By Brian Lafferty

August 27, 2010 (San Diego)--Jean-Luc Godard, that great French filmmaker, once said, “The best way to criticize a movie is to make another movie.” When I first saw Mesrine: Killer Instinct, which is the first in a two part series (Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 will be released next week) I wasn’t very impressed. I felt like I had seen it all before and that the movie wasn’t anything special. That was until I saw Takers a while later.

By Brian Lafferty

August 27, 2010 (San Diego)--The movie may be called Takers but “Sharp Dressed Men” would be a more apt title. The Takers in this movie are a group of men who get their kicks robbing banks but there is very little of it. Instead, we see only a group of men dressed in expensive suits strutting around, acting cool, and emitting a subtext that says, “Look how much money we have to afford these coats and ties!” At some point I wished ZZ Top’s hit song, “Sharp Dressed Man” would blare to lighten things up a little.

The Kid: Chamaco, which he produced, opens Friday for a one-week engagement

By Brian Lafferty

August 26, 2010 (El Cajon)--“The quality of writing will get you through the door,” says East County film producer Vernon Mortensen. His newest film, The Kid: Chamaco, opens Friday for a one-week showing at the Reading Gaslamp.  “To get to the door, half the time you need to know somebody," he told me over lunch in El Cajon.

By Brian Lafferty

August 22, 2010 (San Diego)--Patrik, Age 1.5 is formulaic, super-sweet, and very sentimental but I liked it. The movie opened on Friday and is playing at the Ken Cinema until Thursday. I found the structure to be overly predictable and some of the song choices questionable and gag-inducing but it was to me a worthwhile cinematic experience.

By Brian Lafferty

August 22, 2010 (San Diego)--Cairo Time is a film best appreciated as art. Forget the simplistic, nearly nonexistent plot involving a budding affair between an American woman and her husband’s Egyptian friend. I admired this film for it’s cinematography and it’s visual style which included such lyrical imagery as the Pyramids, the mosques, the streets, the desert, and the Nile. The script, not unlike the characters, wanders almost aimlessly but I liked where it took the characters and I enjoyed where it took me.

By Brian Lafferty

August 8, 2010 (San Diego)—Don’t go into Agora, which was released to theaters on July 30, expecting something along the lines of 300. It is more intellectual and philosophical than that. I like to think of it as a smart person’s epic. There is bloodshed but not as soaked and certainly not as fake. There is love and lust but there is no sex. Alejandro Amenabar has shied away from the obligatory scenes associated with these movies and replaced them with scenes that contain intelligence, relying on the solid writing and great performances.

By Brian Lafferty

August 8, 2010 (San Diego)--Felix Booth (Robert DuVall) is an older, grouchier Boo Radley. It’s fitting, given that DuVall’s first movie role was the enigmatic recluse in the 1962 classic To Kill a Mockingbird. He is always the subject of gossip, which may or may not be true. Kids often trespass on his isolated property deep in the woods to see if the old man is there, only to be chased away with a shotgun.

By Brian Lafferty

August 7, 2010 (San Diego)--The Other Guys works best when it focuses on Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg. I found their scenes droll because of the way the two played off each other. The Other Guys could have benefitted tremendously from a slight trim job and a comprehensible, less-than-convoluted plot but it in the end, it really doesn’t matter. The movie has enough laughs for me to recommend it, although it is not without its flaws.

By Brian Lafferty

July 30, 2010 (San Diego)--Intelligently dumb may sound like an oxymoron but it is the best phrase I could use to accurately describe Dinner for Schmucks. It is at times goofy and stupid but there is always a certain astuteness that permeates throughout the material without coming off as pretentious. The “dinner” doesn’t arrive until the second to last reel and it is a little bit of a letdown but that doesn’t mean the lead-up isn’t hilarious at times.

By Brian Lafferty

July 30, 2010 (San Diego)--Charlie St. Cloud is one of those movies that made me wonder if it should have even been made. The two major themes in this picture are death and letting go. These by no means rank the highest on the controversy meter when it comes to sensitive subjects. Charlie St. Cloud doesn’t handle these themes in a competent manner but that’s only one symptom of an even larger problem: the plot, the characters, and their actions are built on such a shaky foundation that the movie is doomed to begin with.

By Brian Lafferty

I will admit going into Ramona and Beezus fearing the filmmakers would somehow screw it up. I remember reading all the Beverly Cleary books in third grade and loving every one of them. Fortunately, the director and screenwriters not only have crafted a good, sweet and entertaining movie but as an added bonus they have captured the spirit of the books.

By Brian Lafferty

July 23, 2010 (San Diego)--The scenario of Salt is gleefully implausible, with twist after twist and sequences of events that go way beyond the valley of the absurd. The film knows this. These would not be criticisms if the movie was any good, but Salt is a surprisingly boring action movie, completely devoid of suspense as if the filmmakers made a conscious effort to avoid it.

By Brian Lafferty

"This is one of the best movies of the year." -- Brian Lafferty

July 22, 2010 (San Diego's East County)--Dreams have always been part of  cinema. A common film use is the “it was only a dream” stunt applied to generate cheap thrills and groans (Jaws: The Revenge) or to foment laughter (A Serious Man, An American Werewolf in London).  Dreams have also acted as visually expressive tools to reveal character or relay exposition (Salvador Dali’s dream sequence in Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound). Sometimes, dreams have been used to shock the audience (the movies of Luis Bunuel, particularly Un Chien Andalou, which opens with an eyeball being slashed).

Dreams may be old subjects in motion pictures, but with Inception Christopher Nolan has delivered one of--if not the most--original movie of the year, taking the concept in many new directions I never thought possible.

By Brian Lafferty

July 14, 2010 (San Diego’s East County)--The Sorcerer's Apprentice takes a ten-minute animated segment and stretches it out to a nearly two hour live-action film but it works. It is visually dark yet lit up by the energetic performance of Dave by Jay Baruchel and Nicolas Cage’s dry, deadpan, and humorous portrayal of Balthazar. Some of the humor is predictable but I still laughed throughout. The film teems with special effects but they have a decent story to put them to use.

By Brian Lafferty

July 2, 2010 (San Diego's East County)--There is a scene at the beginning of Cyrus in which John (John C. Reilly) tries to pick up a woman at a party. The problem is he can’t get the words out and gives up. Later, he meets another woman, Molly, (Marisa Tomei) who describes the conversation he had as raw and honest. Those two words are not just true about the failed pick-up: they accurately describe this movie.

By Brian Lafferty

July 1, 2010 (San Diego's East County)--The Last Airbender is a movie that begs to be remade by a different director. It had the potential for an entertaining cinematic experience but it ends up as a vigorously underwhelming film. I didn’t hate this picture as much as I felt really disappointed.

By Brian Lafferty

June 24, 2010 (San Diego's East County) -- Knight and Day was a movie that gave me fits. That’s something I did not expect from a movie starring either Tom Cruise or Cameron Diaz. These two stars are reunited for the first time since Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky in 2001. That movie, while not their best, was at least interesting, thought-provoking, well-acted, and most of all, not the least bit boring. The same cannot be said for Knight and Day, which tries to be like James Cameron’s 1994 action flick True Lies but winds up only paling in comparison.

By Brian Lafferty

June 19, 2010 (San Diego's East County) -- Jonah Hex is one of those movies that had me sitting in the dark both literally and figuratively. I had barely any idea what was going on except Jonah Hex’s (Josh Brolin) family being torched by Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich), Jonah seeking revenge, and Turnbull’s attempted terrorist plot on Washington D.C.

By Brian Lafferty

June 18, 2010 (San Diego's East County) -- I remember the day I saw Toy Story in the theater way back in 1995. Back then I was used to the traditional animated fare. Nothing could prepare me for it. That movie was unlike anything I had ever seen. I sat in the theater simply mesmerized. Fifteen years later Pixar has released the third installment in this series. It is a rarity: a third movie in a trilogy that is as successful as its prequels.

By Brian Lafferty

June 11, 2010 (San Diego)--I strongly believe in approaching every movie I review with as neutral an attitude as possible, with no preconceived notions as to whether or not I will like it. The A-Team made it simultaneously difficult and easy. It was difficult in the sense that I’m a huge fan of the original series and easy in that the show was not a work of art. The episodes followed a strict formula and contained mindless action, yet it worked because it was entertaining, energetic, and fun. This movie works because it follows in that same spirit that made the show fun to watch.

By Brian Lafferty

June 4, 2010 (San Diego)--Maybe Hollywood should focus on making comedies instead of romantic comedies. After enduring such sludge as When in Rome and The Bounty Hunter earlier this year, it has, in the past few months, been a welcome relief to see laugh out loud films like Death at a Funeral and Get Him to the Greek, which opens today.

By Brian Lafferty

May 22, 2010 (San Diego)--In 2001 Dreamworks released Shrek. Based on a children’s book, the movie was an inventive, clever, and witty satire of fairy tales. It was a huge hit and spawned three sequels, the last of which being Shrek Forever After.

By Brian Lafferty

May 14, 2010 (San Diego)--Robin Hood is the year’s first big disappointment, considering the people involved in making it. Directed by Ridley Scott, it stars Russell Crowe as the title character and fine actress Cate Blanchett as Maid Marian. As always, Scott demonstrates his ability as one of the most visual directors out there today, teeming with expertly crafted shots that nearly give the film an epic feel. Crowe and Blanchett do not disappoint in the acting department. It is not a bad movie by any means but rather aggressively unsatisfying; to paraphrase Sean Connery from the 1976 film Robin and Marian, (a better film than this incarnation) instead of getting red meat I wound up settling for only bread and cheese.

May 9, 2010 (San Diego)—Almost ten years ago, Enron Corporation went bankrupt. In 2005, Alex Gibney directed a documentary entitled Enron: The Smartest man in the Room. Today, there will be a free screening of this film, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, at Lestat’s Coffeehouse West Showroom in downtown San Diego. The screening begins at 5:00 and seating is limited so plan to arrive early.

By Brian Lafferty

May 6, 2010 (San Diego)--When I saw Iron Man two years ago, I left the theater feeling it was a great movie but functioned more like a set-up for a better and bigger story. It raised my expectations for the sequel, which is out in theaters today. Iron Man 2 is bigger and better but not by much; it suffers from two major story flaws. Yet, I walked out of the theater feeling much more satisfied because everything that did work more than made up for what didn't.

By Brian Lafferty

April 30, 2010 (San Diego's East County)--Re-imagining a classic movie like A Nightmare on Elm Street is very risky, primarily because there will be constant comparisons to the original. Wes Craven’s 1984 masterpiece has garnered a spot in the pantheon of horror films and spawned numerous sequels with varying degrees of quality. I happily report, however, that the reboot, directed by music video director Samuel Bayer, is a solid piece of filmmaking.

By Brian Lafferty

April 23, 2010 (San Diego’s East County)--The Losers is an action movie that had no effect on me except for making my eyes glaze over. It stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Watchmen, TV’s Supernatural) and Zoe Saldana. There are moments of great inventiveness, which include grabbing an armored car using a magnet attached to a chopper…taking place in broad daylight in front of downtown commuter traffic. The problem? This film is nothing special. I just didn’t care.

By Brian Lafferty

April 16, 2010 (San Diego’s East County)--Kick-Ass is not your typical superhero. He doesn’t have any special powers and he lacks strength. His costume is a garish green wet suit with yellow stripes. He is deathly afraid of heights. This movie is one of the more interesting of its kind: an existential portrait of a tortured superhero.

By Brian Lafferty

April 16, 2010 (San Diego's East County)--As I walked out of the theater after watching Death at a Funeral, I was reminded of something the great director Howard Hawks once said about what makes a good movie: three great scenes, no bad ones. There are three hilarious, uproarious scenes which had me literally gasping for air from laughing so hard. At the same time, there was not a single scene that didn't work.

By Brian Lafferty

April 9, 2010 (San Diego’s East County)--Watching The Runaways was like going to a fun party; you have the time of your life before you spend the next day recovering. The energy this movie generated resulted in a nonstop simultaneous feeling of euphoria and heartbreak. It is a rollercoaster of a movie, one that constantly engaged me on an emotional level. It is a film that will stay with me for a long time.