Matthew R. Reis: Film and TV Critic

Not Dreddful at all Blog exclusive! Although a mighty bomb at both the domestic and international box office, this remake of 1995s "Judge Dredd" is worth a watch. "Dredd" does away with the camp that made the first movie a mess in the eyes of fans of the comic it was based on. Starring Karl Urban as the macho title character and boasting a diverse, interesting cast of supporting characters "Dredd" succeeded all of my expectations. Those expectations I might add were very, very low. When I first saw the trailer for the film I cast it aside. I assumed it was directed by some talentless hack. However something strange happened when Rottentomatoes.com, a popular aggregate film review site certified "Dredd" fresh. The near universal acclaim for the movie surprised me and it started to become clear that the marketing department did the film a disservice by releasing such a bad trailer (which fyi is embedded below). And though I have never have p...

Apetastic? Nope. (Now on DVD) 2 Stars Blog Exclusive! Charlton Heston's performance as Colonel George Taylor in 1968s "Planet of the Apes" was iconic. In 2001 Mark Wahlberg's turn as Captain Leo Davidson in the "Planet of the Apes" remake was ghastly. Now actor, director and Yale student James Franco has to deal with an ape infestation of his own in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes." So how does all this monkey business translate to the big screen this time around? Not well. Not well at all. As a prequel a lot of people already know how “Rise” will end before the projector even warms up. Due to the film's lack of quality content "Rise" offers nothing worthwhile and fails to justify why a prequel was needed in the first place. Both diehard franchise fans and virgins of the series will be disappointed. Besides above average acting and terrific visual effects this film is trash. The biggest problem stems from Rupert Wyatt's ...

What stays in Vegas obviously isn't very good. (Now on DVD) 1 1/2 Stars Blog exclusive! "Middle Men" is a lame excuse for a motion picture. That being said let me tell you how I really feel. Though based on a true story there is nothing remotely down to earth onscreen. Full of sex and drugs, but sadly no rock n' roll "Middle Men" one of the most forgettable films I have seen all summer. The plot centers on Jack Harris (Luke Wilson) a no frills businessman who is easy to get along with and won't fuck people over. Jack is supposedly great at fixing other people’s mistakes. However he and his family are in debt and appear to be just as ordinary as other middle class Americans. Little discrepancies like this crop up throughout the picture. Against his wife's wishes Harris becomes caught up in a world of lust, greed and silicone. Of course Harris a nice country boy from Texas finds himself in over his head. Harris’ dealings with idiots, mobsters ...