Articles by Robert Abele

FRIENDS told him not to do it. Read more

The exasperated rumble of dying machinery – to our pampered ears, the sound of civilization ending – is the aural backdrop of “City of Ember,” a grim fantasy about a cloistered subterranean metropolis that wants to be both a kids’ adventure and a dystopian finger-wag. Read more

Right around the point horn-dog magazine writer Sidney Young (Simon Pegg) is frantically scouring a fancy garden party for cocaine so he can take advantage of the dim-bulb starlet (Megan Fox) he’s been fervently stalking, the putrid showbiz comedy “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People” appears to hit DEFCON 5 in mistaking its brand of moral laxity for cutesy irreverence. Read more

Scruffy and sloppy, and not without a filthy charm, “Choke” is writer-director Clark Gregg’s adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s 2001 novel of sex addiction and mother issues, and it plays out not unlike its central character’s life: fumbling toward sentimental closure but ironically surer-footed on matters of debauchery and comic meanness. Read more

“Pull the switch!” Read more

Novel in concept and not without exploitative juice, “Lakeview Terrace” updates the bad-cop-neighbor premise of the early-’90s potboiler “Unlawful Entry” by adding a twist of color. Read more

MICHAEL CERA and Kat Dennings slide into a booth at Canter’s Deli on Fairfax Avenue to talk about their romantic comedy “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” but mostly this reunion – after last seeing each other in May for re-shoots – feels like an excuse to worry over and needle each other with affection, like a youthful Tracy and Hepburn. Read more

The indie drama “Henry Poole Is Here” tells the story of a lonely, hopeless soul (Luke Wilson) who retreats to a newly bought house in the neighborhood where he grew up, only to see his planned solitude intruded upon by neighbors and strangers who believe a water stain on his house is the image of Jesus. Read more

On Aug. Read more