Author: Jason Zingale

It’s been 13 years since Robert De Niro and Al Pacino first shared the screen in Michael Mann’s “Heat,” and even then, that was a bit of a tease. So when news broke that two of the industry’s most respected actors would be co-starring in a new film together, the hype surrounding the project reached boiling point. That is, until director Jon Avnet (“88 Minutes”) joined the production, followed shortly by rapper-turned-actor Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. Anticipation for the film has been dwindling ever since, and though it was entirely possible that “Righteous Kill” would turn out better than expected,…

If there’s anything less original than an inspirational sports movie, it’s one that uses racism as its main plot device. These films are a dime a dozen these days, but that doesn’t mean they still don’t make for great stories. The tragic tale of Ernie Davis – who died of leukemia at the age of 23 before he ever got to play a single down in the NFL – is exactly the kind of story that Hollywood loves, but anyone expecting another “Brian’s Song” will be terribly disappointed. “The Express” isn’t built around Davis’ untimely death, but rather the many…

Anyone who’s ever seen an English period drama knows exactly how “The Duchess” is going to play out, but director Saul Dibb doesn’t seem to mind. He’s far more concerned with showcasing the vast array of extravagant hats and dresses that star Keira Knightley struts around in over the course of the movie, and though the actress makes them look even better wearing them, there’s something to be said for Dibb’s decision to literally choose style over substance. It’s not that the movie doesn’t have anything to say, but it’s nothing we haven’t heard before. If there’s anything at all…

Six torturous years have passed since Quentin Tarantino’s last film (the criminally underrated “Jackie Brown”), but with the release of “Kill Bill: Volume One,” the wait is finally over. The first of a two-part series, “Kill Bill” is Tarantino’s homage to his favorite films – from Hong Kong martial arts flicks and Japanese samurai movies to Italian spaghetti westerns – and it’s some of his best work to date. A hysterical and bloody powerhouse stamped with the director’s trademark ability to make recycled material look fresh and innovative, “Kill Bill: Volume One” is one of the best films of the…

Nicolas Cage must really have a thing for remakes, but when the best one on your résumé is “Gone in 60 Seconds,” well, it might be time to rethink your choice in scripts. Based on the 1999 film of the same name, “Bangkok Dangerous” isn’t so much a remake as it is a loose adaptation, but with the original directors (Hong Kong duo The Pang Brothers) behind the camera for the second go-around, you’d think that it could only get better, not worse. Instead, the movie feels like a 1990s action film starring Steven Seagal, but with much less action…

Let’s not dance around the subject any more than we need to: “FaceBreaker” is a clear frontrunner for Worst Game of the Year. As the first title to be released under Electronic Arts’ new Freestyle label, you’d expect the arcade boxer to be a little rough around the edges, but this is ridiculous. It’s not even a boxing game at all, but rather a button-mashing fighter that relies on about as much skill as a game of rock-paper-scissors. Perhaps even worse, however, is that this is how the game is meant to be played. Some might enjoy drudging through the…

It’s always a bit of a chore reviewing the latest spoof movie from Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. One can only proclaim how tragically unfunny they are so many times before your words become about as predictable as the jokes that populate their films. What’s perhaps most upsetting is that they don’t even try. Movie-specific jokes are almost always derived from the trailer (as if they would no longer be topical one year later, after the writers actually saw them), while the sheer volume of look-a-likes crammed into a single sequence is practically a signed confession of their laziness. So,…

Morgan Spurlock is a man of the people, so it’s not at all surprising that after the underground success of his directorial debut, “Super Size Me,” he was quickly thrust into the limelight and baptized by the media as the next Michael Moore. Though that may be true, it’s also sort of a mixed blessing. After all, there are only two types of people when talking about Michael Moore: those that hate him with the red-hot fire of a thousand suns, and those that accept his publicity stunt-driven documentaries for what they really are – sheer entertainment. Fortunately for Spurlock,…

Happy Madison projects usually fall into one of two categories: movies starring Adam Sandler and movies starring buddies like Rob Schneider and David Spade. Recently, the company reached an all-time low with the release of “Strange Wilderness” – a comedy so incredibly bad that it deserves a category of its own. It’s curious, then, that the director responsible for that cinematic tumor is the same man behind “The House Bunny,” the first Happy Madison movie not starring Adam Sandler that doesn’t completely suck. It’s also the first Sandler-produced film targeted almost exclusively toward the ladies, and wouldn’t you know it,…

The Beatles may be the biggest rock band in music history, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have their share of backstage troubles along the way. The story of Pete Best (the band’s original drummer that was replaced by Ringo Starr on the cusp of their success) probably isn’t the most popular of the bunch, but recently, it has become the topic of great debate amongst music fans everywhere. Whether or not Best was actually forced out remains unclear, but the former Beatle clearly has no hard feelings, or he wouldn’t be making a cameo in a movie inspired by…