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This section is home to columns from our chief movie reviewer, Chuck Vinch. Not sure if the latest arrival at the googleplex is worth seeing? Before you go, read Chuck’s reviews. If you’re in the mood to camp out on the couch instead, check out our reviews of the latest DVDs.

Preview: ‘The Road’ finds home
Imagining the end of the world is never easy, especially if you’re not going to create it with a computer, but director John Hillcoat and the filmmakers of “The Road” believe they...
Morgan Freeman, wife divorcing after 24 years
Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman and his wife of 24 years, Myrna Colley-Lee, a costume designer for theater, have filed for divorce, Freeman’s business partner says.
Robin Williams hits road for stand-up tour
When the going gets tough, Robin Williams gets going.
Late-summer comedies expose blood and guts
The superheroes have flown. Send in the clowns.
Abroad, films the same; only the names change
MEXICO CITY — This weekend, thousands of Mexicans will line up at theaters to see “The Knight of the Night,” “Super Agent 86” and “The End of Time.”
Hollywood churning out presidential contenders
Hollywood is getting presidential this election year, but will moviegoers say they approve this message?
‘American Teen’ star chats about realities of film
Of all the high school seniors profiled in “American Teen,” none has a more dramatic arc than Hannah Bailey.
‘Potter’ trailer unveils a young Voldemort
The sixth Harry Potter movie is continuing to creep toward its Nov. 21 opening.
Are superheroes done for?
SAN DIEGO — Jackie Earle Haley steps inside of the Night Owl’s spaceship, walking gingerly past the pilot’s seats toward the control panel, touching the blinking gauges and dials.
‘Dark Knight’ box office reaching ‘Titanic’ territory
For “The Dark Knight,” box-office records continue to fall faster than Batman’s foes.
Matt Damon talks about weight loss, kids
For Matt Damon, this summer has been one of gains and losses.
New on DVD for July 29
A no-holds-barred political satire, a documentary on an iconic rock group and a gentle foreign comedy arrive on DVD on Tuesday.
New heroes rule the screen
No one would have been surprised if anticipation for this year’s Comic-Con were watered down a bit.
Actor breaks ground in ‘The Wackness’
Josh Peck has, up to this point, been known mostly as half of “Drake & Josh,” a Nickelodeon show popular with the tween crowd. That’s about to change.
What are the best superhero films?
Question: With “The Dark Knight” opening this week, I’m wondering if you can offer a list of the best superhero films you’ve seen. Also, do you think comic book movies have...
Giving voice to the villain in ‘Dark Knight’
LOS ANGELES — Three weeks before shooting began on “The Dark Knight,” Heath Ledger called director Christopher Nolan to discuss an epiphany he had about his character, The Joker.
‘Dark Knight’ could catapult career
NEW YORK — If Maggie Gyllenhaal were a superhero, she’d combine the power of strength with invisibility.
Life’s golden for Selma Blair
NEW YORK — Some celebrities use their famous names to get every advantage. Others, like Selma Blair, go the opposite route.
‘Robot Chicken’ blasts off
Here is an easy recipe for laughs: Take two comic minds and mix them with a parody of their favorite film franchise. The result is “Robot Chicken: Star Wars.”

Chuck Vinch’s movie reviews

Review: ‘Pineapple Express’ smells like a hit
The career of James Franco has always struck me as a classic example of hype over heft.
Film Review: ‘X-Files: I Want to Believe’
“The X-Files” was one of the few TV series that I have ever gone out of my way to see each week. So I badly wanted to believe that the new film “X-Files: I Want to Believe”...
Heart of darkness
A posthumous Oscar nod? Don’t rule it out — the late Heath Ledger is just that freakyscarygood as the Joker in “The Dark Knight,” the second chapter in the Nolan...
Puckish humor
Movies don’t get much sillier than “The Love Guru,” in which Mike Myers plays an orphaned American child raised in an Indian ashram who grows up to become a self-help guru and gets...
Out with a whimper
It’s hard to think of another filmmaker in the past 50 years who has created a bigger burden for himself than M. Night Shyamalan.
Macho man
The greatest statesmen of the past three generations have failed miserably in trying to find a viable solution to the deadly, long-simmering Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
Self-indulgent ‘Sex’
Confession time: Your resident action-adventure junkie here was a regular viewer of “Sex and the City” during that show’s run on HBO from 1998 to 2004.
Better with age
There’s a scene in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” the rollicking fourth chapter in this venerable franchise, in which director Steven Spielberg and producer...
Fantastically fresh
Veteran octoplex dwellers know it’s usually not wise to hold high hopes for sequels, particularly the high-profile franchise sequels that rain down during the May-October “summer...
Going nowhere — fast
If ever a movie could be said to exhibit acute bipolar disorder, it’s “Speed Racer.”
Film Review: ‘Iron Man’
When word got out a while back that Marvel Comics’ next big-screen project, “Iron Man,” would star Robert Downey Jr., a lot of fanboys (myself included) had similar reactions: Huh?
Film Review: ‘Zombie Strippers,’ 2½ stars
So you thought the last lip-smacking bits of braaaaains had been sucked from the bleached skull of the zombie genre?
Film review: ‘88 Minutes,’ 1 star
The “ticking clock” film gambit — routinely played to exhausting effect on TV’s “24” — exerts an undeniable pull on our natural curiosity about whodunit and,...
Solid performers can’t strike sparks in ‘Smart People’
1 1/2 stars — Filmmakers who aim to muscle into the increasingly crowded dysfunctional family comedy genre had better bring something new to the table or their flicks will end up as so much...
Light on his feet
George Clooney’s new comedy, “Leatherheads,” could serve as Exhibit A in any conversation that laments how “they just don’t make movies like they used to.”
Film Review: ‘Stop-Loss,’ 3 stars
As film fodder, the Iraq war and its effects on U.S. troops and their families has so far been quicksand for Hollywood.
Top 10 of ’07
The year just past was a curiously tepid one. Although the movie industry looks like it will end up with a healthy box-office gross, the number of movies that caused measurable, sustained excitement...

DVD reviews

New on DVD for Aug. 5
A childhood adventure, a foreign film Oscar-winner and the life of a legend arrive on DVD on Tuesday (Aug. 5).
The summer’s best exercise DVDs
If you can’t stand the heat, try one of these cool new at-home routines from Fitness.
New on DVD
A drama about a team of MIT students who beat the odds in Vegas, a cult-favorite British TV series and an Akira Kurosawa classic arrived on DVD July 22.
What’s new on DVD for July 18
3½ stars, 1971, ‘72 in the USA, Criterion, unrated, $40
What’s new on DVD for July 11
(3½ stars out of four) 2008, Paramount, rated R, $30
Macabre ‘’Til Death Do Us Part’ now on DVD
In the best of worlds, the cable show “’Til Death Do Us Part” would have lasted forever. It dramatized real-life stories of people who found clever ways to kill a spouse, then were...

More movie reviews

Spirits don’t really soar in ‘Bottle Shock’
Somewhere deep down inside of “Bottle Shock,” there is a good movie trying to get out.
Many tweens seeing ‘R’ films, despite rating
Researchers know what your tween saw last summer: savage beatings, severed heads, murder, rape and torture.
Movies vs. Films? It’s all art to us
“The Dark Knight” is a comic-book movie. “WALL-E” is a kids’ movie.
The best ‘Mummy’ yet
The “Mummy” franchise hasn’t consisted of great movies. They’re popcorn flicks with razzle-dazzle special effects, quirky humor and Brendan Fraser’s endearing mix of...
Film Review: ‘Swing Vote,’ 2½ stars
After years of misfires, Kevin Costner’s finally hit upon a strategy to make himself likable in a movie: by playing someone completely unlikable.
‘American Teen’ captures a year in the life
Almost every parent remembers a baby’s first steps.
Moronic ‘Step Brothers’ is a hilarious ride
“Step Brothers” is stupid. Childish. Moronic. Simple. Juvenile. Silly. Just ridiculous.
Country superstar Toby Keith takes on Hollywood
Country superstar Toby Keith has wrapped up his latest summer tour, but his mind seems to largely be on his new movie, “Beer for My Horses.”
Film Review: ‘Space Chimps,’ 2 stars
You go into a movie called “Space Chimps” with certain preconceived notions. Assuming that it’s not a documentary about the early days of the space program — and it’s...
Film Review: ‘Mamma Mia!,’ 2½ stars
This is going to sound like something snatched off the top of the damning-with-faint-praise pile of critic’s barbs, but here goes anyway: “Mamma Mia!” is a lark, a movie that sets...
Film Review: ‘The Wackness’
Luke Shapiro is an interesting case in “The Wackness,” Jonathan Levine’s offbeat coming-of-age story.
This Hellboy has heart
Tucked in amid all the mind-blowing images and effects of Guillermo del Toro’s “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” is a little throwaway scene that illustrates how the visionary director...
3-D ride salvages ‘Journey’
“Journey to the Center of the Earth” boasts outstanding 3-D effects — some truly remarkable stuff, such as a bug’s antennae poking out at you so realistically that...
Film Review: ‘Hancock,’ 2 stars
There is something intriguing about taking a genre and turning it on its head.
Fresh films fire up box office
Running low on sequels and fresh off a $4 billion record summer at theaters, this was supposed to be a season of Hollywood rebuilding. But something strange happened on the way to the cineplex:...
Bloody thrill ride
Sometimes, especially in summer, it’s nice to sit back in a theater, relax and let a movie kick in the side of your head.

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