Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: 6 out of 10. The whole family watched "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" last night.  It was strange at first to see Indy as an old dude, and I found it opened a little slow, but once

Iron Man: 8 out of 10. Like the rest of you, I thought I'd see Iron Man before I saw The Dark Knight. I didn't know Jon Favreau had it in him.  This is quite a step up from Elf.  Iron Man is precisely the kind of action movie I

Layer Cake: 7 out of 10. Outside of revisiting some old Indiana Jones flicks with my son, Layer Cake is the first movie I've seen since The Love Guru exactly one month ago.  That's partly because The Love Guru was so disappointing it took a month to get the taste

The Love Guru: 3 out of 10. I've finally seen my beloved hockey team win the Stanley Cup.  Unfortunately, it was embedded in this steaming pile of elephant dung that I watched last night. I'm thoroughly disappointed.  Mike Myers gets to make amends for our game seven loss to Gretzky

Pete Seeger: The Power of Song: 8 out of 10. Pete Seeger: The Power of Song is one of three amazing music docs I've seen over the past six months.  first there was Joy Division, then there was Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten and now there's Pete Seeger: The

The Visitor: 8 out of 10. I hadn't heard of this film until its star, Richard Jenkins, got nominated for Best Actor at last weekend's Academy Awards.  I've always thought Jenkins was one helluva character actor, but I had never seen him carry a film or show on his own.

Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?: 5 out of 10. I was really disappointed in this Morgan Spurlock documentary.  It's far too silly for its subject matter.  Spurlock doesn't really want to find Osama Bin Laden, he just wants us to know Muslims in the Middle East are

One Week: 8 out of 10. Finally, a movie made for me.  Ben Tyler was born in Toronto in the 1970s.  We travel with him on the Gardiner Expressway, on the 400, on the 401, through Ontario and west to the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, we hear amazing Canadian

Frost/Nixon: 8 out of 10. Frost/Nixon was one of five films I watched during yesterday's AMC Best Picture Showcase at Yonge and Dundas.  It was great. You're forgiven if you don't know that name Frank Langella.  He's worked a tonne, but there's nothing that really jumps out and

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: 6.5 out of 10. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was one of five films I watched during yesterday's AMC Best Picture Showcase at Yonge and Dundas. After watching Milk and The Reader, I was left underwhelmed by The Curious Case of Benjamin

The Reader: 8 out of 10. The Reader was one of five films I watched during yesterday's AMC Best Picture Showcase at Yonge and Dundas.  It was great. I went into The Reader totally cold, without a clue what it was about.  It's actually the most thought provoking of the

Milk: 8 out of 10. Milk was one of five films I watched during yesterday's AMC Best Picture Showcase at Yonge and Dundas.  It was great. Watching Sean Penn as Harvey Milk has me torn between him and Mickey Rourke for Best Actor.  I'll be posting everyone's Oscar picks later

Semi-Pro: 5 out of 10. I saw some pretty weak comedies this Family Day long weekend.  Semi-Pro was funnier than Be Kind Rewind, but it barely earned a 5 out of 10. People seem to really like Will Ferrell movies, but I'm always left disappointed.  Anchorman: The Legend of Ron

Be Kind Rewind: 3 out of 10. I strongly discourage you all from giving Be Kind Rewind a shot.  The premise may intrigue you, and the presence of Jack Black may cause you to believe it can't be all that bad, but I assure you... it is. I honestly couldn't

Horton Hears a Who!: 7 out of 10. We watched this one with the kids tonight, and it was pretty entertaining. In the book, Horton Hears a Who! seems to be about a speck.  In the movie, it seems to be about something greater.  The movie seems to be about

21: 6 out of 10. Not bad, but not nearly good enough.  It's frustrating that this interesting story with a solid cast amounted to a mere 6 on the Booner Scale. With a better script, it coulda been a contender.

Shine a Light: 6 out of 10. I should preface this review by admitting I grew tired of the Rolling Stones long ago.  As a younger man, I adored Hot Rocks, essentially their greatest hits from 1964-1971.  In the late 80s, I was still a fan, and actually bought Steel

Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten: 8.5 out of 10. If you're a fan of Joe Strummer, this is a documentary you absolutely have to see.  Even if you're just a casual fan of The Clash, I'm suggesting you set aside a couple of hours for Joe Strummer: The

The Killing of John Lennon: 6.5 out of 10. Using Mark Chapman's own words, this is a dramatization of the months leading up to and following his murder of John Lennon outside the Dakota Hotel.  Jonas Ball actually does a pretty good job in the lead role. It's not

The Wrestler: 8 out of 10. I was blown away by Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream back in 2000.  I was less impressed by his follow up, the awfully confusing The Fountain, but he strikes a near perfect chord with The Wrestler. It's super low budget and delightfully raw,

Flightplan: 4 out of 10. I hardly remember the release of this Jodie Foster movie from 2005.  It was available at our local library, so my wife picked it up in the hopes it would be Hitchcocky. I thought the whole thing was rather boring and predictable.  But then, I'm

Drillbit Taylor: 5 out of 10. Judd Apatow has produced some very funny films.  This isn't one of them. Sure, there are a few chuckles in the mix, but at 109 minutes it feels awfully long and it's a mere shadow of the comedy Superbad was.  In fact, save yourself

Slumdog Millionaire: 9 out of 10. Because my team won the company softball tournament last summer, I won two free passes to a movie at any Empire Theatre location.  The thing is, there really is no Empire Theatre near my home, but when I saw Slumdog Millionaire was playing at

Disturbia: 5 out of 10. This is a modern spin on Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window.  A better spin on Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window was that episode of The Simpsons when Bart breaks his leg and starts to believe Ned Flanders has committed murder. Disturbia isn't terrible, it's just not particularly

Control: 7 out of 10. I watched the Joy Division documentary a couple of weeks ago, and this was a great follow-up.  It's an Ian Curtis biopic and it's an ideal feel-good flick for this holiday season. I kid, I kid.  This black and white Anton Corbijn film will make