http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/articles.sec-8382-1-film-reviews.html By MaryAnn Johanson

If dying is easy, and comedy is hard, science-fiction comedy is even harder. In this tiny subgenre, 1997’s Men in Black—about extraterrestrial refugees living among the population of New York City]]> By MaryAnn Johanson

Space nerds send a signal to a distant star system that looks a lot like ours in Battleship—and, like, days later, here’s the away team from Planet Facehugger come to steal all our bubblegum.]]> By Scott Renshaw

With The Dictator, Sacha Baron Cohen finds himself addressing a situation no entertainer wants to confront: What do you do when the shtick that was your bread & butter just can’t work anymor]]> By Scott Renshaw

Dark Shadows marks the eighth collaboration between director Tim Burton and Johnny Depp over a span of more than 20 years, and in some ways you could certainly say the partnership has been a fruitful ]]> By Scott Renshaw

When Undefeated scored a victory in the Documentary Feature category at this year’s Academy Awards, it would have been easy to take the cynical view that it was simply another Triumph of the Cam]]> By Scott Renshaw

From Harry Potter to Twilight, from The Hunger Games to the new Marvel’s The Avengers and every comic-book movie that has preceded it, adaptations of beloved pop-culture properties face a question that is rarely asked]]> By Scott Renshaw

Whit Stillman’s character always had plenty to say. So don’t blame the 14-year gap since his last feature for the sheer verbal density of Damsels in Distress.]]> By Scott Renshaw

America’s movie buffs have had a love affair with Aardman Animations—creators of The Pirates! Band of Misfits—for years. The American general public, on the other hand … well,]]> By MaryAnn Johanson

Those who crave the usual Jason Statham experience—as seen in Death Race, the Transporter flicks, etc.—will still love Safe; it’s brutally violent, and features lots of bloody mayhem]]> By Scott Renshaw

For weeks, the story surrounding Lee Hirsch’s documentary Bully has been about not the movie itself, but about one little letter—the letter “R.” ]]> By Scott Renshaw

Terence Davies’ adaptation of Terrence Rattigan’s 1952 play invites the kind of question we should always be so fortunate to ask: Is Rattigan’s text that timeless, or is Davies’ sense for how to interpret it cinematically that remarkable?]]> By Scott Renshaw

Two men in white shirts (Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford) have a conversation around a water cooler about mundane topics, like one of them dealing with a wife gone over-the-top with baby-proofing]]> By Scott Renshaw

In a way, it’s fairly indefensible. The Raid: Redemption—subtitle added post-Sundance 2012 due to a trademark conflict—is little more than a flurry of ultraviolence in every possible]]> By Scott Renshaw

The idea certainly isn’t one nobody has expressed before—credit to Brad Bird, on his audio commentary for The Incredibles—but I’m happy to steal it for the purposes of discussing Chico & Rita: Animation is not a genre.]]> By Scott Renshaw

There’s a recurring line throughout director Lasse Hallström’s adaptation of Paul Torday’s 2007 novel, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, regarding what’s possible “in theory.” ]]> By MaryAnn Johanson

The Hunger Games is on track to be one of the most successful films—critically, as well as financially—of 2012, but even before it opened, caveats were being lobbed. ]]> By Scott Renshaw

In its second year, the Utah Film Center’s Tumbleweeds Film Festival offers a lineup that once again challenges the notion that today’s kids can’t possibly process documentaries, mov]]> By Scott Renshaw

Here’s what’s extraordinary about Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games: not much, really. Don’t misunderstand; it’s a solid, satisfying read, no crime against literature, ]]> By Scott Renshaw

Seriously, what the hell happened to Robert De Niro? Remember when he was the male counterpart to Meryl Streep—Greatest Living American Actor, incapable of giving a bad performance, a reliable indicator ]]> By Scott Renshaw

It’s all well and good that, early in 21 Jump Street, a police chief (Nick Offerman) informs rookie cops Jenko (Channing Tatum) and Schmidt (Jonah Hill) that they’re reviving ]]>