The Men Who Stare at Goats: Loopy and lightweight

Friday, November 6th, 2009

filmgoatsreview

By Matt Brunson

THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS
***
DIRECTED BY
Grant Heslov
STARS George Clooney, Jeff Bridges

Loopy enough to stand out from the homogenized pack but not bold enough to truly go the distance, this eccentric satire (inspired by Jon Ronson’s nonfiction book of the same name) proves to be a modestly pleasing piffle in which journalist Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor, sincere but straightjacketed by an undemanding role) searches for a great story on the outskirts of the Iraq War and finds one in Lyn Cassady (George Clooney). (more…)

Angels & Demons: Fall from grace

Friday, May 15th, 2009

By Matt Brunson

ANGELS & DEMONS
**
DIRECTED BY
Ron Howard
STARS Tom Hanks, Ewan McGregor

Angels & Demons, the heavily touted follow-up to the international smash The Da Vinci Code, feels like nothing more than a cross between a Frommer’s travel guide and a scavenger hunt, as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon hits all of Rome’s holy hot spots gathering up clues as if they were empty Dr. Pepper bottles or grimy 1992 pennies. (more…)