Alexandre Aja’s remake of the Roger Corman/Joe Dante/John Sayles original Piranha (1978) is most everything it promises to be, and unlike so many re-makes of horror films of late (A Nightmare on Elm Street , My Bloody Valentine ), it refreshes the content rather than just regurgitates it.
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Channeling comic books, video games, anime, manga and riffing off pop culture elements from music, film, television, and everywhere, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is one of the most visually inventive films in a long time.
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'Splice' is a modern take on the Mary Shelley classic, albeit with young, way-too-cool hipster lover scientists. Even their apartment looks like it was decorated by 'Giant Robot' magazine. But the normal fears of raising a child escalate to horror in the altered DNA of this sci-fi flick.
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'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is the latest and perhaps the biggest film yet made from a video game. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, we’ve got it all: a sort of fantasy adventure; lots of scimitars; Arabic costumes; and strange allusions to the Bush Administration and the Iraq War. Whuh?
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Iron Man 2 is arguably the most-anticipated summer action film of the year. It’s not a promising summer, really, so the competition doesn’t exactly seem stiff for such a title. But how does this sequel hold up of its own accord?
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The original concept of Nightmare on Elm Street was original and allowed Director Wes Craven to created a number of visually surprising moments, which were semi-comical but striking. The new version may be too grounded for its own good.
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Beefed up, as heroes and monsters are these days, the new re-make of 1981’s 'Clash of the Titans' is a reverent-but-soulless endeavor in pop “summer movie” cinema.
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The 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' books are printed in a hand-written looking script, meant to be the actual “diary” or journal of Greg Heffley, and populated with lots of simplistic but amusing cartoons. So how did it translate to a live-action film . . . particularly for the kids?
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'Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief,' is adapted from Rick Riordan's books and directed by Harry Potter alum Chris Columbus. What looked to be a highly derivative and onerous concept turned out to be a pretty decent film.
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'Whip It,' a movie concerning girls' roller derby, is a sort of lightweight teen outsider comedy mixed with sports film. It's about exactly what you would imagine: light as a feather, shallow as a puddle, and relatively entertaining nonetheless.
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Forget Sauce, Get Cranberry 'Soused' on Thanksgiving