Disneynature’s OCEANS, the follow-up to its earlier EARTH, does a very clever thing by way of getting across its environmentalist message. Instead of hitting the audience over the head with disturbing, heartbreaking images of animals being exterminated in all manner of unpleasant ways by actions of an indifferent humankind, it presents all the equally emotional… 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 »
THE LOSERS
THE LOSERS, based on the DC Vertigo Comic, is not great cinema, it is merely a great time at the movies, and there is no shame in that. Granted, its working with a run-of-the-mill plot involving a group of idealistic but profane misfits out to save the world from a an evil genius with no credit… Read More »
IRON MAN 2
In IRON MAN, there was the inestimable delight in discovering the giddy elan and surprising depth that Robert Downy, Jr. brought to the titular role and his alter ego, Tony Stark. In IRON MAN 2, there is an equal delight in discovering that far from a retread, Downey has discovered even more subtle nuances to… Read More »
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 »
SHREK FOREVER AFTER
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 »
MACGRUBER
MACGRUBER takes the Saturday Night Live sketch played to perfection by Will Forte and brings it to the big screen with the sense of the ridiculous intact. No high-end effects, no upscale sets, its a paean to the 80s action hero genre, sub-genre television. Forte, all mullet and ego, plays it with a straight face,… Read More »
PRINCE OF PERSIA — THE SANDS OF TIME
PRINCE OF PERSIA — THE SANDS OF TIME avoids the usual mistakes associated with a video game making the leap to the big screen. Instead of cluttering the running time with one feckless action sequence after another that could, for all practical purposes, run in any random order without significantly affecting the through story, PRINCE… Read More »
SEX AND THE CITY 2
The only thing really worth pondering in all of SEX AND THE CITY 2s running time, all 2 hours and almost 30 minutes of it, is how something that is so overwrought can also be so very underwritten. Granted, the entire point of the exercise is to allow its four lady leads to go through… Read More »
MARMADUKE
MARMADUKE is the completely uncalled for screen adaptation of the durable syndicated comic by Brad Anderson and Phil Leeming. The comic is a daily one-panel deal that shows the difficulties of large dog ownership encountered by a family with a Great Dane, the eponymous Marmaduke. Screenwriters Tim Rasmussen and Vincent Di Meglio sought to expand… Read More »
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