Author: Jason Zingale

It’s one thing to have a great idea for a movie, but it’s an entirely different thing to successfully execute it. That seems to happen more often than not in the film industry these days, and first-time director Kevin Asch’s new drama, “Holy Rollers,” is no exception. Despite arriving at Sundance earlier this year as one of the more high-profile films in competition, “Holy Rollers” failed to connect with audiences, and it’s easy to see why. Though its one-line pitch – Hasidic Jews as drug mules – is certainly fascinating, there’s nothing particularly engaging about the material. Drug smuggling is…

It’s been a long time since a “Saturday Night Live” skit was turned into a full-length feature, and for good reason. With the exception of a rare few (namely, the first “Wayne’s World”), they’ve all been pretty terrible. Director Jorma Taccone hopes to buck that trend with “MacGruber,” the big screen adaptation of Will Forte’s MacGyver-like secret agent. Though it might seem like the kind of one-joke concept that couldn’t possibly be funny for 88 minutes, “MacGruber” is so unrelenting in its attempt to win over the audience with its childish brand of humor that you can’t help but join…

It’s been a long, hard road for “Alan Wake,” and I’m not talking about the terrifying events that the title character witnesses over the course of the game. Originally announced by Remedy in 2005, the survival horror title has gone through an endless series of delays, and yet anticipation for its release has grown with every missed ship date. So it must be worth the wait, right? Thankfully, yes. “Alan Wake” isn’t quite a game-changer like Remedy’s “Max Payne” was for first-person shooters, but it is a wildly enjoyable action thriller that, despite getting tangled in a story that’s a…

Sequels are, and will always be, a tricky business. Fail to raise the stakes and the movie plays like an unnecessary retread of its predecessor. Try to do too much, however, and it’s a bloated mess where character development takes a back seat to big, shiny action sequences. This was the dilemma facing Marvel Studios and director Jon Favreau when it came time to start working on a follow-up to the 2008 surprise hit, “Iron Man,” and although the movie isn’t without its warts, they’ve succeeded in creating a sequel that is definitely bigger, but not necessarily better. Of course,…

Anybody that says no one makes movies for women clearly isn’t looking in the right places. While Hollywood continues to make a killing off subpar romantic comedies, writer/director Nicole Holofcener has quietly produced some of the best female-centric films of the last decade, only for them to go mostly unnoticed in theaters. “Please Give” is the latest in Holofcener’s series of winning tragicomedies, and although it might not be her best, it’s still better than superficial garbage like “Sex and the City 2.” After all, the characters in “Please Give” are real women with real problems, and that’s something you’re…

Every four years, soccer fans around the world come together to experience the magic of the World Cup. There’s no better feeling than seeing your team pull off the win of a lifetime as they fight their way through 31 other nations in the hope of walking away with the top prize. In anticipation of this year’s competition in South Africa, Electronic Arts has once again decided to capitalize on soccer fever by releasing a World Cup-specific title in addition to its annual installment. For the most part, the game looks and feels like “FIFA Soccer 10,” but despite a…

It’s only been ten years since Bryan Singer’s “X-Men” helped convince movie studios that adapting comic books for the big screen was a lucrative enterprise, but you’d think more time had passed for how tight of a grip the subgenre has on the film industry today. Arriving right on the heels of “Kick-Ass,” Sylvain White’s “The Losers” is the second comic book movie to be released in as many weeks. Based on the DC/Vertigo series of the same name, the comic played like a fun throwback to classic shows like “Mission: Impossible” and “The A-Team.” Something must have been lost…

It might seem a bit counterproductive to remake a movie that’s only been around for a few years, but Hollywood has been doing it for quite some time now. More often than not, the reason behind remaking a film for audiences comes down to two things: subtitles and cultural differences. Frank Oz’s 2007 film, “Death at a Funeral,” has neither, so it’s a bit strange to see it being re-imagined as a Tyler Perry-esque urban comedy when you could just as easily rent the original. But despite how terrible that may sound to fans of Oz’s version, Neil LaBute’s remake…

Every discussion about John Woo always seems to end with someone declaring “The Killer” to be the greatest action film of all time, but try making them watch the 1989 action thriller again and you might be surprised to discover that very few would actually stand by that statement. After all, Woo’s own “Hard Boiled” is a far superior film, and even that couldn’t be considered the best of the best. It’s still a great action flick, mind you, but for those who consider “The Killer” to be a masterpiece may want to take off those rose-colored glasses they’re wearing…

Much like his 2007 film, “Margot at the Wedding,” writer/director Noah Baumbach’s latest dramedy, “Greenberg,” features a lead protagonist who isn’t exactly the most likeable character in the world. In fact, he’s downright obnoxious, to the point that it’s hard to imagine anyone would want to be his friend, let alone spend a few hours with him. But that’s exactly what Baumbach is asking for with this grueling character study of a middle-aged man who’s seemingly given up on life. Unfortunately, while “Greenberg” does have a few things going for it (namely in its supporting cast and a house party…