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Articles by Kurt Loder

'Prometheus' Review: No Classic, Merely a Superior Genre Exercise

Among several things that commend it–not least the baroque design and slick visuals you’d expect of any back-to-the-future mission mounted by Ridley Scott–the new “Prometheus” contains the most electrifying body-horror shock scene in recent memory. It’s part of a harrowing

'Prometheus' Review: No Classic, Merely a Superior Genre Exercise

'Dark Shadows' Review: Depp Drains Whimsy Out of Vampire Comedy

Being a Tim Burton movie, the new “Dark Shadows” is an exercise in the sort of gothic fantabula with which the director’s fans are familiar–perhaps, by now, overly so. It is also the eighth Burton film to star Johnny Depp.

'Dark Shadows' Review: Depp Drains Whimsy Out of Vampire Comedy

'The Moth Diaries' Review: A Bloodless Take on Teen Vampire Genre

Mary Harron’s “The Moth Diaries” is like the “Twilight” films without the glitter, and without the silly brooding vampire boys. Great. The story is set in a girls’ boarding school, and there’s a heavy air of Sapphic attraction–which, alas, might

'The Moth Diaries' Review: A Bloodless Take on Teen Vampire Genre

'Lockout' Review: Scrap Parts Sci-Fi Salvaged by Wiseacre Hero

The funniest thing about “Lockout,” a film that is not without several amusements of a subsidiary nature, is the notion that it is based on an “original idea” sprung from the brow of the alarmingly prolific French writer-director-producer Luc Besson.

'Lockout' Review: Scrap Parts Sci-Fi Salvaged by Wiseacre Hero

'The Hunter' Review: Sprawling Story Can't Drag Dafoe Down

If a movie is going to brood, there are probably few better places to do it than the misty forests and mountains of Tasmania. And what better actor to do the brooding than Willem Dafoe, whose chiseled features are by

'The Hunter' Review: Sprawling Story Can't Drag Dafoe Down

'ATM' Review: Claustrophobic Horror Yarn Plays like Genre Parody

“ATM” is a bare-bones horror film that feels a little long even at 90 minutes, thus giving us more time than it should to savor the story’s basic silliness. The movie isn’t quite as claustrophobic as the 2010 “Buried,” also the

'ATM' Review: Claustrophobic Horror Yarn Plays like Genre Parody

'Wrath of the Titans' Review: Special Effects Overkill, with Brio

“Wrath of the Titans” stands tall in the pantheon of schlock–it’s schlock with brio, the best kind. And if I were a contemporary lad with no memory of Ray Harryhousen’s stop-motion Sinbads and Argonauts of 50 years ago, I think

'Wrath of the Titans' Review: Special Effects Overkill, with Brio

'Bully' Review: A Wakeup Call for Parents, the MPAA

The new documentary “Bully” takes you straight back to school days–and they’re still every bit as awful as you might remember. Here once again are the cool kids, the pretty people, the jocks; and over there, the loners and the

'Bully' Review: A Wakeup Call for Parents, the MPAA

'The Hunger Games' Review: Government Excess Towers Over Sci-Fi Franchise

Anyone who has read the 2008 bestseller on which it’s based will encounter no surprises in “The Hunger Games.” Once again we’re in the post-apocalyptic country of Panem–formerly North America before an unspecified disaster wiped out that civilization some years

'The Hunger Games' Review: Government Excess Towers Over Sci-Fi Franchise

'John Carter' Review: Millions Squandered on D.O.A. Franchise

The most awesome of the many special effects on view in the new “John Carter” is pyrotechnic in nature: How often do you get to watch $250-million (the movie’s reported budget) go straight up in flames? Making his first live-action

'John Carter' Review: Millions Squandered on D.O.A. Franchise

'Bullhead' Review: 'Roid Rage Drama Delivers Breakout Belgian Star

“Bullhead” is a grim Belgian movie about the illicit trade in agricultural growth hormones. Subtitled, of course. What’s not to like, right? And yet the film is very much worth seeing for the great, smoldering performance of its star, Matthias

'Wanderlust' Review: Moldy Hippie Gags Populate Commune Comedy

What you make of the new comedy “Wanderlust” may depend on where you stand in the 50-year-long hippies-versus-straights continuum. Those who were around for the 1960s will already be familiar with fun-loving flower children, in their trademark pot-and-patchouli haze, gently

'Thin Ice' Review: Thriller Insures Familiar Twists

There are several things one might say about “Thin Ice”; unfortunately, some of them must remain unsaid. Set in the wintry Midwest, the movie is a dark, twisty crime thriller that recalls the Coen brothers’ snowbound “Fargo” and John Dahl’s

'Safe House' Review: 'Bourne' Lite – Great Taste, Less Filling

Name this movie: An ace CIA operative, condemned as a rogue and now hunted by the Company, bashes and crashes his way through colorful foreign settings, pursued by heavily armed hit men, while back at Langley headquarters an inscrutable deputy

'Chronicle' Review: Found Footage Cinema Grows Up

With “Chronicle,” the shaky-cam “real footage” movie, on the cusp of propelling some viewers into face-clawing lamentation, finally grows up. The picture has a rousing spirit and an unexpected emotional warmth. It features good (if little-known) actors, a solid genre

'The Devil Inside' Review: Been There, Exorcised That

It’s good to see a return of old-school hype and hustle to the crappy-movie business. William Castle would certainly be pleased. The late producer was a master of this sort of thing, amping up the crowds at his cheapo horror

'The Innkeepers' Review: Haunted Hotel Lacks Guests, Scares

Writer-director Ti West is a low-budget auteur celebrated within the horror-boy fraternity as the future of their beloved form. West is devoted to the genre’s pre-torture-porn past–to the slow buildup of tension rather than promiscuous slashes of gore. Unfortunately, in

'Roadie' Review: Rock Drama Rolls with Nostalgia

Blue Öyster Cult, as some might not recall, was a big band a long time ago, and is still ghosting the classic-rock airwaves with its 1976 hit, “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper.” The group soldiers on, in some vague form, but