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The Grey 02/02/12   The Grey was an oddity for me. According to the trailers, it was to continue star Liam Neeson's recent trek away from the dramatic roles that used to be his bread and butter and towards becoming the new Charles Bronson (which isn't a bad thing, mind you). However, much to my surprise, the opposite............................................Chris Boyle
Haywire 01/25/12 FINALLY. A movie where a woman beating the living crap out of a man is actually 100% believable! I've been waiting years for this.
If you've been reading my reviews for a while, you've probably noticed that I usually tend to be a tad on the harsh side when reviewing action movies ............................................Chris Boyle
Contraband 01/19/12 Contraband is a solid yet unoriginal and unremarkable action/thriller about a criminal trying to turn his life around who is forced to come out of retirement to do "one last job." Hey, I almost had to stifle a snicker when I typed that opening sentence, since along with avenging the............................................Chris Boyle
The Devil Inside 01/12/12 When it comes to movies, the cardinal rule is to always go out strong; in other words, a good ending can actually elevate an otherwise so-so film into something pretty good. Likewise, a bad ending can really just sink a halfway decent flick straight to the bottom of the toilet............................................Chris Boyle
Young Adult 01/05/12 Young Adult has a small amount of significance to me, but not because it's made by the duo of writer/ex-stripper Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman (who made 2007's Juno, a film I never saw), or the fact that it stars Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron as a drunken floozy............................................Chris Boyle
Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol 12/29/11 I've always given the Mission: Impossible films (themselves based on the classic TV series) a passing glance, but I've never gotten too into them. I'm not sure why...what I've seen is pretty solid, I like action films, and series star Tom Cruise, general............................................Chris Boyle
Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows 12/22/11 You know, I kind of enjoyed the first Guy Ritchie-directed Sherlock Holmes film back in 2009, even though it bore little resemblance to the stories crafted by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The tale of Holmes (Robert Downey, Jr.), the amazing Victorian-era super-sleuth............................................Chris Boyle
The Sitter 12/16/11 The Sitter: totally unoriginal, vaguely offensive, kinda weird, yet still entertaining and, dare I say it, even funny. It stars Jonah Hill playing Jonah Hill playing Noah, a fat college dropout who acts just like Jonah Hill does in every movie he's ever made since Superbad. If you don't understand what............................................Chris Boyle
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy 12/09/11 Ah, it's been far too long since we've had a solid little espionage film thrown our way, and now we have a very good one in the form of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, a British production based on a 1974 novel by John le Carré. Now, I'm not sure how widespread the advertising............................................Chris Boyle
The Muppets 12/02/11 Man, I loved the Muppets as a kid. When I was little, birthdays usually consisted of my mom taking me and a bunch of my friends out to the movies, and then to Friendly's for some ice cream...and one of the earliest memories I have of those great birthday outings is going to see............................................Chris Boyle
Jack And Jill 11/28/11 I'd given up on Adam Sandler long, long ago...2010's Grown Ups was pretty much the final straw for me when it came to ever expecting a semi-amusing film from him ever again. Well, leave it to Sandler to drive that point home with the instant death that is Jack and Jill, the movie that seems............................................Chris Boyle
Immortals 11/21/11 With the success of the recent Clash of the Titans remake, it was a sure bet that another over-the-top sword-and-sandal movie dealing with Greek Mythology was going to come out sooner rather than later, and here we have Immortals, which is basically Zach Snyder's 300, only with the gods............................................Chris Boyle
Tower Heist 11/11/11 Brett Ratner is pretty much regarded amongst Holly directors with terms such as "middle of the road," "solid," and "average at best." Me? I just think he's okay. Wait...isn't that the same thing? Anyway, I've never really seen a bad Brett Ratner film, but I've never really seen............................................Chris Boyle
Paranormal Activity 3 11/03/11 It's amazing how something so fresh and new can get so stale so quickly. In 2007, independent filmmaker Oren Peli blew moviegoers worldwide away when he released Paranormal Activity, a cheap yet shockingly original and effective horror movie about demons terrorizing............................................Chris Boyle
The Three Musketeers 10/28/11 You know, I've seen worse movies than The Three Musketeers, director Paul W.S. Anderson's un-needed, un-asked for addition to the many, many film adaptations of the classic Alexandre Dumas novel. But even though it's not the worst example of cinema that I've ever............................................Chris Boyle
The Thing 10/21/11 In 1982, Director John Carpenter created what I consider to be one of the few absolutely perfect movies ever made and possibly my favorite film of all time: The Thing, a masterpiece of sci-fi/horror, blending paranoia and an unrelenting sense of dread while introducing moviegoers............................................Chris Boyle
Real Steel 10/13/11 I don't get all the hate Real Steel was getting from people prior to its release. Based on its trailers, no one I spoke to or corresponded with online believed the movie could be any good, and I don't understand why that is. I mean, I thought the commercials looked pretty neat, and............................................Chris Boyle
Dream House 10/10/11 Well, Daniel Craig was on a roll...landed the role as James Bond (although the 007 series is currently on hold since its parent company, MGM, is in the financial toilet), starred in a big sci-fi/action blockbuster (Cowboys and Aliens), and now this. Dream House, a slow, boring............................................Chris Boyle
Moneyball 09/30/11 I'm not really that into sports. And I'm especially not much of a baseball fan. Hey, sorry, but we all have our own thing, right? So, with this being said, I went into the showing of the film I'm reviewing today, Moneyball, with a small bit of bias against it. Why, you may ask? Well obviously, if you couldn't guess............................................Chris Boyle
Killer Elite 09/23/11 Killer Elite is an action film. An action film with a rather stellar cast, overall: Jason Statham, Clive Owen, and Robert De Niro. However, it's also an action movie that ends up actually being a bit more than the sum of its parts. Not MUCH more, but more. Read on. Killer Elite is based on............................................Chris Boyle
Contagion 09/16/11 Hmm...I can't say that director Steven Soderbergh's new movie, Contagion, is a good one. It is, however, completely and utterly engrossing. But Chris, you might ask...don't the two go hand in hand? Well, yes, I suppose they should, but not always. Just starting reading the review............................................Chris Boyle
The Warrior 09/12/11 Finally…after a few weeks of watching and reviewing fairly mediocre movies, I finally get to write about a good one. That movie is Warrior, a fighting/drama film starring Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, and Nick Nolte. You know, considering how popular Mixed Martial Arts are, I'm surprised............................................Chris Boyle
Shark Night 3D 09/02/11 I wanted to watch Apollo 18 for you this week, which looked like a pretty good horror/sci-fi movie. Alas, due to a scheduling snafu, I was instead forced to endure a lovely little source of pain called Shark Night 3D. Yes, Shark Night 3D. I'm telling you, no good can come of a film with that title............................................Chris Boyle
Columbiana 08/26/11 Oh, good! It's been at least three or four weeks since I've seen an action movie where a rail-thin supermodel beats the crap out of men who outweigh her by at least 100 pounds. Because, you know, that happens all the time in real life. Don't get me wrong...I know movies are all............................................Chris Boyle
Conan the Barbarian 08/19/11 Conan the Barbarian is Arnold Schwarzenegger. No one else can ever play the hero of Robert E. Howard's sword and sorcery novels as convincingly as the Austrian Oak did in director John Milius' 1982 epic film. Sadly, the grim specter of time has aged the once-mighty Arnold to............................................Chris Boyle
Final Destination 5 08/12/11 You know, I love horror movies. Love 'em. But they're liars, mind you...terrible, terrible liars. They're always promising to end their respective series, only to pop back from the dead just like the antagonist of any self-respecting slasher film after you think the hero has finished............................................Chris Boyle
Cowboys And Aliens 08/05/11 Hey kids! Today's review is Cowboys And Aliens, the new sci-fi western directed by Jon Favreau (Elf, Iron Man 1 and 2) and starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. It's taken a mild beating in the press, pulling in mostly average reviews, but I'm here to give you the real deal............................................Chris Boyle
Captain America: The First Avenger 07/29/11 Marvel Studios certainly seems to know how to pick their directors. Kenneth Branagh, with his vast history of Shakespeare productions, seemed a natural choice for the recent hit movie Thor (starring the Norse God of Thunder). Joe Johnston who apparently once made............................................Chris Boyle
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part Two 07/21/11 Well, after 14 years, 7 novels, 8 movies, and tons and tons and tons of merchandise, it's all over.
Yup, with the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the cinematic adaptations of British author (and richest woman in the............................................Chris Boyle
Horrible Bosses 07/15/11 Haven't you ever wanted to kill your boss? Sure, we all have...well, not ME, as the swell guys running Long Island Exchange are just super keen, but I've held other jobs where I wouldn't have minded if a couple thousand cinder blocks happened to fall on my erstwhile employer's head. It's only............................................Chris Boyle
Zookeeper 07/08/11 Instead of actually reviewing the instant death that is Kevin James' new movie, Zookeeper, I'm tempted to simply cut and paste the word "TERRIBLE" about 700 times and leave it at that. However, I don't think that would get me paid, so I guess I'll go the more conventional route and try............................................Chris Boyle
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon 07/01/11 It you've seen Transformers 1 & 2, director Michael Bay's take on the popular 80's toy and cartoon series about alien robots who turn into cars and trucks and planes and coffee cups or whatever, then you've already seen Transformers 3, or...........................................Chris Boyle
Green Lantern 06/24/11 Man, going into a movie with lowered expectations can work wonders for your overall enjoyment level of said movie. However, in Green Lantern's case, all the negative press it's been getting seems a bit unwarranted. This DC comic book-based flick, starring Ryan Reynolds as a guy...........................................Chris Boyle
Super 8 06/17/11 Whenever a movie comes out with a number in its title, and that movie isn't a sequel to something, my friends and I have this running gag that just never gets old. Take Super 8 for instance...the joke would be to say, "Well, I didn't see the first 7, but..." I'm telling ya, it never ceases to crack ...........................................Chris Boyle
X-Men: First Class 06/10/11 After the wretched X-Men: The Last Stand and the so-so X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I had given up hope that the once critically-acclaimed superhero franchise based on my beloved series of childhood comic books would ever turn out a watchable entry again. Enter Matthew Vaughn, director...........................................Chris Boyle
The Hangover 2 06/06/11 I'm one of the few Americans that didn't quite get The Hangover. It was a funny film, sure, and it frequently went over the line of good taste, but overall, I just didn't get what all the commotion was about. Still, it made a boatload of dough, and the Powers That Be demanded a sequel and, well, here...........................................Chris Boyle
The Conspirators 05/27/11 This week I had the option to review "Bridesmaids," but given the description of it as being the "female version of The Hangover," I instead opted for something that I thought would be a tad more highbrow; in this case, "The Conspirator." Hey, now I love trashy cinema as much as...........................................Chris Boyle
Priest 05/19/11 Is it a compliment to say that a movie isn't nearly as horrible as I was expecting it to be? That it was actually, shockingly, okay? I...I guess it is. Such is Priest, a new sci-fi vampire flick starring Paul Bettany, who you probably know as the voice of Iron Man's wise-ass computer, JARVIS. Based on...........................................Chris Boyle
Thor 05/13/11 "Thor? Well, it hurts." Get it? GET IT? No? Well, it helps if you say it with a lisp... Okay, bad jokes aside, let's just jump into this week's review: Thor, the latest Marvel Comics character to get the big-screen treatment. Now, if you've read this column before (and you do every week, don't you?), you'll...........................................Chris Boyle
Hobo With A Shotgun 05/06/11 I'm so happy I live in a world where a totally sick, depraved movie like Hobo With A Shotgun can be made.
For those of you who don't know, Hobo With A Shotgun started life as a fake trailer directed by Jason Eisener, made for a contest to promote 2007's Grindhouse, Robert Rodriguez...........................................Chris Boyle
Fast Five 04/29/11 I just can't get enough of the Fast and the Furious. I can't explain why...well, I CAN, but it probably wouldn't sway anyone who feels it's just a series of vapid, poorly-acted, flashy action movies with no real redeeming value, mainly because they'd be right. Fast Five, the latest installment in the Furious...........................................Chris Boyle
Scream 4 04/23/11 As a film critic, I occasionally get the privilege of actually getting to write my opinion of some truly great movies...but mostly, I have to wade through a lot of crap. Now, don't get me wrong, ripping a bad movie a new one via pounding out a few paragraphs on my keyboard can be a lot of fun, but in the case of...........................................Chris Boyle
Hanna 04/15/11 Hanna is one of those quirky European action movies that occasionally find themselves getting a wide release in the States. Personally, I happen to like these kinds of movies. Remember how I'm always going on and on about Liam Neeson's wonderful 2008 film Taken? French-made...........................................Chris Boyle
Insidious 04/08/11 Considering that Insidious was made by the writing/directing team that gave birth to Saw, which has become the inbred, trailer trash grease stain of the horror movie world (although the original film had some potential), I was pretty much floored by how good Insidious actually is. Sure, it's a whole lot...........................................Chris Boyle
Sucker Punch 04/01/11 Sucker Punch: remove the last seven letters from the title of this movie and you'll have my opinion of it. Yes, Zack Snyder, noted director of such hits as 300 and Watchmen, has created the ultimate plotless, all style/no substance movie populated with vapid characters who...........................................Chris Boyle
Limitless 03/25/11 Limitless is about a guy with no drive, focus, or ambition who takes a special non-FDA approved pill that makes him real, real smart. So smart that it gets him in lots of trouble. Okay, that's it. See you next week when I review... Oh, wait, my review has to be longer than two sentences? Oh...okay...........................................Chris Boyle
Battle: Los Angeles 03/18/11 Battle: Los Angeles starts out with the alien invasion that makes up its plotline already in full swing. Then, after about a minute, it jumps back 24 hours to before the action begins. Why? I don't know. Maybe it's to make sure people compare it to last year's Skyline, yet another movie that...........................................Chris Boyle
The Adjustment Bureau 03/11/11 The Adjustment Bureau has, at its core, an interesting concept that never quite feels fleshed out enough. If they had really run with its rather interesting concept, it might have resulted in a great movie, rather than just a good one. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this flick, and I...........................................Chris Boyle
I Am Number Four 03/04/11 There's nothing like being dragged into a movie kicking and screaming, expecting it to be horrible beyond words, and actually leaving having been, at least to some small, tiny degree, entertained. Now, I'm not saying that I Am Number Four, a lame and blatant attempt...........................................Chris Boyle
Unknown 02/25/11 Oh, man, I loves me some Liam Neeson. He's one of the few actors walking the Earth that can class up just about any movie he sees fit to appear in. In fact, I think he'd even make a navel lint documentary pretty darn entertaining, if he chose to go that route. Okay, so, with that...........................................Chris Boyle
The Eagle 02/18/11 The phrase "okay" was pretty much invented to describe The Eagle, a movie about the occupation of Britain by Rome back in 2nd century AD. It's not a bad movie, it's not a good movie, it's just..."okay." To expand a bit, one could say that it has a rather interesting and unique setting, but...........................................Chris Boyle
The Company Men 02/11/11 You're heard of feel-good movies, right? Well, aside from maybe a documentary about the horrors of Auschwitz, The Company Men is the ultimate feel-BAD movie. First off, The Company Men is a very timely release. Set during the current economic toilet that our country is ...........................................Chris Boyle
The Rite 02/04/11 Okay, I just had to say it. I'm sure at least a dozen or so other film critics have made the same awful joke when reviewing this movie, but based on the off-chance they didn't, I did. Also, its 1:30 in the morning...........................................Chris Boyle
The Mechanic 01/28/11 Last week I reviewed sophisticated art house film The King's Speech. This week I review The Mechanic, which is neither sophisticated nor artsy, but it does have more explosions and a much higher body count. That's gotta count for something, right?...........................................Chris Boyle
The King's Speech 01/21/11 The King's Speech: a modern-day Lethal Weapon? No, no, no...I kid, but really, it follows the character arc established by Danny Glover and Mel Gibson in their classic cop caper flick (not to mention about a million other movies). No, Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush don't shoot anyone or blow anything...........................................Chris Boyle
The Green Hornet 01/14/11 Wow, I kinda remember The Green Hornet, a Batman-ish like superhero who uses his wealth and tech to fight underworld criminals. Not the original 1930's radio serial he debuted in back in the day, however...........................................Chris Boyle
True Grit 01/06/11 I'm not a huge fan of westerns, but when a great one comes along; I can't help but sit up and take notice. Now, while most of those great films have starred Clint Eastwood - The Outlaw Josey Wales, High Plains Drifter, Unforgiven, etc. - occasionally a non-Eastwood Western comes along that I also...........................................Chris Boyle
Black Swan 12/29/10 It's been a long time since a film has affected me this way. It's been over an hour since it ended and I can't stop thinking about it. That alone is automatically worth either three stars or one star by default, depending upon how good/bad a movie it is. In the case of Black Swan, director Darren Aronofsky's...........................................Chris Boyle
Little Fockers 12/23/10 Oh, the agony I go through for my Long Island Exchange readers sometimes. I mean, there's several near-classics out in theaters this week - among them True Grit and Black Swan - and here I am reviewing the celluloid equivalent of monkey excrement instead. I'm not sure exactly how this happened...........................................Chris Boyle
Tron: Legacy 12/17/10 Yeah, Tron: Legacy is pretty, but that's about all it is. Don't get me wrong, it's a solid and at times even entertaining flick, but, like the 1982 Disney original, it's not really groundbreaking visually; back in the day, Tron was one of the first films to incorporate massive amounts of computer animation...........................................Chris Boyle
Unstoppable 12/10/10 Unstoppable is a movie directed by Tony Scott and based on a true story about some dunce of a train operator in Pennsylvania who decided to hop out of his moving choo-choo to manually switch tracks while idling out of a train yard...........................................Chris Boyle
Faster 12/03/10 Faster is the best movie Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has made in years, possibly ever. That's not to say that it's perfect, however; we're talking about a man whose post pro-wrestling film career seems to have been guided by the desire to accept the worst scripts..........................................Chris Boyle
The Next Three Days 11/29/10 The Next Three Days is a really solid little film that, for me, really flew in under the radar. Of course, I'd seen the trailers, but I didn't really have high expectations, despite the fact that one of my all-time..........................................Chris Boyle
Skyline 11/18/10 Movies are funny in the sense that, while a below-average flick can be somewhat redeemed by a great ending, an otherwise solid outing can be dragged right straight down into the toilet by a bad ending..........................................Chris Boyle
Stone 11/11/10 The first ten minutes or so of Stone, directed by John Curran and starring Robert De Niro, Edward Norton and Milla Jovovich, are actually pretty incredible.........................................Chris Boyle
Saw 3D 11/04/10 Whew...thank goodness, it's finally over. Well, at least, that's what they're claiming: that Saw 3D is indeed the last installment of the Saw series........................................Chris Boyle
Paranormal Activity 2 10/29/10 Last year, I gushed endlessly about the original Paranormal Activity, a groundbreaking horror film directed by a guy named Oren Peli in the comfort of his own house.......................................Chris Boyle
Jackass 3D 10/21/10 I've been a huge fan of Jackass over the years. The 2000-2002 MTV television show involved a group of mental cases, led by one Johnny Knoxville, as they engaged in all manner of pranks and stunts......................................Chris Boyle
Let Me In 10/15/10 Another day, another Hollywood remake. And this time it's quite possibly the most unnecessary one yet. Let Me In is based the 2008 Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In.....................................Chris Boyle
The Social Network 10/11/10 Man, everyone loves Facebook, the networking website where people carry out a great chunk of their social lives nowadays (as sad as that may be)....................................Chris Boyle
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps 10/01/10 The original Wall Street, released in 1987, is considered iconic by the general movie going public. Well, except me, since I've never seen it. Shocking, I know, but it's true. Sure, I'm familiar...................................Chris Boyle
The American 09/24/10 The American is everything modern movies are not: it's slow-paced, smoothly shot, and edited with restraint. In that sense, it's actually extremely refreshing compared to the....................................Chris Boyle
Resident Evil: Afterlife 09/16/10 The fourth film based on Capcom's best-selling videogame series, is ultimate example of flash and style over substance. Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson (are you surprised?), Afterlife contains no story....................................Chris Boyle
Machete 09/10/10 Sadly, Machete was probably made 10 years too late- Danny Trejo came across as a beat-up, broken-down old man who can barely fight, walk, or even move....................................Chris Boyle
Takers 09/01/10 Takers' story is unoriginal and actually pretty bad, and while the acting is nothing to write home about either, there's at least there's a few stand-outs among its cast. Kid Vader...I mean, Hayden Christensen...................................Chris Boyle
Piranha 3D 08/27/10 Piranha 3D wastes no time getting going: a character played by Richard Dreyfuss (um, what?) is fishing in Lake Victoria, AZ. An earthquake hits, opening up the lake floor to yet another underground lake...................................Chris Boyle
The Other Guys 08/20/10 Yet another her cop buddy parody, is actually the movie Cop Out should have been. In other words, it's (usually, but not always) smart, clever, and above all else, funny....................................Chris Boyle
The Expendables 08/12/10 You know how I'm always whining that today's action movies are lightweights compared to the hard-as-nails flicks from the heyday of pure action, the 1980's?...................................Chris Boyle
Dinner for Schmucks 08/05/10 It's depressing when you find yourself watching a movie that could have been amazing if a different editor had cut it during post-production. As it is, Dinner for Schmucks is a two-hour long movie...................................Chris Boyle
Cyrus 07/30/10 Cyrus is a new comedy written and directed by brothers Jay and Mark Duplass. It's a small, rather intimate movie and as usual for an off-beat, independently-made movie of this type, the marketing guys in charge...................................Chris Boyle
Despicable Me 07/23/10 It's not often that you find a film where the main character is a bad guy...and this usually goes double when it comes to animated fare. Yet that is exactly what we get with the release of Despicable Me.....................................Chris Boyle
Inception 07/16/10 The funny thing about Inception is that no one seems to understand what it's about. Yeah, there's buzz around it due to this being Nolan's big Dark Knight follow-up (Batman 3 coming up next!), but the trailers have been vague at best....................................Chris Boyle
Predators 07/09/2010 Well, it's finally here...the first new stand-alone Predator film in 20 years. Directed and produced by the team of Nimród Antal and Robert Rodriguez, Predators is a direct sequel to the classic 1987 original starring...................................Chris Boyle
Grown Ups 07/02/10 I'm not sure what happened with Grown Ups. On paper, this movie read like a "who's who" from the world of comedy: Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade, and Rob Schneider are all in the lead roles...................................Chris Boyle
Knight And Day 06/25/10 I believe the phrase "middle of the road" was coined specifically to describe this movie. What movie? Oh, we're talking about Knight And Day, a new action/comedy film starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz...................................Chris Boyle
Toy Story 3 06/21/10 Toy Story 3 continues the Pixar tradition of films that appeal to young and old alike...as usual, the kids will be happy with the physical comedy and cutsey gags...................................Chris Boyle
The A-Team 06/13/10 Directed by Joe Carnahan, known for the 2002 crime drama NARC and the 2007 action flick Smokin' Aces, The A-Team is a fun movie starring a group of actors who display a great amount of....................................Chris Boyle
Killers 06/04/10 Killers, the new action/comedy starring Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, was not screened for critics prior to its release. Studios often do this for their movies when they just KNOW said critics are going to rip....................................Chris Boyle
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time 05/29/10 Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time is a solid but not mind-blowing entry into the summer action/adventure movie market. It actually reminds me a lot of the recent ho-hum Clash Of The Titans....................................Chris Boyle
Shrek Forever After 05/21/10 While "unfunny" comes to mind, the word I would most associate with Shrek Forever After, the third wretched sequel to the (actually pretty good) original Shrek, is "unnecessary.".....................................Chris Boyle
Iron Man 2 05/13/10 Overall, Iron Man 2 is a great follow-up to the original. Sure, it loses a bit of that "breath of fresh air" feeling the first movie had, but that's to be expected; after all, it came out of nowhere and was a wonderful alternative.....................................Chris Boyle
A Nightmare on Elm Street 05/06/10 Freddy Krueger. This horrific movie boogeyman got his start in 1984 in director Wes Craven's groundbreaking horror classic, A Nightmare on Elm Street.....................................Chris Boyle
The Losers 04/29/10 The Losers is a comic book movie based on a comic book I have never heard of. I don't know how this reflects upon me, but I'm going to assume that the Vertigo/DC-published comic was fairly obscure....................................Chris Boyle
Kick-Ass 04/22/10 Kick-Ass, a hyper-violent new action/comedy based on a Marvel comic book, is causing some degree of controversy. That controversy is mostly centered around the 11-year old superhero "Hit-Girl"....................................Chris Boyle
Date Night 04/15/10 Remember last week, when I reviewed the remake of Clash of the Titans and said that is was a solid action movie, but ultimately generic and forgettable? Well, Date Night, the new comedy....................................Chris Boyle
Clash of the Titans 04/09/10 Clash of the Titans is the tale of Perseus who, unbeknownst to him, is a demigod and the illegitimate son of Zeus, ruler of the gods of Mount Olympus, after a tryst with a human woman....................................Chris Boyle
Hot Tub Time Machine 03/31/10 Hot Tub Time Machine is basically Back To The Future with a Hot Tub instead of a DeLorean. It deals with three unhappy middle-aged men who all had potential they failed to live up to...................................Chris Boyle
Brooklyn's Finest 03/17/10 Brooklyn's Finest had all the makings of a classic. It has an all-around amazing cast, and from what I read its leads even took pay cuts in order to get the film made within its low budget...................................Chris Boyle
Cop Out 03/04/10 Honestly, I think I've given up all hope that writer/director Smith will ever turn out another decent film. By "another decent film," I do admit that his 1994 indie premiere Clerks was pretty good, but since then he's just released stinker after stinker and I just can't take it anymore.....................................Chris Boyle
Shutter Island 02/26/10 So, this Shutter Island place is home to the Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, and Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) are a pair of U.S. Marshals.....................................Chris Boyle
The Wolfman 02/17/10 Well, another day, another remake- this time around, it's The Wolfman, directed by Joe Johnston and featuring an impressive ensemble cast. However, I find it easier in my heart to forgive this one, as its source.....................................Chris Boyle
From Paris With Love 02/11/10 Overall, From Paris With Love was really fun. It's light on plot and character development (light? that's being kind), but heavy on guns, violence, speed, and personality.....................................Chris Boyle
Edge of Darkness 02/04/10 Edge of Darkness, Mel Gibson's first starring role since 2002, is an interesting movie. An adaptation of the 1985 BBC television series of the same name regarding a police detective investigating his daughter's murder....................................Chris Boyle
Legion 01/27/10 Helmed is basically a Catholic-themed remake of James Cameron's 1984 film The Terminator. How, you may ask? Simple- let's run down some basic plot points about the main character and see if you can....................................Chris Boyle
Daybreakers 01/12/10 Man, vampires are popular these days. I've been a big fan of 'em too, be it the gothic horror depicted in old Hammer Studio's Dracula films or Neil Jordan's excellent adaptation of Anne Rice's novel.....................................Chris Boyle
Sherlock Holmes 01/07/10 The famous fictional detective whose adventures were transcribed by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (starting in 1887) in the form of 4 novels and 56 short stories, has been the subject of countless media adaptations- films, television shows....................................................Chris Boyle
Avatar 12/18/09 Avatar marks the return of James Cameron to feature films since puttering around on the ocean floor making documentaries for the last 12 years. Yes, it's hard to believe it's been that long since Cameron shattered....................................................Chris Boyle
Armored 12/08/09 I've been awaiting the release of Armored with great interest. No, not because I've been forced to watch the trailer 10,000 times, but an opportunity check out the credentials of director Nimród Antal....................................................Chris Boyle
Ninja Assassin 11/27/09 Expertly directed by James McTeigue. It's a slightly redundant title, but at the same time it's also very catchy. It's the story of Raizo (played by Rain, the Justin Timberlake of Korea), a guy who's living my life's dream.....................................................Chris Boyle
2012 11/19/09 2012, the latest in a long line of nearly-identical disaster films by director Roland Emmerich, is the ultimate "missed it by one inch" movie. By that, I mean that the main characters will get into a random vehicle, start moving.....................................................Chris Boyle
The Box 11/11/09 Set in the 1970's, The Box starts out simply enough: Norma (Cameron Diaz) and Arthur (James Marsden, the guy with laser eyes in X-Men) Lewis appear to be a moderately successful married couple.....................................................Chris Boyle
13 Scary Films To Keep You Busy This Halloween 10/29/09 Instead of just reviewing one film, I'm going to compile a whole list of my own personal horror movie recommendations, past and present, to get you in the mood for this dark and evil season.....................................................Chris Boyle
Black Dynamite 10/22/09 The movie business, just like most things in life, is rife with politics, and at times these politics can prevent otherwise groundbreaking films from achieving the success they so richly deserve.................................................Chris Boyle
Paranormal Activity 10/15/09 To start off, Paranormal Activity lives up to the hype- and then some. And aside from being a truly engrossing and disturbing horror movie, it's also important in the sense that it was made.................................................Chris Boyle
Zombieland 10/08/09 Zombieland is fun, fast-paced, and for fans of gratuitous violence and gore, there's plenty to ensure that Zombieland easily earns its "R" rating.................................................Chris Boyle
Surrogates 09/30/09 Surrogates is a pretty solid film, but one that has the odd distinction of sharing exact, major plot elements with another recently-released sci-fi movie...in this case Gamer................................................Chris Boyle
The Informant! 09/23/09 The Informant is centered around a real-life international price-fixing conspiracy in the mid-1990s to artificially inflate the price of an animal feed additive called lysine................................................Chris Boyle
Gamer 09/10/09 While it doesn't quite reach the heights (and depths) of sheer, utter lunacy that the Jason Statham-starring Crank sequel did, Gamer still gets pretty out there from time to time...............................................Chris Boyle
Halloween II 09/02/09 Halloween 2 picks up right after the first movie ended. Laurie Strode, the sister of Michael Myers, is wandering down the streets of Haddonfield, IL, after plugging Mikey point-blank in the puss with a .357 magnum..............................................Chris Boyle
Inglourious Basterds 08/26/09 Much like director Quentin Tarantino's last movie, Death Proof, his new film Inglourious Basterds would have been brilliant if the editor had chopped out maybe 30 minutes or so..............................................Chris Boyle
District 9 08/19/09 District 9 is an excellent film. It's not the movie of the year like many are hailing it (the last act somewhat abandons the story in favor of a suprising amount of action instead)..............................................Chris Boyle
G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra 08/12/09 I must say that despite taking huge liberties with the look and some storyline details involving the characters and their relationships with each other, the movie DOES feel like G.I. Joe in the basest sense..............................................Chris Boyle
The Collector 08/05/09 The Collector is a horror movie about a guy called...well, The Collector. He's a scrawny masked guy with zero backstory whatsoever, other than he "collects" people.............................................Chris Boyle
Orphan 07/29/09 I found Orphan to be a really effective horror/thriller. You could tell director Jaume Collet-Serra is very familiar with all the standard, tired horror movie tricks and tactics and tries to play off of them in rather amusing and unexpected ways............................................Chris Boyle
Brüno 07/15/09 Brüno is a film that gleefully crosses the line time and time again, so much so that I experienced equal amounts of shock and awe. Yes, it's super-offensive and certainly not for your kindly old grandma...........................................Chris Boyle
Dead Snow 07/09/09 Dead Snow is a Norwegian horror film starring actors you've never heard of and directed by Tommy Wirkola, who you've also never heard of. The film made its US premiere at the Sundance Film Festival where it was snapped up by IFC Films for distribution...........................................Chris Boyle
Pixar's New Movie: Up 07/01/09 As far as I'm concerned, there's one constant in this universe of ours...Pixar always brings the goods. If you've read my review for 2008's WALL-E, you'd know the high esteem I hold this animation studio in...........................................Chris Boyle
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 06/24/09 Revenge of the Fallen learned nothing from its predecessor, 2007's Transformers. Directed by Michael Bay and based on the popular toy line and cartoon about sentient alien robots..........................................Chris Boyle
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 06/16/09 A very good, yet flawed movie. At its heart, it's an intimate tale of two men talking over the airways and figuring out what makes the other tick..........................................Chris Boyle
Drag Me To Hell 06/04/09 As a horror movie (which it was billed as), Drag Me To Hell was a complete failure. But as a comedy, it was HILARIOUS. But don't take my word for it...ask the entire audience of the showing I went to..........................................Chris Boyle
Terminator Salvation 05/27/09 Back in 1984, an unknown director named James Cameron introduced us to a low-budget science fiction film simply called "The Terminator." ..........................................Chris Boyle
Angels & Demons 05/21/09 A sequel to last year's hit movie, The Da Vinci Code. Both films are based on novels written by Dan Brown that I've never read, and although I'm told that Angels & Demons was published and takes place before The Da Vinci Code..........................................Chris Boyle
Star Trek (2009) Star Trek, directed by J. J. Abrams, is a “reboot” of sorts of the classic science-fiction media franchise that has existed for decades. Now, do I really have to explain to you the significance of Star Trek in American society?..........................................Chris Boyle
X-Men Origins: Wolverine 05/06/09 Back in 1963, the comic book "X-Men" was created by the duo of writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby for Marvel Comics. Considered very progressive for its time, the comic used.................................................Chris Boyle
Crank: High Voltage 04/22/09 Crank: High Voltage, a sequel to 2006's Crank, is the craziest movie I've ever seen. It makes the intense original film seem tame and mild-mannered in comparison...................................................Chris Boyle
Observe and Report 04/15/09 Observe and Report is a very unusual movie. How, you may ask? First of all, the advertising campaign: the film that it's portraying in ads is nothing like the film you see when you actually go to the theater..................................................Chris Boyle
Fast & Furious 04/08/09 Fast & Furious is a difficult film to review, I'll admit. On the one hand, I tried my very best not to enjoy it, feeling myself above the type of "all style and no substance" drivel that this flashy streetcar-racing franchise.................................................Chris Boyle
12 Rounds 04/01/09 The first thing I have to say about the 12 Rounds is that it's produced by WWE Films. As in, World Wrestling Entertainment. As in, a pro wrestling company.................................................Chris Boyle
I Love You, Man 03/25/09 I Love You, Man, a comedy starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, came as a complete surprise to me- it was very, very good..................................................Chris Boyle
Miss March 03/18/09 I could wrap up this review with less than one paragraph by simply telling you that Miss March is a terrible movie and not worth your time or money.................................................Chris Boyle
Watchmen 03/10/09 A comic book being listed by Time Magazine as one of the top 100 novels of all time is quite an impressive feat. But it's a feat that Watchmen, a complex superhero story originally written................................................Chris Boyle
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li 03/04/09 Occasionally, I actually go to the movies not just as a critic, but for my own personal pleasure. Saturday night was one such occasion................................................Chris Boyle
Friday the 13th (2009) 02/20/09 - As you are all no doubt aware, as of late Hollywood is crazy about pointlessly remaking movies that were perfectly good the first time around.................................................Chris Boyle
Taken 02/11/09 - If you're a long-time fan of my reviews here on Long Island Exchange (well, of course you are!), then you know that, in addition to my love of cultured, sophisticated cinema, I am also an unabashed action movie junkie..................................................Chris Boyle
The Wrestler 02/03/09 It's funny - growing up and into my early adulthood, I loved professional wrestling. I can't say why I enjoyed watching grown men in spandex play-fighting, but eventually I grew out of it..................................................Chris Boyle
Gran Torino 01/17/09 Ah, getting older- it's no fun. Friends and loved ones pass on, your annoying kids try to ship you off to the old folks home, and the neighborhood you built a life in is slowly changed foreign cultures..................................................Chris Boyle
Transporter 3 12/06/08 After reviewing several of his movies previously here on Long Island Exchange (such as The Bank Job and Death Race), I'm beginning to think that I'm something of a qualified Jason Statham expert. Let's see...he's a tough-guy who's really good at driving a car.................................................Chris Boyle
Quantum of Solace 11/22/08 I've been a huge James Bond fan ever since I was introduced to the British secret agent's films as a kid growing up in the 70's. Back then Roger Moore played the titular role, and I reacted with stunned disbelief when informed that this wasn't always the case.................................................Chris Boyle
Zack and Miri Make a Porno 11/11/08 Overall, I'm not what you would call a fan of Kevin Smith's movies. The New Jersey-based writer/director burst onto the indie filmmaking scene back in 1994 with the low-budget hit Clerks.................................................Chris Boyle
Max Payne 10/25/08 Max Payne (yes, that's his real name) is a NYPD detective working the Cold Case unit. The Cold Case unit, for those that are unaware, is basically where all the dead-end and unsolvable cases go..................................................Chris Boyle
Righteous Kill 09/20/08 Righteous Kill got a lot of pre-release hype due to the clandestine paring of two acting icons- Robert De Niro (Goodfellas, Raging Bull) and Al Pacino (The Godfather, Scarface)..................................................Chris Boyle
Death Race 08/28/08 This is the first time in ages I'm going to voice a positive opinion of a film written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. Not an overall positive opinion, mind you, but Death Race is a level above the usual deck expected of him after delivering to us such cinematic.................................................Chris Boyle
WALL-E 07/06/08 Wall-E is a movie created by Pixar, the premiere computer graphics animation studio responsible for mammoth hits such as Toy Story and Finding Nemo. Their track record in the industry is nearly flawless.................................................Chris Boyle
Incredible Hulk 06/20/08 For those of you out of touch with popular culture for the last 46 years, The Hulk is a big green man who talks like a third grader and is very mad and very strong, and the madder you make him, the stronger he gets.................................................Chris Boyle
Iron Man 05/15/08 Tony Stark, AKA Iron Man, is atypical as far as superhero alter-egos go. He's
not a nerdy school kid pining away for the girl of his dreams, nor is he some
angst-ridden recluse out to avenge the death of his family. ................................................Chris Boyle
88 Minutes 04/28/08 When an American movie featuring a major star finishes filming in December of 2005 but isn’t released nationally until April of 2008, you tend to suspect its overall quality may have some...minor issues................................................Chris Boyle
Doomsday 04/01/08 Doomsday is basically a mish-mash combination of a number of various movies, and the resulting concoction adds up to far less than the sum of its parts...............................................Chris Boyle
The Bank Job 03/17/08 I’m horrible with accents. Call me uncultured or whatever, but if someone has a thick foreign accent, it just takes me a while to get my ears around it...............................................Chris Boyle
Semi-Pro with Will Farrell 03/06/08 Yes, it’s Will Ferrell in yet another sports spoof, and it's (surprise, surprise) exactly like every other Will Farrell movie ever made..............................................Chris Boyle
Rambo 02/06/08 My fellow moviegoers, let me tell you of a time known as the 1980’s. Former actor Ronald Regan was president, and in Regan’s America, an odd duality existed in the movies produced during that era- sex was bad.............................................Chris Boyle
Cloverfield 01/24/08 There’s been more mystery surrounding Cloverfield than any film in recent memory. A cryptic, untitled teaser trailer for this “giant monster eats Manhattan” movie was released this past summer.............................................Chris Boyle
Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem 01/08/08 Merriam-Webster defines a Requiem as “A mass or solemn chant for the dead.” That alone tells us that no good will befall any of the characters involved in today’s review- 20th Century Fox’s Aliens Vs. Predator..............................................Chris Boyle
I Am Legend 12/19/07 The new film starring the always bankable Will Smith, originally came into existence back in 1954 in the form of a Science Fiction novel written by Richard Matheson about the last man alive on Earth..............................................Chris Boyle
Stephen King's 'The Mist' 11/29/07 Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to my very first 4-star review. I suppose it's fair to inform you that I'm a huge fan of horror movies, and that The Mist is, in fact, a horror movie.
American Gangster 11/20/07 The easiest way to describe American Gangster is that it’s similar to Al Pacino’s Scarface in the sense that it covers the rise and fall of a crime lord from the ghetto...................................................................Chris Boyle
Saw 4 - A Cinematic Nightmare 11/02/07 I viewed Saw 4 last night and have no idea what the hell I watched. Honestly. I went on Wikipedia to read the plot recap right when I got home from the theater...................................................................Chris Boyle
Gone Baby Gone 10/25/07 Gone Baby Gone is horrific actor Ben Affleck’s directorial debut. And, to my surprise, it started out very solidly, with an especially excellent bit of character acting by star....................................................................Chris Boyle
We Own the Night 10/20/07 We Own the Night is a crime drama set in Brooklyn, NY during the late 1980’s, an era known for its decadence, style, and big, big hair................................................................Chris Boyle
Resident Evil: Extinction 10/10/07 You normally won't find the words 'fine cinema' and 'based on the hit videogame' in the same sentence. Such is the stigma that videogame-based film adaptations...................................................................Chris Boyle
Halloween 2007 - Rob Zombie 09/13/07 In 1978, fledgling director John Carpenter released a low-budget, independent horror film titled simply: Halloween. It told the tale of Michael Myers...................................................................Chris Boyle
Balls of Fury 09/01/07 Few things are worse than something the exhibits promise, yet fails to live up to it. A good example of such a thing would be a movie that claims to be a comedy, but in reality, it isn't....................................................................Chris Boyle
Rush Hour 3 08/17/07 There have been a lot of “cop buddy” movies throughout the years. A “cop buddy” film is when two police officers with obviously clashing personalities are forced to “team up” on a case, usually for comedic effect...................................................................Chris Boyle
The Bourne Ultimatum 08/08/07 People have long been intrigued by the glamorous picture painted by the celluloid spy, starting in the 1960’s with the granddaddy of them all, James Bond....................................................................Chris Boyle
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 07/27/07 Harry Potter. The famous boy wizard and star of author J.K. Rowling's recently-concluded series of books has become the stuff of pop-culture legend...................................................................Chris Boyle
Transformers 07/05/07 Initially starting out as a line of Japanese toys imported by Hasbro and released in America back in 1984, the idea of everyday, innocuous objects such as cars, jet planes and boom boxes that transformed into fighting robots caught the imagination of children everywhere....................................................................Chris Boyle
Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer 06/28/07 In 2005, the original Fantastic Four was released in theaters and was a major hit with moviegoers...................................................................Chris Boyle
Hostel Part II 06/14/07 In 2005, Eli Roth’s Hostel was released and managed to spark some controversy with its brutal subject matter....................................................................Chris Boyle
28 Weeks Later 06/08/07 28 Weeks Later is a horror movie and sequel to the critically acclaimed 28 Days Later by director Danny Boyle (no relation), which itself was a sequel to the hit film 28 Days starring the always-spunky Sandra Bullock...................................................................Chris Boyle
Distrubia with Shia LaBeouf 05/19/07 It’s always pretty cool when you go into a movie expecting it to be somewhat generic and uninspired and come out actually having had a quality entertainment experience. That’s the case with Distrubia..................................................................Chris Boyle
Spider-Man 3 with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst 05/10/07 First off, I feel compelled to mention that Spider-Man 3 has Venom in it, the best Spider-Man villain ever. Okay, on with the review.....................................................................Chris Boyle
The Condemned with Steve Austin 05/04/07 I love action movies. Movies that make no pretense of being high art- just good, old-fashioned blood, death, and violence. This magical genre saw its heyday in the late 80’s through to the early 90’s....................................................................Chris Boyle
The Reaping with Hilary Swank 04/26/07 There are a lot of instantly forgettable films released into theaters nowadays. Movies that are neither good nor bad, movies that decline to stand out in a special or memorable way, lost in a vast abyss of mediocrity....................................................................Chris Boyle
Grindhouse 04/16/07 Grindhouse is, if nothing else, an interesting experiment. It’s a testament to two men’s love of the Exploitation film genre and a throwback to the 70’s when sleazy, violent, sex-filled movies...................................................................Chris Boyle
Blades of Glory with Will Ferrell 04/09/07 It’s been a while since I’ve seen a good comedy- the best one in recent memory was 2003’s Old School...................................................................Chris Boyle
Shooter with Mark Wahlberg 03/31/07 Shooter. I hate the name (it’s super-generic), but I guess it wraps up what the movie is all about. It’s about a guy who shoots stuff with guns, and he’s real good at it...................................................................Chris Boyle
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon 03/21/07 Last night, my movie-going cohort and I were trying to decide on a new film to view this week. There were, as always, a plethora of various releases to decide upon, but the showtimes of the vast majority of them were pretty inconvenient..................................................................Chris Boyle
Ghost Rider - Nicolas Cage 03/06/07 The wave of movies based on comic books just keeps coming. And for someone whose childhood was greatly influenced by reading of the exploits of larger-than-life superheroes, I couldn't be happier.................................................................Chris Boyle
Hannibal Rising 02/21/07 Hannibal Lecter. The charismatic, cultured, cannibalistic serial killer was originally introduced to the world by novelist Thomas Harris in the 1981 novel Red Dragon and later popularized into iconic status by films such as Silence of the Lambs................................................................Chris Boyle
Epic Movie with Kal Penn, Adam Campbell, and Carmen Electra 02/07/07 Sorry, folks, but I can only review this movie up until about the 45-minute mark, because that's the point that I walked out of the theater in search of something less painful, like pulling out my toenails with rusty pliers. Yeah, Epic Movie is that bad...............................................................Chris Boyle
Smokin' Aces with Jeremy Pivan and Ray Liotta 02/02/07 After giving such a glowing review to Blood Diamond in my very first article written for this website last week, I began to wonder when I'd have the dubious honor of writing my first negative movie review..............................................................Chris Boyle
Blood Diamond with Leonardo Dicaprio 01/25/07 A lot of people have been talking about this movie, which released nationwide on December 8th. Our fellow movie going friend informed us that his father had seen it and that if we didn't do the same, that we would be "crazy".............................................................Chris Boyle
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