Movie Reviews

Sylvestor Stallone is gone, but Judge Dredd is back in Dredd, a movie no one asked for but got anyway. In this case, however, Dredd is a fun surprise, a movie that won’t win any awards but revels in its simplicity and benefits from slick direction and a violent script.

Read FilmJabber’s full Dredd movie review.

Robert Pattinson attempts to escape the sparkling hell he’s been trapped in for the last several years with the very serious and very talky Cosmopolis, the latest from  director David Cronenberg. Just in case “very serious” and “very talky” are not enough to sell you, Cosmopolis is also very boring.

Read FilmJabber’s full Cosmopolis movie review.

Just when you think we’ve moved past the belief that radioactive waste can cause mutated monsters, along comes Chernobyl Diaries, a silly albeit not entirely misguided horror movie from the writer of Paranormal Activity.

Read FilmJabber’s full Chernobyl Diaries movie review.

If a movie review is supposed to pinpoint why a movie is good, this review fails miserably. Overlooked and underappreciated, Goon, starring Seann William Scott, is one of the hidden gems of the year. About a bouncer-turned-hockey player, Goon is an entertaining and lighthearted film that works for no particular reason.

Read FilmJabber’s full Goon movie review.

The world is slowly going to hell. It’s not overpopulation. Or war. Nuclear disaster? Nope. Not even famine. The world is going to hell because people are losing their senses. Smell. Taste. Hearing. Sight. People are losing their connection with the world, and there is nothing they can do to stop it. That’s the premise of Perfect Sense, a largely overlooked romantic drama starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green.

Read FilmJabber’s full Perfect Sense movie review.

Anthony Hopkins dons a new face for the first time since his Hannibal Lecter days in Hitchcock, where the acclaimed actor plays the acclaimed filmmaker as he makes the acclaimed classic Psycho, in which Norman Bates goes batshit crazy after certain people use the word "acclaimed" too much in a single sentence. Unfortunately, "acclaimed" cannot be ascribed to Hitchcock, which is a rather ordinary affair.

Read FilmJabber’s full Hitchcock movie review.

Marion Cotillard shows some flesh, loses some flesh and shares some, too, in Rust and Bone, Jacques Audiard’s follow-up to his Oscar-nominated drama A Prophet. The movie, about a crippled woman who develops an unlikely relationship with a knuckle fighter, features powerful performances but never delivers a knockout blow.

Read FilmJabber’s full Rust & Bone movie review.

The creator of “The Sopranos” makes his theatrical debut with Not Fade Away, a coming-of-age romantic drama set against the 1960’s rise of rock bands. Unfortunately, the movie fades away much faster than intended.

Read FilmJabber’s full Not Fade Away movie review.

It took me a while to see Ted. I saw the movie in early August, several weeks after most people had tired of raving about it. It took me even longer to review it, as it’s now December at time of writing. As a result, I apologize in advance for the brevity of this review, and its lack of detail.

Read FilmJabber’s full Ted movie review.

The last time Matt Damon and director Gus Van Sant teamed up for a movie, the result was… Gerry. But before that limited release, it was Good Will Hunting, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards, won two additional Oscars and put Matt Damon on the map. The two have now reunited for Promised Land, an entertaining and easy-to-watch drama that unfortunately lacks the necessary power to compete with the end-of-year heavy hitters.

Read FilmJabber’s full Promised Land movie review.

Osama bin Laden meets his match in Zero Dark Thirty, a detailed and mesmerizing account of the 10-year manhunt for the al Qaeda leader. Director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal, in their follow-up to 2008′s Academy Award-winning The Hurt Locker, have managed to outdo themselves with one of the best – if not the best – movie of the year.

Read FilmJabber’s full Zero Dark Thirty movie review.

Heavily hyped and surrounded by deafening buzz, Les Misérables serves as Tom Hooper’s follow up to the Oscar-winning drama The King’s Speech and as this year’s sole mainstream musical. It is considered a heavyweight in the Best Picture category… but it doesn’t deserve it. Well done, beautifully acted and at times explosive, Les Misérables left me wanting more. Not more of the movie, but a more emotional connection.

Read FilmJabber’s full Les Miserables movie review.