brett michel

Latest Articles

Review: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Too soon? For Stephen Daldry's 9/11 drama, the right time is "never."
An extremely exploitative and incredibly bad tale
By BRETT MICHEL | January 20, 2012

Review: The Viral Factor

Made for a modest budget of $17 million — and feeling like it (who needs convincing explosions in an action movie?), Dante Lam's latest still gets the job done from a run-and-gun standpoint.
Run and gun
By BRETT MICHEL | January 20, 2012

Review: The Divide

Many a teleplay for The Twilight Zone threatened atomic Armageddon, and though Frontier(s) director Xavier Gens nukes New York in the opening shots of his latest thriller, he finds more inspiration in the horrors of human nature as seen in the old T
The horrors of human nature
By BRETT MICHEL | January 13, 2012

Review: We Bought A Zoo(1)

Matt Damon plays Mee, a journalist who decides that he and his daughter (a precocious Maggie Elizabeth Jones) and sullen teenage son (Colin Ford) need a new start after the death of his wife, so he spends his life savings on a house in the country.
Cameron Crowe's film version of Benjamin Mee's memoir
By BRETT MICHEL | December 23, 2011

Short Takes: Mission: Impossible -- Ghost Protocol

Review: Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Impossible Missions Force agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) returns to the screen in dramatic fashion as new teammate Jane (Paula Patton) and the returning Benji (Simon Pegg) break him out of a Russian prison.
Worthy of an IMAX screen
By BRETT MICHEL | December 23, 2011

Review: Jack and Jill

Director Dennis Dugan's second Adam Sandler vehicle of the year turns out to be even worse than Just Go with It.
Easily Sandler's worst film
By BRETT MICHEL | November 18, 2011

Review: Janie Jones

Borrowing the name of a Clash song with which it has nothing in common, this generic riff on the Crazy Heart template by writer/director David M. Rosenthal ( Falling Up ) also cribs from Sofia Coppola's Somewhere .
A generic riff on the Crazy Heart template
By BRETT MICHEL | November 11, 2011

Review: Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame

The latest action epic from Hong Kong new wave director Tsui Hark ( Once Upon a Time in China ) is a fact-based historical drama set in 689 AD, a period when "all hell was about to break loose," according to the dense narration that opens the film.
Exhilarating action
By BRETT MICHEL | September 23, 2011

Review: Contagion

For all the death and panic, this is a relatively quiet film.
The Traffic of viral outbreak movies
By BRETT MICHEL | September 16, 2011

On the road with the director of Bellflower

If you didn't think it was possible to get some stares from jaded onlookers here in the streets of Boston, you haven't been strapped into Medusa, a heavily modified '72 Buick Skylark equipped with a massive silver engine sprouting through its hood, a PA
Big wheels
By BRETT MICHEL | September 09, 2011

Review: Attack the Block

As a group of teenage thugs approach their intended victim (only their eyes are visible as they glare at the trainee nurse who's walking the cold south London streets alone on the way home from her shift), you'll be forgiven if you recall the recent wave
London crawling
By BRETT MICHEL | August 19, 2011

Miranda July takes a cookie break

July had just nabbed a chocolate-chip cookie from a table set up for a conference of visiting doctors. She was surprised — not only by the fact that one of the physicians had recognized her — but that the woman had also already seen July's latest, which
Meow!
By BRETT MICHEL | July 29, 2011

Review: The Smurfs

It may be a 3D movie set in a world populated by computer-animated blue-skinned natives, but this isn't Avatar .
An uninspired rip-off
By BRETT MICHEL | July 29, 2011

Review: The Karate Kid (2010)

What happens when Will Smith wants a franchise for his boy.
Shouldn't it be "The Kung Fu Kid"?
By BRETT MICHEL | June 11, 2010

Game Changer?(1)

For the worse part of two decades, Hollywood has been trying to discover the formula for successfully adapting video games to the big screen.
After decades of lackluster releases, the video-game-turned-film genre may have finally found its royalty
By BRETT MICHEL | June 04, 2010

Review: Michael Jackson's This Is It

The Star Wars –style titles that begin Kenny Ortega’s hastily assembled Michael Jackson tribute documentary explain that the film has been whittled down from 100 hours of behind-the-scenes video shot between last April and June during rehearsals for the
Is this it?
By BRETT MICHEL | November 06, 2009

Review: 9

"Why is 6 afraid of 7? Because 7-8-9!" Although the logic of this riddle may puzzle adults, the word- (or number-) play slays 'em in the schoolyard.
Shane Acker expands his short
By BRETT MICHEL | September 11, 2009

Review: Lorna's Silence

Are there many better young actors currently working in film than Jérémie Renier?
A work of near-greatness
By BRETT MICHEL | August 14, 2009

Interview: Pete Docter

Pete Docter was only the third animator to come aboard Pixar when he joined up in 1990, and he's had a lasting effect at the computer-animation powerhouse.
3-D or not 3-D? That is the first question . . .
By BRETT MICHEL | May 22, 2009

Review: Star Trek

The original Star Trek , after all, didn't even complete its five-year mission. Four spinoff TV series, 10 theatrical releases, and millions of dollars of merchandise later, the Enterprise goes back into space with the original cast, if not the origina
Going boldly and well
By JEFFREY GANTZ | May 08, 2009

Cross country trek

A two-day mission
A two-day mission
By BRETT MICHEL | May 08, 2009

Review: Fired Up!

If you're a guy who's reluctant to view a neutered movie (and despite its Cheerleader Movie appearance, this is very much a Guy Movie), you might want to wait for the unrated DVD.
Despite its Cheerleader Movie appearance, this is very much a Guy Movie
By BRETT MICHEL | February 25, 2009

Review: Friday the 13th (2009)

Jason Voorhees's bloody hands have developed green thumbs.
A suspense-less rampage
By BRETT MICHEL | February 11, 2009

Review: Taken

Pierre Morel's talents as an action cinematographer served him well when he directed District B13.
The stink of producer/co-screenwriter Luc Besson permeates like Roquefort
By BRETT MICHEL | January 27, 2009

Martyr complex

This year the Oscars will honor the men who suffer for our sins and the women who don't wear make-up.
Oscar suffers for our sins
By PETER KEOUGH | January 13, 2009

Wish-fulfillment for a burning world

From the shining big-screen debut of Iron Man to the large amounts of green produced by the Incredible Hulk, this was the year the public couldn't get enough of their favorite heroes.
The 2008 heroic holiday DVD and Blu-ray gift guide
By BRETT MICHEL | December 08, 2008

Popular