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.
JUST WRIGHT
Here is a definition of star power. An actor who can take a script that is completely predictable and make it seem if not exactly fresh, still somehow charming. So it is with Queen Latifah in JUST WRIGHT, a by-the-numbers romance that pits an everywoman with a heart of gold against a diva who is… Read More »
JOYFUL NOISE
JOYFUL NOISE has its heart in the right place. Unfortunately its like a neighbor with his or her heart in the right place, the one who responds to news of your car breaking down by volunteering to drive you somewhere and accidentally runs over your cat while backing out of the driveway. Not even Queen Latifah and… Read More »
ICE AGE — CONTINENTAL DRIFT
ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT is a sweet film that, like its predecessors in the franchise, delivers the same earnest message about friendship and family. Exactly the same message. If the lessons to be learned by the characters old and new, though, have a too familiar feel, and if some of the tropes are barely a… Read More »
CHICAGO
Just when you thought we’d lost the knack for producing a live-action musical film here in the States, along comes CHICAGO. Set in 1920s in that toddling town, this hard-as-nails tale of sex, politics, fame, and most of all jazz, is a big, splashy, brassy confection wrapped up in a bow with enough bugle beads… Read More »
LAST HOLIDAY
THE LAST HOLIDAY is an updated remake of the 1950 film of the same name that boasted a screenplay by J.B. Priestly and Alec Guiness in the starring role. Naturally, one approaches the remake with trepidation. And yet, in a move as cleverly rendered as the original film, the filmmakers have made a few changes,… Read More »