Why wait to review the movies when we can grade the teasers?
The Departed
You know you're in Scorsese-circa-GoodFellas territory when you hear
''Gimme Shelter'' as Jack Nicholson strolls by. And so it's all cops and
criminals and shoot-outs as both Leo DiCaprio and Matt Damon wonder if
they're in too deep. Sweet. B+
Borat
British comedy is the comedy of embarrassment — has been for decades. And
so ''Kazakh newsman'' Borat — Brit comedian Sacha Baron Cohen in a crazy
mustache — finds new ways to make us feel uncomfortable. If the trailer's
this funny...egads. A-
Catch a Fire
Derek Luke stars in this based-on-fact story of the making of a South
African revolutionary. The heady spot bravely asks the question: When
you are fighting for what you know to be right but authority has labeled
wrong, are you a hero or a terrorist? A
Man of the Year
The most egregious thing here is not that the film is about a political
funnyman à la Jon Stewart who runs for president, or that Robin Williams
is in full-on annoying-shtick mode. No, it's that the trailer gives away
that he wins. Idiots. C-
