Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to See 'Cowboys'

Needless to say, I found Jon Favreau's "Cowboys & Aliens" to be pretty weak tea. Daniel Craig, I'm pleased to say, provides the necessary presence as a silent, but deadly, gunslinger. I wouldn't be surprised if he is cast in future westerns.

Otherwise, the picture is a silly hybrid of the shoot 'em up and the alien invasion genres. It's not the worst Hollywood has to offer this summer, but it's pretty routine.

More enjoyable, even though flawed, is "Crazy, Stupid, Love," which survives on the talents and charms of its cast. Ryan Gosling especially shines in a rare comedic turn as a lothario who schools Steve Carell on the dating scene. The plot twists do not always add up, but it's an enjoyable picture.

I wish I could say the same for Miranda July's sophomore effort, "The Future." I fully enjoyed "Me and You and Everyone We Know" and was, therefore, disappointed to see the filmmaker succumb to aimless quirkiness in her latest film. The movie has some decent stand-alone moments, but its major ideas do not flow together smoothly.

Check out my reviews for Patch.

This week's a very busy one for movies and, alas, I will not likely make it to see everything. But I'll be reviewing some of these: "The Mysteries of Lisbon," "Bellflower," "Gun Hill Road," "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" and "The Change Up."

This Week at the Movies: 'Captain America,' 'Sleepover' and 'Another Earth'

I'm keeping it short and sweet this week.

My Patch reviews included "Captain America: The First Avenger," a perfectly fine comic book origin story, as well as two interesting, if not perfect, new indies: "The Myth of the American Sleepover" and "Another Earth."

Check'em out here.

A number of new films will be released this weekend. I'm going to try to catch up with "Crazy, Stupid, Love," "Cowboys and Aliens," "The Guard" and "The Future."

Give 'Em Hell Harry: The Final 'Potter' Picture and Two Wonky Docs

In case you haven't heard, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" opened this past weekend. And I'm pleased to say that it was a fine sendoff to series that has encompassed eight films and 10 years.

This week, I also reviewed too solid documentaries, both of which covered kooky subjects. One, of course, was Errol Morris's "Tabloid," which chronicles the strange, sordid tale of former Miss Wyoming Joyce McKinney.

I also caught up with James Marsh's sad, peculiar "Project Nim," a documentary about an experiment to raise a chimpanzee among humans and teach him sign language.

Check out my reviews for Patch here.

This coming week, I'll catch up with "The Myth of the American Sleepover," "Another Earth" and "Captain America: The First Avenger." That is, if I haven't been singed to a crisp by this hellacious heatwave that has gripped the nation. There's good news, though. Only 43 days left in July and August!

Hollywood's Comedy Shock and Awe: 'Horrible Bosses' and 'Zookeeper'

This week's movie post examines the Hollywood comedy in all two of its modern forms - the safe, PG-rated movie for children or the hard R-rated raunchfest in the vein of "The Hangover," "Bad Teacher," "No Strings Attached" and, most recently, "Horrible Bosses."

The jokes in Seth Gordon's film hit more than they miss, but just by a slim margin. There is, however, a great "Snow Falling on Cedars" joke (!?) in the picture. On the other hand, most of the sequences between Jennifer Aniston and Charlie Day are, well, a little uncomfortable.

On the PG side of the spectrum, there's "Zookeeper," a perfectly harmless, but nevertheless pretty bad, Kevin James picture that relies on the hilarity of talking animals, poop and people falling down for laughs. So, there you have it.

Click here for my reviews.

This coming weekend, I'll review "Harry Potter" and "Tabloid" as well as take part in the cult movie marathon I'd mentioned last week.

I got an early start last weekend by watching Mario Bava's "Rabid Dogs," which is known in the U.S. as "Kidnapped." I'd rank it among my favorite of the Italian horror maestro's pictures. It's a particularly grim piece of work, but it's also tense as hell and masterfully directed.

Last night's offering was the incredibly strange British curio "Goodbye Gemini." If you think that vaguely sexual brother/sister relationships are creepy, well, this could just be the movie for you. Love that score, though.

Bay's Latest Sturm Und Drang, Puiu's Glacial 'Aurora' and Hanks' Cheerful 'Larry Crowne'

Here's my (slightly tardy) This Week at the Movies post for Patch.

Over the weekend, I caught up with Michael Bay's "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," which is slightly better than the abhorrent "Revenge of the Fallen," but still pretty visually fractured and headache inducing.

Christi Puiu's "Aurora" tops Jean Luc Godard's "Film Socialisme" as the biggest art house letdown of the summer. While it's far from a bad film, the Romanian director's latest is a glacially paced drama that follows the downward slide of a budding sociopath. The picture has its moments, but also a punishing running time. And this is coming from a big fan of Bela Tarr's "Satantango."

Also reviewed is Tom Hanks' "Larry Crowne," which occasionally gets a little too quirky for its own good but is mostly charming.

Here are the reviews.

This coming weekend, I'm going to try to catch up with "Horrible Bosses" as well as a few indies - namely, Catherine Breillat's "Sleeping Beauty" and John Carpenter's "The Ward."

And, next week, I'm planning a major cult movie marathon that could include the likes of "The Image," "Insignificance," "Cannibal Ferox," Mario Bava's "Kidnapped," "Darktown Strutters," "Goodbye Gemini," "The Howl," Brian De Palma's "Hi, Mom" and "Women in Revolt." Quite a lineup. I've never seen any of this bunch and figured I'd squeeze them all in during a week's time. More on that later.

'Cars 2' is Minor, But Charming, Pixar and 'Bad Teacher' is Good for Some Laughs

Pixar's "Cars 2" is a lesser effort of the animation studio, but not nearly as much of a bust as you might have been led to believe, based on the critical drubbing the picture took in some circles.

The studio has set the bar impossibly high in recent years with "Ratatouille," "Wall-E" and "Up." And "Cars 2" finds Pixar is a lighter, breezier mode - which is not a bad thing. It's a swiftly paced, entertaining movie.

I also caught up with "Bad Teacher," a comedy in the same mold as the recent, slightly more successful "Bridesmaids."

"Teacher" is, for the most part, pretty funny. There's a gloriously funny sequence involving a threat-gone-wrong and plenty of other bad behavior to make you snicker.

The movie, it must be noted, is light years ahead of its male counterparts - namely, the stale "The Hangover Pt. II" and "No Strings Attached."

Click here for my reviews.

This coming weekend is going to be a busy one. Of course, I'll see the tentpole pictures - "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" and Tom Hanks's "Larry Crowne." But I'm really looking forward to Chrisi Puiu's three-hour marathon movie, "Aurora." Will also try to catch "Terri."

"Lantern" Fades, But "Beginners" is a Charmer

Hollywood is resting on its laurels - namely, the comic book film and the sequel - this summer. So, it should come as no surprise that "Green Lantern" makes no departures from the time-worn superhero formula.

My thoughts: you could do worse, but you could also do a lot better. There are a number of better films out there, including "The Tree of Life," "Midnight in Paris," "Super 8," Bridesmaids" and "Beginners," which I finally caught this weekend.

The latter is a charming comedy that manages to be funny without going "indie quirky."

Check out my reviews for "Green Lantern" and "Beginners" here.