Movie review by Greg Carlson Even though its opening titles indicate that “Inside Man” is a “Spike Lee Joint,” it is certainly one of the most conventional of the talented director’s features. This is not a bad thing, given that many of Lee’s wildly inventive films buckle under the strain of the filmmaker’s wide-ranging ambitions […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson A plucky if empty-headed teen romp, “She’s the Man” loosely updates Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” as a gender-bend-it-like-Beckham tale of a soccer-mad lass talented enough to best her male competitors. Penned by Ewan Leslie, Karen McCullah Lutz, and Kirsten Smith, “She’s the Man” provides just enough diversion to satisfy its running […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson While Felicity Huffman deserves praise for her impressive portrayal of a pre-op male-to-female transsexual in “Transamerica,” the film itself is a mess – a grab bag of road movie clichés and finger-wagging self-importance that’s a chore to watch from start to finish. Marking the feature filmmaking debut of writer-director Duncan […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Neither as exuberant as one might hope nor as fulfilling as it needs to be, “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party” nevertheless blows into theaters as a breath of fresh springtime air. A music and comedy-based homage to Mel Stuart’s “Wattstax,” “Block Party” features a tantalizing lineup of hip-hop artists, including Kanye […]