Rating: 2.5 stars

A conspicuously big budget and some game work by the leads elevates Get Smart from utter mediocrity to serviceable entertainment. But still, this update of the popular 60’s series never truly gains its footing. Is it an homage to the show? If so, they should’ve made Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) more of a bumbling wannabe, as he was on the sitcom. (In this version, he’s more of a brainy nerd who’s good with a gun—he’s like Napoleon Dynamite if those numchuck skills actually came in handy). Is it a spoof of spy films? If so, get in line behind the superior Casino Royale, Austin Powers, Top Secret, et al. Still, the physical comedy can be quite funny—there are two stand-out set pieces (one involving darts in an airplane bathroom stall; the other a dance extravaganza at the home of a Russian warlord) and Anne Hathaway graduates from The Princess Diaries to believable sexpot as Agent 99. Even the Rock—now known exclusively as Dwayne Johnson, la di da—is funny as the alpha male spy who takes Max under his wing....

Rating: 2.5 stars

I’ll admit that Ang Lee’s Hulk, released in 2003, was a bit of a dud. It was overlong, overwrought, oddly joyless, and featured a drippy Bruce Banner played by Eric Bana. But still, it was, for all intents and purposes, an Incredible Hulk movie. The special effects were pretty cool. The Hulk was ginormous and green and hulky. If you were hooked on the comic book or the gloriously cheesy 70’s series, you would have probably seen it, and while you may have left the theater a bit disappointed, you certainly wouldn’t have thought, “I demand an immediate do over!!”
Apparently, the folks at Universal Pictures felt differently. So, five years later, they are trotting out a new The Incredible Hulk. (Ironically, the hipper title, Hulk, was taken by the first film.) In a surpising move, they went with another atypical action hero as the star—Columbia’s own Edward Norton. It goes without saying that Norton is a far better actor than Bana, but he’s still a less than obvious choice—we tend to associate him with brainy, art house type pictures, not...

Rating: 3 stars

Art and shameless commerce don’t usually intersect, but they do (sort of) in Kung Fu Panda.  In many ways, the film feels like it was created by some harried Dreamworks exec in a focus group. I can see his notes now . . .
1. Cuddly panda bear: check
2. Kid-fave Jack Black: check
3. Under-achiever makes good: check
4. Kung fu, which kids love? (Note to self: Look up returns on Forbidden Kingdom. Ahhhhh, $21.5 million in its first week): check.
But at the same time, the film has a warmth and a playfulness about it—not to mention some truly beautiful animation—that suggest it was made with great care, even love.
The story focuses on Po (voiced by Jack Black), a portly panda being raised by his noodle maker father, who is a goose. (In one of the film’s clever touches, it’s not clear that Po knows he’s adopted.) Po fantasizes about being a kung fu hero and his dreams are realized when, through a series of comic mishaps, he is taken to be the Dragon Warrior, a mystical, messiah-like figure, meant to conquer the evil...

Rating: 3.5 stars

Sex and the City ran for six seasons on HBO and, amazingly, it never once jumped the shark. If anything, the final seasons were its strongest—with the show’s addictive blend of fashion, sex, friendship, and clever bon mots honed to near perfection. When the show went off the air in 2004, women around the world mourned—and rumors of a Sex and the City movie immediately surfaced.
Once those rumors became a reality—confirmed by paparazzi photos of our four fashionista galpals filming in New York—anticipation reached a frenzied pitch. I can safely say that no movie that I’ve ever reviewed has been more buzzed over—with more of my friends helpfully “volunteering” to accompany me to my critics’ screening (thanks, girls)—than Sex and the City.
So, does it live up to the hype?
Hell yes.
Sex and the City, the movie, really does feel like a giant, gift-wrapped present (from a high-end Fifth Avenue boutique, naturally) to fans of the show. In many ways, it plays a lot like the TV show, except the fashion has been dialed...