“A low-budget labor of love for producer/star Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter follows The Town and Conviction in this year’s Massachusetts Lampoon Show, in which glamorous movie stars drop their R’s and wear tacky clothes to convey ‘authenticity.’ Blue-collar Bostonian has replaced redneck as Hollywood’s white-trash signifier of choice.” – The Improper Bostonian, 12/15/2010
“You can’t eat filet mignon for dinner every night, and sometimes you just feel like digging into a greasy cheeseburger. The critic’s job, I’ve always hoped, is to be able to differentiate between Mr. Bartley’s and McDonald’s. Tony Scott’s Unstoppable is an excellent cheeseburger, with particular emphasis on the cheese.” – The Improper Bostonian, 11/17/2010
“Growing less interested in the title subject as the film progresses, Hereafter seems more concerned with loneliness in this life than anything that happens after death. Time and again we return to Damon eating meals alone in his kitchen, just as isolated and aching as those who’ve lost a loved one.” – The Improper Bostonian, 11/03/2010
“She’s a potty-mouthed, hard-partying girl who isn’t afraid to admit that she enjoys sex. It’s impossible to imagine uptight Us Weekly drones like Aniston or Heigl indulging in the kind of giddy, stoned lasciviousness that Barrymore gets away with here. She carries the movie on lusty giggles and F-bombs.” – The Improper Bostonian, 09/08/2010
“Some kind of meathead masterpiece, Sylvester Stallone’s The Expendables is cinematic junk food of the highest order. It’s an unapologetically old-school, men-on-a-mission movie that’s so retro you’ll feel like you should be watching it on a beat-up VHS tape. Not going gently into that good night, Sly wants to party like it’s 1986.” – The Improper Bostonian, 08/25/2010
“It’s Juno for adolescent boys, reminding a teenage audience at each turn that they’re better than everybody else. The whole moral of the movie being that it’s OK to be a socially awkward, couch-surfing loser who has nothing to offer the world. There’s no coming-of-age here, just an endorsement of something sad.” – The Improper Bostonian, 08/11/2010
“Every performance is hideously over-scaled, and Roach’s unfortunate tendency to keep the camera within six inches of everyone’s face underlines the performers’ strain. There’s a pleading quality to Dinner for Schmucks that’s the antithesis of funny, with cramped, pore-exposing close-ups inspiring more pity than giggles.” – The Improper Bostonian, 07/28/2010
“Cruise has already refocused his career around the idea that America privately considers him to be a pants-peeing lunatic. So he tried to play that to his advantage by starring in a broad, boring romantic comedy that’s bogged down with a plot that doesn’t even seem to matter to its participants.” – The Improper Bostonian, 07/14/2010
