By Brian Lafferty

May 6, 2010 (San Diego)--When I saw Iron Man two years ago, I left the theater feeling it was a great movie but functioned more like a set-up for a better and bigger story. It raised my expectations for the sequel, which is out in theaters today. Iron Man 2 is bigger and better but not by much; it suffers from two major story flaws. Yet, I walked out of the theater feeling much more satisfied because everything that did work more than made up for what didn't.

By Brian Lafferty

April 23, 2010 (San Diego’s East County) -- The Losers is an action movie that had no effect on me except for making my eyes glaze over. It stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The Watchmen, TV’s Supernatural) and Zoe Saldana. There are moments of great inventiveness, which include grabbing an armored car using a magnet attached to a chopper…taking place in broad daylight in front of downtown commuter traffic. The problem? This film is nothing special. I just didn’t care.

By Brian Lafferty

April 16, 2010 (San Diego's East County) -- As I walked out of the theater after watching Death at a Funeral, I was reminded of something the great director Howard Hawks once said about what makes a good movie: three great scenes, no bad ones. There are three hilarious, uproarious scenes which had me literally gasping for air from laughing so hard. At the same time, there was not a single scene that didn't work.

By Brian Lafferty

April 2, 2010 (San Diego's East County)--Clash of the Titans is the newest in a seemingly neverending long line of Hollywood remakes. Directed by Louis Leterrier (director of The Incredible Hulk two years ago) it is a splendid remake of the 1981 classic of the same name. That movie starred future L.A. Law actor Harry Hamlin and was the last to feature special effects master Ray Harryhausen’s famous stop-motion animation. This time Perseus is played by Sam Worthington, coming off of last year’s megahit Avatar.  The stop-motion has been replaced with CGI.

By Brian Lafferty

March 26, 2010 (San Diego's East County) -- After I saw Avatar back in December, I was sure of one thing: there is no longer any excuse for filmmakers to skimp on 3D. Avatar, for me, established several precedents when it comes to the quality of these movies. It demonstrated that a 3D flick can have outstanding image quality, that the medium is best when used to increase depth, and that it can really make you feel like a part of the movie’s world. How to Train Your Dragon, the newest animated feature from Dreamworks, grasps these three notions. The result is a fantastic cinematic experience for both adults and kids alike.

By Brian Lafferty

March 14, 2010 (San Diego's East County) -- Green Zone is relentlessly exciting from beginning to end. We know there never were weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq, which was the primary reason we went to war. We know what the outcome will be in the end, that there’s no turning back and we’re in it for the long haul, WMDs or not. Despite this common knowledge, screenwriter Brian Helgeland manages to incorporate a mystery that keeps us guessing until the very end in addition to exciting action sequences.

By Brian Lafferty

February 8, 2010 (San Diego)--The first scene of Edge of Darkness is a home movie featuring a little girl at the beach. This little girl is the daughter of a Boston Detective (Mel Gibson) who grows up to be a trainee at a corporation specializing in handling nuclear waste. Within the first five minutes, Gibson’s daughter comes home, gets sick, then is shot to death and dies in Gibson’s arms. After learning who was behind his daughter’s murder, he swears revenge against the evil corporation.

By Brian Lafferty

January 12, 2009 (San Diego’s East County)--While watching The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus I could not help but remember a film with elements similar to it. That film would be The City of Lost Children, a 1995 French film co-directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie) and Marc Caro. Like The City of Lost Children, Doctor Parnassus contains eccentric characters (in both physical appearance and personality), lush cinematography and set design, and an interesting narrative that is barely coherent yet rewarding at the same time. I loved it.

By Brian Lafferty

December 5, 2009 (San Diego's East County) -- Precious (Gabourey Sidibe) is one of the most strong-willed characters I have seen in a long time. She’s pregnant, at sixteen, with her second child by her father. Her mother (Mo'Nique) is both physically and psychologically abusive, calling her mean names and always bringing her down. She’s illiterate. She’s harassed at school and on the street. She enrolls in an alternative school and the other students are initially mean-spirited. In her mind, the world is unfair and cruel, with very few people on her side.