Disney apparently wanted to go back to its roots with its 50th animated feature, and so, a la Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, took yet another dark children’s story about a girl in trouble and turned it into Tangled, a sprightly and thoroughly entertaining family flick full of beautiful animation and bouncy musical numbers.
Read More animation, blu-ray, comedy, David, Disney, DVD, family, Mandy Moore, PG-, Rapunzel, Tangled, Zachary LeviIn 1968 at the Ford Motor Company’s factory in Dagenham, England, the roof leaks and it’s sweltering in the section that turns out seat covers for the Ford Escort. Women “man” the sewing machines and blouses are doffed to make the workday bearable. The girls are working class and full of “can-do“ spunk but as [...]
Read More blu-ray, Bob Hoskins, comedy, drama, DVD, History, Made In Dagenham, Nigel Cole, R, Sally HawkinsHow Do You Know was a real disappointment. You’d think that a cast that included Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, and Jack Nicholson, could pull off a decent Rom Com, but alas, this was a poorly scripted effort, the plotline was not well-developed, and the only actor who even began to inhabit his role [...]
Read More blu-ray, comedy, drama, DVD, How Do You Know, Jack Nicholson, James L. Brooks, Janusz Kaminski, joyce, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd, PG-13, Reese Witherspoon, romance“I love indie rock, 50 Cent… Madonna…” “Where is the list of banned female singers?” In America you could overhear the first snippet of conversation, but never the second.
Read More Bahman Ghobadi, comedy, drama, DVD, No One Knows About Persian Cats, REvery Day is a gentle dramedy about a couple who are in the early, unsettling stages of middle-age, and their family (and its problems). The couple are played by the very fine Liev Schreiber and Helen Hunt, both of whom excel in projects like this, where they can both have room to settle into their [...]
Read More blu-ray, Brian Dennehy, Carla Gugino, comedy, drama, DVD, Eddie Izzard, Every Day, Helen Hunt, Liev Schreiber, R, Richard LevineThe high-concept Due Date definitely delivers some laughs thanks to the odd-couple casting of Robert Downey, Jr. and Zach Galifianakis, but not quite as many as one would expect to find in a comedy featuring such highly regarded comic personas.
Read More comedy, Danny McBride, David, Due Date, R, Robert Downey Jr., Todd Phillips, Zach GalifianakisI really did enjoy spending 98 minutes watching You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger. We see Woody Allen here doing what he does best: using his satiric lens to depict the most human emotions and experiences. His humor is unmistakable, and if you’re a fan, you’ll probably like the film enough to appreciate a [...]
Read More Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas, comedy, Freida Pinto, Gemma Jones, Josh Brolin, joyce, Naomi Watts, R, romance, Woody Allen, You Will Meet a Tall Dark StrangerIt takes a while for RED get around to explaining its title, but it won’t spoil anything if I tell you it’s an acronym: “Retired, Extremely Dangerous.” This tag is specifically applied to Bruce Willis, who plays former CIA operative Frank Moses, and more generally to the motley (and all-star) assortment of his former cohorts [...]
Read More action, blu-ray, Brian Cox, Bruce Willis, comedy, crime, DVD, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Karl Urban, Mary-Louise Parker, Morgan Freeman, PG-13, Red, Richard Dreyfuss, Warren Ellis, willFilm maudit. “Cursed film.” A film whose subject matter pushes it to the fringes of culture and nowhere near the marketplace. Provocative and nuanced at best, slyboots childish attention getter at worst. Visceral beauty and intensity underscoring–to the point of being unwatchable–the physical or emotional carnage visited upon the characters portrayed. So why watch them?
Read More comedy, Cyril Roy, Dogtooth, drama, DVD, Enter the Void, Gaspar Noe, Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta, thriller, Yorgos LanthimosBoobs and blood go hand-in-hand in Piranha 3D, director Alexandre Aja’s perfectly stupid but surprisingly fun rehash of the 1978 Joe Dante classic about those nasty little man-eating fish that, while hardly the scariest of horror flicks, may make you think twice about going skinny dipping.
Read More Adam Scott, Alexandre Aja, comedy, David, DVD, Elisabeth Shue, horror, Jerry O'Connell, Piranha 3D, R, Richard Dreyfuss, thriller, Ving Rhames