Mark Palermo
Tomatometer-approved critic
http://www.thecoast.ns.ca
Movies reviews only
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One Missed Call (2008) |
One Missed Call remakes Takashi Miike's 2003 film as undistinguished college-age horror, except it tries to exploit some people's fear of answering the phone into a feature-length premise. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Aug 19, 2015
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Brothers (2009) |
Brothers is rooted in character-interplay, which Sheridan observes empathetically and from the ground level. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Dec 07, 2009
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2012 (2009) |
2012 rarely convincingly places its stars in the midst of destruction. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 16, 2009
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The Blind Side (2009) |
Its m.o. isn't understanding or identification, just white self-congratulation. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 16, 2009
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Disney's A Christmas Carol (2009) |
The 3-D motion-capture version runs through the motions, except for one detail: It's visually beautiful. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 09, 2009
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The Box (2009) |
Not without interest, The Box opens to a collection of scenes that work and scenes that don't. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 09, 2009
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The Fourth Kind (2009) |
"What you decide is up to you," Jovovich permits us at the end, reducing cinema to an Unsolved Mysteries episode. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 09, 2009
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Inglourious Basterds (2009) |
It's great in parts. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 04, 2009
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Ponyo (2008) |
Ponyo observes the everyday, magically and truthfully. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 04, 2009
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Bandslam (2009) |
What keeps Bandslam afloat is the way its sweet moments find weird ways of stepping into convention. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 04, 2009
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Halloween II (2009) |
By not reaching for empowerment, Halloween II diminishes the horror genre. Nearly every victim is a terrible person. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 04, 2009
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The Final Destination (2009) |
Selling bland fatalism to kids, it's the work of crooks. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 04, 2009
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Sorority Row (2009) |
They're not just college girls. They're B******! - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 04, 2009
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The Informant! (2009) |
Soderbergh pokes fun at the self-importance of corporate thrillers. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 04, 2009
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Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) |
Insisting on simplifications -- poor equals virtuous, rich equals corrupt -- Moore invites distrust to all but the converted. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 04, 2009
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Fame (2009) |
The fragmented narrative of high school kids pursuing their dreams (job security) has just barely more feel and understanding of what it's like to be young than 17 Again . - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 04, 2009
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Zombieland (2009) |
Harrelson and co-star Emma Stone do a good job of embodying comedically hardened B-movie action heroes. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 04, 2009
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A Serious Man (2009) |
Larry's spiritual crisis doesn't attain its demanded empathy, leaving A Serious Man as a lesser work by great artists. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 04, 2009
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Next Day Air (2009) |
Nearly every scene is a play on the perception that the accumulation of wealth will bring social validation and self-worth. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 04, 2009
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Michael Jackson's This Is It (2009) |
It's Jackson's history of visual iconography that This Is It should aspire to more often. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Nov 04, 2009
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Milk (2008) |
As a true story, it makes great drama - preferable if you don't already know the history. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Dec 08, 2008
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Punisher: War Zone (2008) |
If you're on the wavelength that can laugh with this stuff instead of laugh at it, Punisher: War Zone is about as fun as commercial cinema gets this season. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Dec 08, 2008
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Nothing Like the Holidays (2008) |
Almost every Christmas there's a different version of this movie. Whether a given entry works depends on its character-interplay, and that makes Nothing Like the Holidays pretty good. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Dec 08, 2008
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Pride and Glory (2008) |
Hokum. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Oct 28, 2008
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Max Payne (2008) |
Take in the pleasure, because Max Payne is the most beautiful video game adaptation yet. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Oct 28, 2008
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High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008) |
Sure, High School Musical 3 is better than Chicago and Dreamgirls, but it must be accepted that this is a pop phenomenon more than it is a movie. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Oct 28, 2008
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Saw V (2008) |
The Saw movies have a convoluted storyline for the same reason Playboy has articles. It gives the consumer an easy excuse. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Oct 28, 2008
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Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) |
It doesn't hit the emotion of communities formed through grade-Z film art in Cecil B. Demented, Ed Wood, Bowfinger and Be Kind Rewind. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Oct 28, 2008
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Definitely, Maybe (2008) |
Yes, you can polish a turd. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Feb 19, 2008
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Jumper (2008) |
It's a concept without a story. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Feb 19, 2008
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Charlie Bartlett (2007) |
Charlie Bartlett is a teen movie that only wants approval from adults. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Feb 19, 2008
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The Great Debaters (2007) |
The Great Debaters handles conventions well, making an important piece of history affecting and resonant. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Jan 21, 2008
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Redacted (2007) |
Calling the movie anti-soldier misses the despair with which DePalma views the troops' situation. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Jan 21, 2008
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Cloverfield (2008) |
Besides disinterest, the only emotion it incites is the emotion of wanting to throw up. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Jan 21, 2008
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Mad Money (2008) |
Though Mad Money isn't despicable like Because I Said So, it's not recognizably human either. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Jan 15, 2008
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I'm Not There (2007) |
I'm Not There becomes another boomer ode to the cultural supremacy of the sixties. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Jan 15, 2008
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First Sunday (2008) |
Combining the hijinks of the Friday series with the spiritual bent of Tyler Perry's work seems like an obvious move. For producer/star Ice Cube, it's also a dishonest one. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Jan 15, 2008
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In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2007) |
Boll is in fact fascinating - largely because his movies assume their audiences exist in an alternate dimension of human experience. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Jan 15, 2008
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Inland Empire (2006) |
Inland Empire is about the effects of movies themselves - the way they change us, inform our goals, and impact our self-image. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Sep 04, 2007
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3:10 to Yuma (2007) |
3:10 to Yuma's sanitized view is flatly middlebrow - even the line readings are delivered to make convenient actor showcase clips on award shows. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Sep 03, 2007
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Halloween (2007) |
Once it steps into a remake of the Carpenter film in its second half, it loses its seriousness. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Aug 31, 2007
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I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007) |
Taking offense to a film about tolerance just because it's aimed squarely at Middle America is itself intolerant. Chuck and Larry's crime is it doesn't maintain its most audacious bits and it's never funny enough. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Aug 29, 2007
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Hairspray (2007) |
The young and old cast division creates a colourful world of people and ideals. It's an abstraction of an era made resonant, contemporary, and purely joyful. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Aug 29, 2007
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Bratz (2007) |
Bratz (freaky looking teen dolls for girls whose parents won't let them play with real teenagers) is now a high school movie made for people in Grade 6. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Aug 29, 2007
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The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) |
It's the property's most relentless thriller, but director Paul Greengrass' visual style almost ruins it. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Aug 29, 2007
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Superbad (2007) |
Superbad has one detail I've never seen in a teen movie before: The sight of kids drinking alcohol and gagging after every swig. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Aug 29, 2007
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Hot Rod (2007) |
Through Hot Rod's manic weirdness, its take on young suburban males is completely authentic. It's the summer's happiest screen comedy. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Aug 29, 2007
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Balls of Fury (2007) |
Balls of Fury is intended as a spoof of Enter the Dragon. That's important to know before walking into it, since it looks more like a spoof of the 80s martial arts spoof Big Trouble in Little China. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Aug 28, 2007
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Captivity (2007) |
The irony is that Captivity is ABOUT the things it's hated for - a culture that views women as objects, fascination with death and mutilation, turning to the misery of others for our entertainment. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Jul 17, 2007
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) |
It's accomplished, but par for the course: A bloated, basically watchable light show. - The Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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| Posted Jul 17, 2007
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