Alien vs. Predator: Requiem) that features impressive effects, annoying characters and makes the similarly-themed Battle: LA look like Shakespeare.
Like that movie, it’s set in L.A., but instead of focusing on a pack of soldiers, it [...]

I remember the day, back in 2003, when Aron Ralston emerged from the maze of the Canyonlands with his epic story of survival. At the time, I was working at a map store that furnished, among other treasures, the best printed material about the region that money could wrangle. Ralston himself was [...]

Having already done the underground train thing with their remake of The Taking of Pelham 123, Denzel Washington and director Tony Scott move above ground with Unstoppable, a rousing runaway train thriller co-starring Chris Pine that barrels right along and barely brakes for nuance.

Conviction was a very “serviceable” drama based on a true story. Hilary Swank stars as Betty Anne Waters, a working mom who decides to put herself through law school so she can defend her brother, Kenny (Sam Rockwell), whom she believes to be wrongfully convicted of a grisly murder.

It may have cost less than a million dollars to make, but the ingenious Monsters, like most sci-fi flicks nowadays, is still all about the visual effects. Only in a good way. Instead of the CGI being the show, a la 2012, it rather refreshingly serves to enhance a simple, albeit familiar, story [...]