Email Author Alan Scherstuhl

2013 Stories by Alan Scherstuhl

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  Kick-Ass 2: Superheroes vs. Meaning

  published August 14, 2013

  Despite the giddy, gory ridiculousness of Kick-Ass 2, this summer's most violent yet least punishing comic-book movie, there's a... More >>

• I Give It a Year Tries to Be More Than Your Average Romantic Comedy

  published August 7, 2013

  Besides its dozen or so big laughs, and its winning streak of middle-upper-crust romantic jadedness, Dan Mazer's I Give It a Year has... More >>

• Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters Is Just a Sleepy PG Adventure

  published August 7, 2013

  How would those Bronze Age storytellers who shaped and handed down the myths of Ancient Greece fare in a modern screenwriting seminar? All... More >>

• In Prince Avalanche, the Apatow Crew Goes Existential

  published August 7, 2013

  Here's a humble wig-out, a curio that could endure beyond its creators' more demonstrably successful works—and for decades will... More >>

• The Spectacular Now Is This Summer's Best Romance

  published July 31, 2013

  Hey, Hollywood can still do romance! Even since the marketeers worked out that the kiss kiss bang bang formula could be profitably... More >>

• Ersatz Space Doc Europa Report Only Looks Realistic

  published July 31, 2013

  No human has left near-Earth orbit since 1972, we're reminded in Europa Report, a smartly marketed space-horror quickie that purports... More >>

• Smash and Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers Shows That the Life of a Jewel Thief Is the Opposite of Glamour

  published July 31, 2013

  You know what isn't fun at all, it turns out? The life of the international jewel thief, which, based on the evidence Havana Marking assembles... More >>

• First Comes Love: Nina Davenport Births a Son--And a Great Doc

  published July 24, 2013

  Tell enough guys the premise of auteur-of-the-self Nina Davenport's HBO doc First Comes Love, and at least a couple will confirm... More >>

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  Death of the Makeover: To Do List, The Spectacular Now, and The Heat kill Hollywood's worst scene

  published July 24, 2013

  "I kept thinking she was the ugly duckling who was going to turn into a swan," a fortyish loudmouth complained as the crowd trudged out of a... More >>

• Blackfish: A Vital Look at Orcas in Captivity

  published July 17, 2013

  Here's something you would think we could all agree on: Rigid parts of the body probably shouldn't go slack. But try asking a SeaWorld... More >>

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  The To Do List is Quick, Messy, and Fitfully Pleasurable

  published July 17, 2013

  Like first sex, writer-director Maggie Carey's debut feature, The To Do List, is quick and messy, fitfully pleasurable, full of... More >>

• Les Coquillettes Bristles With Comic Misadventures But Lacks Substance

  published July 10, 2013

  A feisty trifle charting the misadventures of three French women looking for romance or distraction among the open-for-suggestions... More >>

• In Crystal Fairy, Michael Cera Delivers a Great, Dickish Performance

  published July 10, 2013

  With an offhand precision that suggests he might prove one of his generation's major actors, Michael Cera lays bare two specific human... More >>

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  The Conjuring is Often Fun, But Offers the Same Old Spirits

  published July 10, 2013

  Something like half the running time of the engaging new don't-go-in-the-basement thriller The Conjuring is devoted to showing us... More >>

• She-Hulk and X-Man Chick Lit Novels Are Better Than Superhero Movies

  published July 3, 2013

  Superheroes are bigger than comic books, so now they're in movies—all movies, it seems, forever, no matter what. But in another sense... More >>

• Live From New York, It's (Kind of) Saturday Night

  published July 3, 2013

  "This wouldn't happen on the real show," says Ali Farahnakian, as laughter shakes the Simple Studios rehearsal room. "On the real show,... More >>

• OK COMPUTER

  published July 3, 2013

  A brain-bending game you can play while watching 2001: A Space Odyssey: Imagine you’re the first audience to see it. Would you... More >>

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  Gideon's Army: HBO's Most Illuminating Crime Drama Since The Wire

  published June 26, 2013

  Among the revelations you're likely to experience during the course of Gideon's Army, Dawn Porter's vital, moving new HBO... More >>

• The Anxieties Awful Men Feel About Women in Some Girl(s)

  published June 26, 2013

  Is it any surprise that a woman stares down a man and shouts "Why would you do this to me?" within the first 15 minutes of Some... More >>

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  White House Down Is the Most Sharply Observed Spoof Comedy Since Team America

  published June 26, 2013

  Surprising proof that Hollywood still can craft a memorable studio comedy, Roland Emmerich's White House Down stands as a... More >>

• Sing Me the Songs That Say I Love You is a Wainwright Family Sing-Along

  published June 26, 2013

  The miracle of Rufus Wainwright's voice—that it can be at once so strong and so tender—is also the miracle of Wainwright's family,... More >>

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  Downloaded Breezes Through the Story of Napster

  published June 19, 2013

  "You cannot build a business on copyright infringement," points out Ian Rogers, the CEO of Topspin, not too long into Downloaded,... More >>

• Pixar Bangs Out More Superior Kids Fare with Monsters University, And Nothing More

  published June 19, 2013

  Terrorizing children in their bedrooms remains the existential concern of the toothy blobs, hams, and pop-pom-furred Wild Things that populate... More >>

• The Attack Is Not Just About Terrorism

  published June 19, 2013

  Since it opens with a suicide bombing in downtown Tel Aviv, and since its mystery plot involves an attempt to track down a sheikh whose public... More >>

• Seth Rogen's This Is the End: The Apocalypse With Dick Jokes

  published June 12, 2013

  From the peak of Anchorman to the nadir of Burt Wonderstone, the formula for studio comedies of the last 20 years has been... More >>