Author: Jason Zingale

It’s only been 16 months since the release of the micro-budget comedy, “Women in Trouble,” but that hasn’t stopped director Sebastian Gutierrez from rushing out the second installment in his proposed trilogy, which debuted at last year’s SXSW film festival. There wasn’t much outcry for a sequel, but considering just how fast and cheap these movies are to make, there probably wasn’t any time to wait around to find out. But whereas “Women in Trouble” featured a series of fun, interconnected stories anchored by a clever script and strong performances from its mostly female cast, “Elektra Luxx” only offers a…

Patrick Wilson hasn’t had the greatest of luck when it comes to movies and his manhood. He was castrated by a diabolical Ellen Page in “Hard Candy” and had trouble getting it up in Zack Snyder’s big screen adaptation of “Watchmen.” His third go-around with this particularly emasculating complication is Chris D’Arienzo’s “Barry Munday,” a movie that manages to be both funny and touching when it doesn’t seem capable of either. Though the film is obviously targeted towards a certain demographic (namely, the kind of adult males who frequent this site), the fact that it plays a lot like “Knocked…

The romantic comedy genre has gone through a pretty big evolution over the last five years, with Judd Apatow almost singlehandedly changing the game with movies like “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up.” But while there have been many imitators in that time, Jim Field Smith’s “She’s Out of My League” is one of the few movies to successfully channel Apatow’s unmistakable blend of sweet and raunchy comedy. It’s essentially frat boy humor with a heart, and although the film follows all the usual peaks and valleys of a typical rom-com, “She’s Out of My League” gets a pass for…

For someone who makes documentaries that are as scripted as most Hollywood productions, Michael Moore really fell into a bit of luck while making his latest movie, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” when the stock market crashed midway through filming. It’s probably not something Moore would have wanted to happen, but that doesn’t change the fact that it makes for one helluva final act. The 90-odd minutes that precede it, however, aren’t quite as good, as the documentarian best known for his bait-and-switch theatrics rolls through the history of the United States’ transformation from economic powerhouse to corporate-run madhouse with about…

Movies with an A-list cast like the one that headlines “Brooklyn’s Finest” typically play the festival circuit as an inexpensive way to promote the film before its release. But despite premiering at Sundance back in 2009, it’s taken a little more than a year for Antoine Fuqua’s new cop drama to arrive in theaters. There’s no good explanation for the delay other than that the movie is so generic in its treatment of the genre that Overture was probably considering dumping it direct to DVD. “Brooklyn’s Finest” isn’t quite bad enough to deserve that kind of treatment, but the film’s…

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last year, you probably know all about Roman Polanski’s ongoing personal troubles. In fact, you could even draw parallels between the director’s highly publicized teen sex case and the controversy surrounding one of the characters in his latest film, but just because you can doesn’t mean that you should. “The Ghost Writer” deserves to exist on its own merits, because while Polanski’s personal life may be in shambles, his professional life is still very much alive and kicking. With “The Ghost Writer,” he’s delivered yet another well-paced thriller anchored by a…

It’s funny to think that the very first “Aliens vs. Predator” game was released all the way back in 1993, because while it may have seemed like a no-brainer to fans of both franchises after spotting that famous Easter egg in “Predator 2,” it took much longer (11 years to be exact) before 20th Century Fox was confident enough to release a film version. Several other games have been released since then, most notably the 1999 PC title, which has long been considered the best of the bunch for its multiple campaign modes and solid multiplayer action. If you were…

It’s hard to take a movie like “From Paris with Love” seriously, because the minute you do, you risk sucking out all the fun that comes with watching a silly action film. Those that just sit back and enjoy the ride for what it is, however, will find that despite its preposterous set-up, “From Paris with Love” really isn’t that bad. After all, this isn’t the first Luc Besson production to favor style over substance, and although it may not have the thrills of “Taken,” the stylish car chases of “The Transporter,” or the high-flying stunts of “District 13,” “From…

The trailers for “Edge of Darkness” promised an action-packed revenge thriller in the same vein as last year’s surprise hit, “Taken.” At least, that’s what the studio wants you to think, but it’s pretty far from it. Though the movie does have some action sprinkled throughout, it plays more like the sort of hard-boiled thrillers that ruled the cineplexes in the 1970s; ones that didn’t need extravagant set pieces to hold the audience’s interest. It’s certainly a worthy attempt at resurrecting the genre, but with guys like Martin Campbell and William Monahan pulling the strings, “Edge of Darkness” should have…

Sometimes it can be awfully lonely as a film critic, at least when it comes to a movie that almost everyone seems to love except you. David Michôd’s directorial debut, “Animal Kingdom,” certainly isn’t the first time I’ve gone against the majority, and it won’t be the last. While many have praised the Australian import as one of the best movies of the year, “Animal Kingdom” is a surprisingly average crime drama that, despite some good ideas branching from its metaphorical title, is rarely as daring or engaging as it wants you to believe. The movie does have a few…