The Conspirator (2010)

In The Conspirator, director Robert Redford uses the trial of one of the accused conspirators in Abraham Lincoln's assassination as a historical metaphor for certain current political controversies. Unfortunately, screenwriter James D. Solomon's script sacrifices dialog and detail to speech making and sweeping comparisons.
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Miral (2010)

More a naïve, overly earnest sermon on freedom than anti-Israeli propaganda, director Julian Schnabel's latest film relies on distracting camera tricks to cover up Rula Jebreal's callow script, which is replete with an unfocused narrative and absurd political aphorisms. Ambitious in its desire to cover events from 1947 to the early 1990s in Jerusalem, Miral lacks proper details to keep the narrative grounded and give its simplified ideas weight.
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Hanna (2011)

A disappointingly pedestrian origin story deflates the ambitious and visionary aesthetic director Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice, Atonement) uses to craft this ultra-modern fairytale thriller. Hobbled by a formulaic action plot from screenwriters Seth Lochhead and David Farr, Hanna stumbles to a clumsy finish despite its chimerical lead, vertiginous action sequences and engaging interludes.
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Jane Eyre (2010)

Although the latest film adaptation of Charlotte Brontë's gothic novel technically remains true to the source material, it skimps on pivotal formative events and glosses over the titular character's considerable ambivalence toward the romance with her employer to speed to an undeserved tidy ending.
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Return of the Secaucus 7 (1979)

Impossible to believe Lawrence Kasdan didn't rip off John Sayle's earlier film for the successful Big Chill. Minus the musical montages and privileged lifestyle, Secaucus 7 comes off as more honest, reality-based. The characters also seem smarter and with more edge. Worth it for the BS musings on prog rock alone--hard rock goes to college.

The Company Men (2010)

Notwithstanding his success at luring successful movie actors to the small screen, writer/director John Wells (ER, The West Wing), in his first feature, transforms a peach of a cast and crew into a fruit roll-up — flat, dry and artificially sweet. The Company Men plays on the audience's sympathy for its unsympathetic characters merely because they face ordinary circumstances. To read the rest of the review, visit KCActive.com.

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

For the big-screen adaptation of Michael Connelly's L.A.-based crime novel, director Brad Furman overshoots a faulty script by John Romano (Nights in Rodanthe, Hill Street Blues) in the hopes of turning a dull, predictable storyline better suited for a small-screen, hour-long crime drama into a sleek yet gritty vehicle for the wise-guy dealings of a Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer. As a result, The Lincoln Lawyer plays like a Get Shorty or Jackie Brown knock-off, but without the substance and only a poor facsimile of the style. Read the rest of the review on KCActive.com.

Beastly (2011)

In this stylish urban update of Beauty and the Beast, writer/director Daniel Barnz (Phoebe in Wonderland) dumb down the famous folktale to create a showy yet dull knock-off. For all its stylistic high fashion, Beastly lacks any of the sense of ironic mindfulness or playful camp a successful and entertaining teen version would require. Read the rest of the review on KCActive.com.

The Kids Are All Right (2010)

Siblings conspire to contact their biological father without their lesbian mothers knowing. Soon, the entire family is embroiled in an extra-marital affair. For such an exhibit of hysterics, the movie is dull.

Don't Look Now (1973)

Tons of suspense and creepy ambience more than make up for lack of actual action. The homicidal dwarf will haunt your sleep, but even more frightening is the idea of a second sight mix-up.

Burnt Offerings (1976)

A cheap summer rental proves too good to be true when the swimming pool turns homicidal and the attic contains a horrifying secret. Surprisingly, Bette Davis isn't the heavy but her death scene can cause nightmares nonetheless.

Johnny Got His Gun (1971)

A World War I soldier wakes up in a hospital bed and slowly realizes he's lost all but his torso and part of his head from the blast of an exploding artillery shell. He spends his days remembering his previous life and trying to communicate through Morse code with a sympathetic nurse. Notwithstanding the fantastical daydreams, the bulk of the film is tedious and fairly dated.