Articles written by Nick Rogers
Showing 73 Articles
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Indiana Critics Name the Best in Film for 2009
"Up in the Air" and "Where the Wild Things Are" lead the winners of the Indiana Film Journalists Association's inaugural awards for the best in film.
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Year One Film Review
When in doubt, the man who gave us "Groundhog Day" makes Jack Black eat feces and Michael Cera pee in his own mouth. Yes, we're at the level of a YouTube monkey video.
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Moon Film Review
The narrative possibilities wane more than they wax, but "Moon" is a modestly engrossing puzzle-box thriller anchored by a multifaceted performance from Sam Rockwell.
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Monsters vs. Aliens Movie Review
Exhaustive with its rapid-fire references, but if this works as a shiny primer to one day introduce kids to classic sci-fi, fantasy and anime, well, more power to it.
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Land of the Lost Movie Review
Land of the Lost is marginally better than Bewitched, if only because it's a fairly straightforward springboard from the original, but the film is depressingly unfunny.
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It Might Get Loud Film Review
Davis Guggenheim evenhandedly spends time with the three musicians striving and struggling as much to expand their signature sound today as when it was initially inked.
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The Men Who Stare at Goats Movie Review
In celebration of all the pithy talk about Jedi warriors in "The Men Who Stare at Goats," let's put it this way: This is not the political satire you're looking for.
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The Blind Side Film Review
It's blandly calculated, safe, invulnerable and cute. Michael Oher winds up a supporting player in his own biopic, although Sandra Bullock is a surprisingly strong lead.
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An Education Film Review
An Education depicts how pie-in-the-sky predictions for our futures can sock even the most sensible among us and represents the major arrival of actress Carey Mulligan.
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2012 Starring John Cusack - Movie Review
Roland Emmerich might not get 12-camera coverage on a single explosion like Michael Bay, but he'll always be a better overall director of canonical cornball action.
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A Serious Man Film Review
A Serious Man is an existential Hitchcock movie crossed with Jewish spirituality, a dab of mysticism and an idea that, for the Coens, morality and mortality are entwined.
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The Invention of Lying Movie Review
What could have been Ricky Gervais' magnum opus is instead a rickety romantic comedy that collapses under the weight of its concept. Still, the religious satire is sharp.
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Capitalism: A Love Story Film Review
If Michael Moore has as fruitful a next decade as his last one, well, we're all in trouble. However, it's odd to see naive softness trump skeptical hope in "Capitalism."
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The Informant! Film Review
Steven Soderbergh closes the decade as he started it - unconventionally approaching a story loaded with scientific terms and deserving of an Oscar nod for its lead star.
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The Soloist Movie Review
Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. do their best to keep up with director Joe Wright's baton, which swings wildly all over a movie whose score needs additional notations.
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Law Abiding Citizen Film Review
"Law Abiding Citizen" is a legal-system thriller so incredulous and boring that it will have audience members seeking loopholes to recoup the $9 they've plunked down.
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Paranormal Activity Film Review
With tension deadened by depressing sensory cues for scares, "Paranormal Activity" might be the best-marketed horror movie ever made. But it's so far from the scariest.
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Anvil! The Story of Anvil Film Review
Overpraised as the second coming of American Movie, what Anvil! The Story of Anvil lacks in documentary chops, it makes up for with warm, humane heavy-metal comedy.
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Where the Wild Things Are Film Review
A flawless expansion of Maurice Sendak's story, "Where the Wild Things Are" is a film to treasure, discuss and lovingly revisit. One of the decade's best family films.
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Trick 'r Treat Film Review
"Trick 'r Treat" isn't the scariest horror movie of 2009, but it joins an elite crop of great ones ... although it was ready to go in 2007. Don't let that sway you.
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Management Movie Review
Although Management is not a romantic comedy worth prioritizing your time to see, it has the funniest, and most truthful, Joe Strummer-related one-liner of all time.
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Crank: High Voltage Film Review
If Neveldine/Taylor's films are to resemble video games, this one plays like the secret level embedded by a programmer after a frenzied weekend of mescaline.
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Zombieland Film Review
Neither too arch nor too serious, "Zombieland" is a rambunctious, rowdy good time with an action-packed, but thoughtful, script and the funniest postmodern joke of 2009.
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Whip It Film Review
Whip It is a great sports movie, teen slice of life, daffy comedy and insightful drama. Toss in adrenaline-pumping roller-derby scenes, and you leave in an ecstatic rush.
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Sunshine Cleaning Film Review
Despite overt pushiness with played-out indie-quirk elements, "Sunshine Cleaning" gets its brightest rays from a cast able to find natural nuance in their characters.
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Pandorum Film Review
Pandorum is a sci-fi horror flick that should be more eager to blow your mind with its developments in the last 10 minutes than numb your butt with the preceding 98.
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Surrogates Film Review
Surrogates mostly forgoes bombastic action for a shrewdly cautionary tale that nails the breathless rush of smart sci-fi and features a compelling turn by Bruce Willis.
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FlashForward Series Premiere Review
FlashForward lives up to potential as a hype-worthy pilot, but its rocketing pace will have to slacken a bit and let its characters breathe to live up to its Lost envy.
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Bored to Death Series Premiere Review
HBO's new comedy doesn't debut as strongly as some of its contemporaries, but if it lets its premise breathe and its three leads bluster, it will soon join their ranks.
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Miss March Film Review
Scuttled off by Fox Searchlight - even overdubbing is botched - "Miss March" shows glimmers of the Whitest Kids U'Know's cockeyed comedy, but is nothing worth pinning up.
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Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 7 Premiere Review
The spongeworthy "Seinfeld" reunion bit will come later. But the cringeworthy plot of the season premiere proves that it's wonderful to be trapped in eclectic Larry-land.
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Bruno Film Review
Bruno Gehard lacks the fresh factor in Borat Sagdiyev's favor, but plotting the pranks does little to diminish their jollity in Sacha Baron Cohen's uproarious new comedy.
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Inglourious Basterds Movie Review (2009)
Quentin Tarantino's best film since Pulp Fiction is packed with surprises, sly humor and swift consequential violence, and Christoph Waltz makes for a memorable menace.
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Fast & Furious Film Review
No better or worse than the three films preceding it, "Fast and Furious" is dumb fun that gives its protagonists room to let their strained partnership fester further.
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Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince Film Review
Who'd have thought, on the cusp of closing the Harry Potter franchise, that the films would be so deathly boring? Why, it's enough to make one long for Chris Columbus.
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Orphan Film Review
This killer-kid horror film modulates its malevolence well thanks to a sturdy theme, an unnerving turn from Isabelle Fuhrman and one doozy of a late-film development.
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Whiteout Movie Review
Snowbound thrillers rarely live up to potential ("30 Days of Night," the "Insomnia" remake), but "Whiteout" goes beneath them all. This is one of 2009's worst movies.
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Gamer Film Review
After the empty-headed fun of two Crank films, Neveldine/Taylor power up with Gamer - sickening and savvy in its satirical spin on the plot of The Most Dangerous Game.
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The Haunting in Connecticut Blu-ray Review
Eerie old-time necromancy provides the only goosebumps to be found in a horror film filled with bad performances and constantly copping out with high-volume boo scares.
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Push Film Review
Even established comics like X-Men took time to establish a sufficient origin story in film form. Push is written as though it's the second chapter in a boring saga.
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Extract Film Review
Lacking Office Space's relatable hell or Idiocracy's not-far-off lunacy, Mike Judge's Extract satirizes American ethics in a manner free of anger and, sadly, of laughs.
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Public Enemies Film Review
Michael Mann is better than most when not at his best. His latest look at emotions betraying calculated crimes is unwieldy, but buoyed by strong themes and Johnny Depp.
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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Film Review
Cobbled together to go around a 2007 writers' strike, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" junks the original's breezy, goofy fun for massive, oppressive military might.
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Outlander Film Review
Aliens, Vikings and Jesus in the same film. OK, it's just Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus. But where Outlander should have a full-tilt crazy approach, it's instead leaden.
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My Name is Bruce Blu-ray Review
"My Name is Bruce" won't give you sugar, baby. Not on its budget. But Splenda works fine as a substitute for this Kool-Aid, which Campbell knows fans will happily drink.
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The Spirit Blu-ray Review
"Toilets are always funny" may just become one of your everyday phrases after watching one of the more agreeably bizarre big-budget mainstream films to hit in some time
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W. Blu-ray Review
While not the rampaging muckraker he could be, Oliver Stone puts forth quiet rage amid a towering tale of a Texan family whose trappings worked us all over
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The Taking of Pelham 123 Film Review
It's been more than a decade since Tony Scott made a good movie. But this is "Deja Vu" all over again - somewhat entertaining, starring Denzel, ruined by idiotic action.
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The Hangover Film Review
Zach Galifianakis is so good in "The Hangover," it might be worth seeing "G Force," where he handles guinea-pig spies. Or maybe just go see 2009's funniest comedy again.
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Drag Me to Hell Film Review
Forget the overrated Spider-Man saga. This is the moviemaking Sam Raimi was built for - macabre, mirthful and manipulative in all the right ways. A wonderful horror film.
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Terminator Salvation Film Review
Improving on "T3" with an involving intensity akin to "T2," this mammoth movie maintains momentum in action and plot and shows Sam Worthington might be bigger than Bale.
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Knowing Film Review
A sluggish script and another waxen performance from Nicolas Cage prevent deep chills in Knowing, a thriller as aggressively moronic as it is aggressively apocalyptic.
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I Love You, Man Film Review
Just when the arrested-development comedy seemed to have hit its endpoint, Paul Rudd and Jason Segel use a jaunty chemistry to enliven a thinly plotted tale of guy love.
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Four Christmases Film Review
Like "Step Brothers," "Four Christmases" is a comedy about execrable expectations of American society. Unlike "Step Brothers," it's a dreary, pointless, offensive mess.
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Changeling Film Review
Angelina Jolie's affecting performance and pitch-perfect period details lift Clint Eastwood's mostly riveting, occasionally leaden voyage into the Los Angeles underbelly.
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Quantum of Solace Film Review
James Bond films should be more than efficient entertainment, but Quantum of Solace scales back the grandeur and bold character re-development of 2006's Casino Royale.
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Zack and Miri Make a Porno Review
Kevin Smith coasts on tenderly comic performances from Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks in a crass-concept comedy that rises above its sloppily timed bodily-function jokes.
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Rachel Getting Married Film Review
Containing three of the year's best performances, Rachel Getting Married is Jonathan Demme's joyous return to intimate drama and a film with which to become infatuated.
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Lee Pace in The Fall - Film Review
With jaw-dropping visuals filmed across 18 countries, The Fall is a tall, towering tale that scales dramatic heights through deep, rich storytelling and a love for film.
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Appaloosa Film Review
Neither postmodern nor nihilistic, Appaloosa is star-director Ed Harris's solemn ode to tradition, honor and ethics, anchored by Viggo Mortensen's slyly subtle star turn.
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Pride and Glory Film Review
In Pride and Glory, Edward Norton and Colin Farrell lead a consistent, insistent ensemble to prove that conviction in the craft of acting can elevate routine procedurals.
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City of Ember Film Review
Touchingly low-tech and beautifully filmed, "City of Ember" need not be thrill-a-minute, but a thrill every 20 minutes and a sedated Bill Murray make it a fitful sit.
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Quarantine Film Review
Quarantine is a gory dumb-fun thriller that will have renters questioning their pad's pet policy and genre fans wondering if there's any mileage left in POV horror films.
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Body of Lies Film Review
Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott convincingly trot the globe, but stumble upon few smart, suspenseful, surprising or even tense scenes in a flat drama.
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Infinite Playlist Film Review
Before Sunrise for the Stereogum set. It's easy to get swept up in this teen romance thanks to vibrant nocturnal cinematography, realistic writing and solid acting.
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Choke Film Review
Clark Gregg's direction is made for TV and his writing makes the subversion of Chuck Palahniuk's novel easier to swallow, but Sam Rockwell keeps Choke sleazy and breezy.
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Burn After Reading Film Review
Joel and Ethan Coen should end comic collaborations with George Clooney. None has worked, and none less so than this leaden spy game. Hey, they could switch to Brad Pitt.
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Miracle at St. Anna Film Review
Spike Lee too often lets his Clint Eastwood grudge get the better of him in a war film with several powerhouse set-pieces and no shortage of grand, if messy, ambitions.
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Beverly Hills Chihuahua Review
It's neither the abomination that it appeared nor entirely recommendable. Beverly Hills Chihuahua's pedigree, like most family films, is between misery and masterpiece.
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Omar Sosa Interview
Omar Sosa, jazz player? Too constricting and passive. Omar Sosa, jazz musician? More like it. This Cuban-born artist uses jazz as a philosophy to include global music.
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Blindness Film Review
Fernando Meirelles' uncompromising, if repetitive, adaptation of Blindness employs grueling social scenarios, stylish visuals and Julianne Moore's best work in a decade.
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Ralph's World Interview
For tots about to rock, Ralph Covert salutes you. Covert has re-tooled an often-fluffy genre into songs even parents can enjoy. Call it XTC for those learning their ABCs.
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Eagle Eye Film Review
To make barcodes scary, a thriller needs a pace faster than a busy self-scan checkout. Thankfully, there's no need for a price, or pulse, check on the furious Eagle Eye.
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