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Starring: Johnny Depp, Channing Tatum, Christian Bale, Billy Crudup, Marion… Review: Infamous bank robber John Dillinger was at the movies on the steamy July night in 1934 when FBI agents gunned him down outside Chicago’s Biograph Theatre. In Michael Mann’s jolting Public Enemies, sparked by a ball-of-fire Johnny Depp as Dillinger, America’s most wanted man sits in a crowded theater watching Manhattan Melodrama, starring Clark Gable as a racketeer facing the electric chair with attitude — “Die like you live: all of a sudden.” Hearing the line brings a smile to Dillinger’s lips. Depp cannily plays the moment as an acknowledgment of how Hollywood romanticizes gangster life in contrast to the bruising reality. The gulf between the two — violence giving way to existential angst — is what gives Public Enemies its explosive kick. Rating: 3 Stars |
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Posted by Admin in June 26th 2009
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Starring: Shia LeBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel Review: It’s tempting to dismiss Michael Bay’s long, loud and ludicrous sequel to 2007’s Transformers with one word — hunkajunk. On every level this movie is as bankrupt as GM. But there is more to be said about a movie this gargantuan ($200 million spent on robot hardbodies) and galactically stupid. Transformers: The Revenge of The Fallen is beyond bad, it carves out its own category of godawfulness. And, please, you don’t have to remind me that the original was a colossal hit ($700 million worldwide) and the sequel will probably do just as well. I know it’s popular. So is junk food, and they both poison your insides and rot your brain. But I do accept that Bay is unique. No one can top him for telling a story with such striking, shrieking incoherence. Rating: 0 Stars |
under: reviews
Tags: Brain, Gm, Hardbodies, Josh Duhamel, Junk Food, Megan Fox, Michael Bay, Poison, Revenge, Robot, Sequel, Stupid, Transformers
Tags: Brain, Gm, Hardbodies, Josh Duhamel, Junk Food, Megan Fox, Michael Bay, Poison, Revenge, Robot, Sequel, Stupid, Transformers
Cheri
Posted by Admin in June 26th 2009
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Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer Review: As a cougar chasing a teen twink: That’s a crass précis for the elegant, witty pleasures that Pfeiffer, director Stephen Frears and writer Christopher Hampton — who last collaborated on 1988’s Dangerous Liaisons — carve out of this tale by the French novelist Colette. Set in Paris in the early 1900s, the film begins as retired courtesan Léa (Pfeiffer) enters into a six-year affair with Cheri (the excellent Rupert Friend), 19, the son of her colleague Charlotte (a wickedly frisky Kathy Bates). Léa and Cheri will pretend there is no such thing as love, and ultimately be scarred by it. With Pfeiffer, 50, radiating uncommon beauty, grace and feeling, Frears uncovers a fragile story’s grieving heart. (Check out more news and reviews from Peter Travers on the… Rating: 3 Stars |
The Hurt Locker
Posted by Admin in June 26th 2009
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Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty Review: Here’s the Iraq War movie for those who don’t like Iraq War movies. The Hurt Locker doesn’t preach. Director Kathryn Bigelow, working from a strong script by embedded journalist Mark Boal, gets right down to business (watch Peter Travers’ video review of The Hurt Locker). She takes us deep into an elite U.S. bomb-disposal squad in Baghdad. The dazzling virtuosity of her ticking-bomb thriller includes staying alert to what’s ticking inside the men. At the start, soldiers J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) watch in horror as their sarge (Guy Pearce) suits up to defuse a bomb that goes off in his face. Enter Staff Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner) as the new head of the unit. Sanborn thinks James is all kinds of reckless, and Renner and Mackie are outstanding at… Rating: 3 Stars |
My Sister’s Keeper
Posted by Admin in June 26th 2009
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Starring: Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Alec Baldwin Review: Adapted from a bestseller by Jodi Picoult that I hope to never read, My Sister’s Keeper starts with an intriguing premise. Cameron Diaz and Jason Patric conceive a child to keep her leukemic older sister (Sofia Vassilieva) alive through transfusions and transplants. But when Anna (Abigail Breslin), 11, hires a lawyer (Alec Baldwin) to sue for the right to her own body, all hell breaks loose. So does the movie. Though the actors give it a go, notably Diaz, who plays the “crazy bitch” mom with no-bull restraint, director Nick Cassavetes shifts to Notebook mode and jerks tears at every turn. Almost everyone Anna encounters has his or her own tragedy (cancer, epilepsy, a dead child). And each story is set to treacly songs (cue “Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries”) that make the blood curdle. The… Rating: 1 Stars |
under: reviews
Tags: Abigail Breslin, Actors, Alec Baldwin, Bestseller, Bowl Of Cherries, Cameron Diaz, Crazy Bitch, Cue, Epilepsy, Intriguing Premise, Jason Patric, Jerks, Jodi Picoult, Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries, Nick Cassavetes, Notebook Mode, Older Sister, Sister Sofia, Tragedy, Transplants
Tags: Abigail Breslin, Actors, Alec Baldwin, Bestseller, Bowl Of Cherries, Cameron Diaz, Crazy Bitch, Cue, Epilepsy, Intriguing Premise, Jason Patric, Jerks, Jodi Picoult, Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries, Nick Cassavetes, Notebook Mode, Older Sister, Sister Sofia, Tragedy, Transplants
Whatever Works
Posted by Admin in June 19th 2009
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Starring: Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson Review: Not everything works in Woody Allen?s first New York–based movie in five years (he?s gone European). Whatever Works feels like something out of time and, worse, out of step. Hell, Allen wrote the script back in the 1970s for Zero Mostel. The grumpy old Jew at the center of this comedy of complaints — divorced physicist and two–time suicide attempter Boris Yellnikoff — is played not by Allen, 73, but by Larry David, 61. Allen wanted to go younger and angrier. Enter David, the fulminating joke engine of Curb Your Enthusiasm, whose Boris kvetches at the camera (meaning us) just like Allen?s Alvy Singer did in Annie Hall in 1977. ?The universe is expanding,? a worried young Alvy tells his mother. Her retort, ?What is that your business?? is… Rating: 2 Stars |
under: reviews
Tags: 1970s, Alvy Singer, Annie Hall, Boris, Comedy, Curb Your Enthusiasm, David Evan, Evan Rachel Wood, Hell, Joke Engine, Kvetches, Larry David, Mdash, Old Jew, Patricia Clarkson, Physicist, Retort, Suicide, Woody Allen, Zero Mostel
Tags: 1970s, Alvy Singer, Annie Hall, Boris, Comedy, Curb Your Enthusiasm, David Evan, Evan Rachel Wood, Hell, Joke Engine, Kvetches, Larry David, Mdash, Old Jew, Patricia Clarkson, Physicist, Retort, Suicide, Woody Allen, Zero Mostel
The Proposal
Posted by Admin in June 19th 2009
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Starring: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds Review: Fact: Critics don?t get beaten down by god–awful movies (they can be fun—hello, Showgirls!). The ones that kill are the bland ones, the by–the–numbers movies that studios grind out like toxic sausage. The latest cinematic definition of insipid is The Proposal, a romantic comedy so numbing it feels like Novocaine. (Watch Peter Travers’ video review of The Proposal.) Sandra Bullock is 44, but her high spirits and genuine comic skills appear to be ageless. So why cast her as a hardass Manhattan publishing diva, and then turn her to marshmallow at the earliest scent of man candy? That?s what happens when she bullies her assistant (Ryan Reynolds) into marriage so she won?t be deported back to Canada. If you can?t figure out the ice thaw that follows, welcome… Rating: 1 Stars |
under: reviews
Tags: Candy, Comic Skills, Diva, God, Hardass, Hello, High Spirits, Manhattan, Marriage, Marshmallow, Movies, Peter Travers, Proposal, Romantic Comedy, Ryan Reynolds, Sandra Bullock, Sausage, Showgirls, Thaw, Video Review
Tags: Candy, Comic Skills, Diva, God, Hardass, Hello, High Spirits, Manhattan, Marriage, Marshmallow, Movies, Peter Travers, Proposal, Romantic Comedy, Ryan Reynolds, Sandra Bullock, Sausage, Showgirls, Thaw, Video Review
Dead Snow
Posted by Admin in June 19th 2009
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Starring: Jeppe Beck Laursen Review: Nazis zombies? Who doesn?t want to sign up for that, especially as they feed on oversexed medical students Easter vacationing in the Norwegian Alps? If you tamp down your expectations — those gaping plot holes are dangerous! — there is a storm of scary fun to be had in this Scandinavian splatterfest. Conveniently, the vacationers include a movie junkie (Jeppe Beck Laursen) who points out the flaws in other horror flicks. I suspect director Tommy Wirkola has been feeding on Sam Raimi?s The Evil Dead for years now. You won?t mind much. The blood looks crazy creepy in the snow. (Get more news and reviews from Peter Travers on the Travers Take) Rating: 2 Stars |
under: reviews
Tags: Alps, Beck, Evil Dead, Horror Flicks, Jeppe, Laursen, Medical Students, Nazis, Norwegian, Peter Travers, Plot Holes, Sam Raimi, Vacationers, Zombies
Tags: Alps, Beck, Evil Dead, Horror Flicks, Jeppe, Laursen, Medical Students, Nazis, Norwegian, Peter Travers, Plot Holes, Sam Raimi, Vacationers, Zombies
Taking of Pelham 123
Posted by Admin in June 12th 2009
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Starring: Denzel Washinton, John Travolta, John Turturro, Luis Guzman, Mich… Review: Internet buzz pre-slimed this New York subway-hijack thriller as a douched-up reboot of the 1974 original. Since I revere the first movie, especially the hangdog genius of Walter Matthau as transit cop Zachary Garber, I sympathized. Then I saw The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, and the sucker grabbed me from the minute Denzel Washington, basically in the Matthau role, came on as train dispatcher Walter Garber. That’s right: Walter! One hell of a classy name-check, if you ask me. (Watch Peter Travers’ video review of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3) And that’s it for comparisons. The new, post-9/11 Pelham packs its own heat. This movie hits you like 600 volts from a sparking third rail. Damn straight it’s electrifying. Director Tony Scott (bravo True Romance and Crimson Tide,… Rating: 3 Stars |
Food, Inc.
Posted by Admin in June 12th 2009
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Starring: Eric Schlosser, Michael Pollan Review: Eating can be one dangerous business. Don’t take another bite till you see Robert Kenner’s Food, Inc., an essential, indelible documentary that is scarier than anything in the last five Saw horror shows. Decepticons have nothing on ears of corn when it comes to transforming into mutant killers. Kenner keeps his film bouncing with humor, music and graphics. Just like the ads that shove junk food down our faces. The message he’s delivering with the help of nutrition activists, including Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma), is an eye-opener. High-fructose corn syrup and its friend the E.coli virus are declaring war on national health, and federal agencies, lobbied by Big Agriculture, ain’t doing a thing to stop it. Reason? Profits. The movie offers… Rating: 3 Stars |
under: reviews
Tags: Activists, Dangerous Business, Declaring War, Dilemma, E Coli, Ears, Eric Schlosser, Eric Schlosser Fast Food Nation, Eye Opener, Fast Food, Food Inc, Fructose Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Junk Food, Kenner, Killers, Michael Pollan, National Health, Omnivore
Tags: Activists, Dangerous Business, Declaring War, Dilemma, E Coli, Ears, Eric Schlosser, Eric Schlosser Fast Food Nation, Eye Opener, Fast Food, Food Inc, Fructose Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Junk Food, Kenner, Killers, Michael Pollan, National Health, Omnivore
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