Friday 24 May
 
 

The Burning

It speaks to the strength of The Burning’s reputation among cult-film fans that what’s most memorable about the 1981 slasher is not that it was written by the Weinstein brothers, nor that it represents early appearances of the likes of Jason Alexander, Holly Hunter and Fisher Stevens. It’s that its Cropsy is just a damned good villain.
05/24/2013 | Comments 0

Dexter: The Seventh Season

There's no way to discuss the seventh and penultimate season of Showtime's hit Dexter without acknowledging how the previous year ended. Therefore, if you haven't finished the sixth season, stop reading now. You've got work to do.
05/21/2013 | Comments 0

Nightfall

As Simon Lam gets older, he gets better. The veteran actor has appeared in such in seminal HK action films of the 1990s as Once Upon a Time in China (opposite Jet Li) and Bullet in the Head (directed by John Woo); in the aughts, he graced audience and critical favorites Election and Ip Man.
05/20/2013 | Comments 0

Grand Duel

Lee Van Cleef enjoyed a secondary career in Italy cranking out spaghetti Westerns, with little regard to quality. However, 1972’s Grand Duel — aka The Big Showdown — is deserving of its Grand label. No wonder Quentin Tarantino borrowed its sweeping theme song by Luis Bacalov for Kill Bill; you'll recognize it in two notes.
05/20/2013 | Comments 0

The Last Stand

Early in The Last Stand, the small-town sheriff played by Arnold Schwarzenegger says, "It's my day off. Should be a quiet weekend." That's the new way of saying, "I've got one week to retirement," because it signals — with flashing neon and everything — that life is going to royally upend those plans.
05/17/2013 | Comments 0
Home · Articles · Movies · Comedy · Charlie Bartlett
Comedy

Charlie Bartlett


None February 28th, 2008

charliebartlett
de: D+

This high school dramedy made by a middle-aged man whose father is a movie producer is a first feature for its director, and its grasp on reality couldn't be any less firm if its hands were made of Crisco. Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin, "Alpha Dog") is a rich kid attending a public high school for the first time. The school, of course, looks like a cross between a daycare facility at 3 p.m. and a prison for the criminally insane.

 

The new kid decides to make friends by selling prescription drugs. Forget the name "Heath Ledger" and this may strike you as funny. He begins dating the principal's daughter (Kat Dennings, "The 40-Year-Old Virgin"). High jinks ensue.

 

The dialogue never hits the high-water mark of "Juno," the characters all carry too much baggage to be likable, and the director keeps flashing back to a 1971 cult movie called "Harold and Maude," which I've always hated. Even theft from "Rock 'n' Roll High School," a 1979 cult movie I've always loved, doesn't make up for it. R

 

"”Doug Bentin 

 
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
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