The magic is back. SHREK FOREVER AFTER has recaptured everything that made the original so great, including the attitude of William Steig, the author of the original Shrek book, while keeping those elements that worked in the subsequent installments. Which is to say, there is nothing of the third to be found here. Shrek (Mike… Read More »
KNIGHT AND DAY
KNIGHT AND DAY is what a summer popcorn movie should be. Its big, its preposterous, and its a whole lot of fun. Boy meets girl. Boy behaves in socially inappropriate but oddly compelling ways involving guns and random acts of derring-do. Girl goes along for the ride, more or less willingly depending on where the… Read More »
THE GREEN HORNET
THE GREEN HORNET is not a great film, but it does get one thing very right. It is filled with the exuberance that a kid finds in living through the exploits of his or her favorite super hero or heroine. For all the faults to be found with its pacing, there is something enormously refreshing… Read More »
BAD TEACHER
Many actresses seek to prove their acting chops by removing their makeup, frumping their wardrobes, and otherwise de-emphasizing their most glamorous assets in roles that call for them to emote high drama while being noble. In BAD TEACHER, Cameron Diaz slathers on the eyeliner and lipstick, hikes her tight skirts to dizzying heights, and wipes… Read More »
GANGS OF NEW YORK
Martin Scorseses much anticipated, long delayed GANGS OF NEW YORK has finally arrived, and an ambitious, magnificent mess it is. Scorseses visual style, his love for detail as a rich setting for his story, is not to be faulted, but the story itself is a sprawling thing that doesnt so much advance during its 168-minute… Read More »
SEX TAPE
The protagonists of SEX TAPE are a happily married couple, deeply in love and deeply committed to one another and their two kids, but, after 10 years or so of marriage, the fiery passion they enjoyed in the first flush of lust/love, and before discovering how versatile a ladys lady parts are, has become a… Read More »
CHARLIE’S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE
<P class=MsoNormal style=”MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt”><SPAN style=”FONT-FAMILY: Verdana”>The nice thing about CHARLIES ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE is that it laughs at itself. And, because it doesnt take itself seriously, we get to be in on the joke. Its a flight of hard-body fantasy served up with a healthy dose of self-mockery and some slick action sequences.… Read More »
SHREK 2
There is no talk of parfaits in SHREK 2. You might recall from the original, an instant animated classic, that this was Donkeys favorite dessert, not to mention panacea, that nothing was so bad that a nice parfait couldnt make it better. Parfaits are in order for viewing this sequel that stumbles badly before hitting… Read More »
SHREK
As a pleasant reminder of what youre NOT going to get with SHREK, this animated film starts with the cliché of a storybook fairy tale. Big green hands turn the oversized, tritely illustrated pages of a princess locked in a tower and the brave knight who rescues her and gives her true loves first kiss.… Read More »
THE HOLIDAY
Jude Law is glib. Cameron Diaz is perky. Kate Winslet is tragic in a perfect serio-comic way. They’re all gorgeous. And Jack Black, well, it’s hard to say what exactly he is doing in THE HOLIDAY as the object of Winslet’s eventual attraction. Writer/director Nancy Meyers certainly can’t be accused of typecasting by injecting Black,… Read More »