MARRY ME falls into the category of mostly harmless. As a rom-com, it shadows its inspiration, NOTTING HILL, at a respectful distance in an exercise tailored to showcase its star/co-producer Jennifer Lopez as an actress and a singer fond of sparkly outfits. It’s bright, shiny, and no more serious than its premise of a superstar… Read More »
HUSTLERS
HUSTLERS is about as subtle as a pole dance when it comes to making a case for the poetic justice of what a gang of strippers did to the very Wall Street bankers who plunged the country into financial chaos back in 2008. And that is how it should be. The script written by director… Read More »
ICE AGE: COLLISON COURSE
The Ice Age series has always gone more for the heart that the funny bone, though there is no denying that Scrat’s eternal and Sisyphean struggle both to acquire and to retain the acorn he’s been chasing through the four previous films has, in equal parts, both hilarity and a keen commentary on the noble struggle of humankind against a basically unfeeling universe.
LILA & EVE Rewrites Revenge
As a portrait of perfect grief, LILA & EVE is unmatched. Blessed with a performance by Viola Davis as Lila, this is one of the best ever filmed. She is fierce, edgy, and heartbreaking as a single mother in a harrowing study of the limits of sanity in the face of unutterable tragedy. Unlike the… Read More »
HOME is Where the Heart is
Based on the novel “The True Meaning of Smekday” by Adam Rex, HOME is a sweet animated film that is equal parts cheery and poignant. Aimed more at kids than at adults, it takes the time-honored themes of friendship, family, and keeping promises and wraps them in an imaginative new package as shiny and inviting… Read More »
THE BACK-UP PLAN
In a market with massive amounts of competition, say the film business, there are several strategies to assure box office success. There is the one about appealing to the lowest common denominator, also known as the male aged 13-25 or so bracket, which includes action films where things go boom loudly and with relentless regularity.… Read More »
MAID IN MANHATTAN
Shes the best-looking maid working at any posh New York hotel. Hes the best looking politician around and hes staying at her hotel. Naturally, romance will bloom because shes Jennifer Lopez, hes Ralph Fiennes, and the fairy tale that theyre starring in is MAID IN MANHATTAN. Leave reality at the concession stand along with your… Read More »
PARKER
Patton Oswalt once opined that Jason Statham can make any movie better. He is not wrong. For those who have succumbed to Mr. Stathams particular appeal as a cool and deadly action hero, his charisma is an umbrella over the rougher patches of all but the most cretinous scripts. In PARKER, he has found a… Read More »
GIGLI
If GIGLI were any worse than it is, it would require special HAZMET handling. It transcends merely bad, merely tedious, merely irksome and plummets into that very special category of film, the one that so tries and tortures its audience that, emerging again from the soul-sucking black hole of celluloid disaster, it no longer fears… Read More »
SHALL WE DANCE?
The word that most comes to mind when thinking about the Hollywood remake of the thoroughly delightful Japanese film, SHALL WE DANCE, is irksome, followed by tedious, pallid, and pointless. The cultural nuances of the original have been, of course, lost entirely, and in their stead is the sort of deep insight into the human… Read More »