Having seemingly fallen off the Hollywood map after their 2007 remake of The Heartbreak Kid, the Farrelly Brothers return in a big way with Hall Pass, a raunchy and very funny comedy starring Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis in which the filmmakers once again mix over-the-top toilet humor with lots of heart.
Read More blu-ray, comedy, David, DVD, Farrelly Brothers, Hall Pass, Jason Sudeikis, Owen Wilson, R, romanceThe Concert, at least initially, is a goofy farce with a moderately ridiculous premise. A janitor working at the Bolshoi in Moscow, who himself was once its celebrated–and politically discredited–conductor (Alexeï Guskov), intercepts a fax from Paris inviting the orchestra to fill in for the L.A. Philharmonic, which has canceled. He decides to get the [...]
Read More Alexei Guskov, Dmitri Nazarov, drama, DVD, Melanie Laurent, R, The Concert, willThis isn’t a real review–I’m just writing to bring a movie to your attention: Burning Palms. I previewed this movie–a collection of five stories–over the weekend, and it was good. Really good. Here’s my caveat, though: It is dark. Very black humor. The themes may be disturbing to some, including rape and incest, but the [...]
Read More Burning Palms, Christopher Landon, comedy, drama, DVD, joyce, Lake Bell, R, Zoe SaldanaThe characters in Vanishing On 7th Street spend most of the time running away from shadows, a notion that initially may sound as silly as seeing people flee from the wind in The Happening, but one that, in the capable hands of director Brad Anderson, gets turned into a nicely low-key hair-raiser of a horror [...]
Read More Brad Anderson, David, DVD, Hayden Christensen, horror, Jacob Latimore, John Leguizamo, Mystery, R, Thandie Newton, thriller, Vanishing on 7th StreetBlue Valentine is now out on DVD. I worked with the writer-director, Derek Cianfrance, and one of its editors, Jimmy Helton, here at the Video Station circa 1997. It was great to work alongside of them, and in those days, Derek was a young guy working on his first big project, Brother Tied. Brother Tied [...]
Read More blu-ray, Blue Valentine, Derek Cianfrance, drama, DVD, Jimmy Helton, Michelle Williams, R, romance, Ron Patane, Ryan GoslingThis started out as a smarmy review of No Strings Attached. I’m not proud, I pre-judged the movie based purely on Ashton Kutcher. I don’t like him. Can you really blame me?
Read More Ashton Kutcher, blu-ray, comedy, DVD, Greta Gerwig, Kevin Kline, Mindy Kaling, Natalie Portman, No Strings Attached, Noah, R, romanceJolene is one of those little independent movies that introduces us to a new star without really being a great film itself. It’s certainly not unwatchable–it’s shot fairly well and it has an engaging enough cast–but it kind of drifts from scene to scene without any strong momentum. The title character is played by Jessica [...]
Read More blu-ray, Chazz Palminteri, drama, DVD, Jessica Chastain, Jolene, Michael Vartan, R, willWith few exceptions, the films that tackle historical periods and their figures best are those that attack their subjects a bit obliquely. When asked to summon a cinematic image of D-Day, for instance, most might think first of Saving Private Ryan, which merely uses Omaha Beach as the visceral prologue to a relatively small-scale (and [...]
Read More Alexandre Desplat, biography, blu-ray, Colin Firth, Danny Cohen, David Seidler, Derek Jacobi, drama, DVD, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, History, King George VI, Lionel Logue, R, The King's Speech, Timothy Spall, Tom HooperA woman dies in a car crash and her husband and their two daughters try to get on with their lives. The younger daughter, Mary, has nightmares about her mother’s death, screaming out for her. The father, a professor, accepts a position teaching for a year in Genoa, hoping the change will help them all [...]
Read More A Summer in Genoa, Catherine Keener, Colin Firth, drama, DVD, Michael Winterbottom, Perla Haney-Jardine, R, romance, Willa HollandMinutes ago, a small child did the conga all the way down the stairs to bring me a DVD box. He was no slouch, there was some passion there. He kept doing the conga as his mother paid for his movie. I mention this so my next line makes a little more sense. I Love [...]
Read More blu-ray, comedy, drama, DVD, Ewan McGregor, I Love You Phillip Morris, Jim Carrey, R, romance