Author: Jason Zingale

There’s not a whole lot that Sylvester Stallone can be proud of in his long career as an actor, but playing two of the most memorable franchise characters in film history earns you the kind of respect required to greenlight as many meaningless sequels as you want. At least, that’s the only explanation that seems to justify the production of yet another “Rocky” movie (not to mention another “Rambo” flick, due out in early 2008), because while the underdog story will never cease to inspire audiences everywhere, the cheesy premise of the series wore out its welcome long before that…

When you think of Clint Eastwood, you don’t exactly think “foreign language film,” but we can all thank our lucky stars that the director decided to revisit the Battle of Iwo Jima with a story told from the Japanese perspective or he may have always been remembered for producing the incredibly mediocre “Flags of Our Fathers.” Eastwood’s follow-up to the WWII epic outshines its predecessor in every way – from the richer characters and stronger performances, to the more significant tale about a group of men who were more or less sentenced to death by their own country – and…

If there’s one underlying theme to Irwin Winkler’s war drama, “Home of the Brave,” it’s that you probably shouldn’t enlist in the military. If you do, you’re bound to end up dead, as an amputee, or just really fucked up. Then again, maybe I’m looking too much into the one-sided politics of the story. One of the characters does re-enlist at the end of the film – albeit for all the wrong reasons, and probably just so Winkler can say that his movie isn’t anti-war propaganda – but at least Americans won’t feel as upset about the young soldiers dying…

Most people walk into a film like “The Pursuit of Happyness” expecting certain things: a friendly protagonist, a relatable experience, and that oh-so-important happy ending. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what you get, and nothing more. Even after sitting through nearly an hour of projection problems during our screening of the film – in which anyone could have just as easily left and guessed exactly what happened in the end – I decided to stick it out with the hope that something better was on the way. I lost an hour of my day and gained nothing. The film plays out just…

Nintendo may have lost some ground in the last console war, but while their popularity among mature gamers decreased, their position as the most creative game developers in the world was only reinforced. The advent of the Nintendo DS helped to reestablish the company as the true gaming powerhouse that is, and the Wii only looks to build on that. With an attractive price tag of $249, it’s difficult not to think how excited mothers will be this holiday season, and when given the chance between the Wii and Sony’s mega-expensive PlayStation 3, they’ll certainly be more likely to pick…

It seems like forever since Christopher Guest last graced us with one of his comedic masterpieces, and after attending a screening of the director’s latest film, it looks like we may be in for one helluva wait. There’s virtually nothing funny about “For Your Consideration” – which pokes fun at Hollywood and the Academy Awards – and is in fact so mellow that it could have easily passed for a drama. The characters are sad, sad human beings (not the outlandish caricatures that made Guest’s earlier films so compelling), the script feels hurried and unfinished, and the cast appear to…

“Fast Food Nation” doesn’t show you anything the filmmakers’ don’t feel the audience absolutely needs to see in order to get their message across. Which is to say that they show you everything they possibly can; including a grotesque look at the “kill zone” of a meatpacking factory (where the cows are slaughtered) that is intentionally reserved for the film’s finale. And though the image is disturbing, it’s unlikely to leave much of an impression on any regular, fast food-chomping American for more than a couple days. This heavy-handed lecture on the social repercussions of the fast food industry revolves…

It’s common knowledge that James Bond is dashingly proficient in dodging the bullets of his outlandish nemeses, but the question that everyone is dying to know is whether or not he’ll be just as good at dodging those from the looming rogue’s gallery of film critics. A shimmering media target ever since being cast as the new man behind Ian Fleming’s iconic MI6 super agent, Daniel Craig has been charged with the task of breathing new life into the longest-running franchise in the history of film. Unfortunately, while Craig’s past performances have proven him more than capable of taking on…

It’s incredibly frustrating as a film critic to attend a screening that you thoroughly enjoy, only to return home and discover that you have absolutely nothing to say. If given the chance, it would have been extremely helpful to see “Bobby” a second time, since most of my first viewing was spent simply enjoying the film for its amazing ensemble cast. Written and directed by Emilio Estevez, “Bobby” is well-scripted, beautifully shot and wonderfully acted, and though its obvious lack of any coherent plot will no doubt disappoint those looking for a more substantial narrative, it stands as one of…

It’s amazing what one year can do for a franchise in dire need of a little retooling. Last year’s installment of the popular NFL series was an absolute disaster on current-gen systems (due mostly to the introduction of the über-crappy QB Vision, which has since been removed), and the Xbox 360 version was even worse, complete with glitchy gameplay and the absence of several game modes. Thankfully, the boys over at EA still know how to make a great football game, and while unnecessary extras like NFL Superstar (where you participate in an RPG-like journey to HOF stardom) still drag…