It was, perhaps, inevitable that there would one day be a big-screen adaptation of the wildly popular computer game, Minecraft. That being the case, we could have done far worse than A MINECRAFT MOVIE, a live-action extravaganza that will thrill the fans (and the kiddies) but leave the rest of us longing for more Jennifer… Read More »
BORDERLANDS
There are some sins that are simply unforgivable, and wasting Cate Blanchett is one of them. Yet, that is precisely what BORDERLANDS, based on the video game, has done. This sub-par fantasy/sci-fi adventure features lackluster effects, static action sequences, and a rambling plot that manages to be both moribund and irksome at the same time. … Read More »
KUNG FU PANDA 3
One of the things that makes Po, the eponymous hero of the animated Kung Fu Panda franchise, so endearing is that he doesn’t take his skills in stride. As voiced once again by the excitable gravel that is Jack Black’s speaking instrument, Po takes a childlike delight in being able to defy gravity and dispatch… Read More »
KUNG FU PANDA
In the grand tradition of the DRUNKEN MASTER series, the one in which the hero could only wage righteous martial arts warfare when in an advanced state of inebriation, comes KUNG FU PANDA, about a bear that can only wage righteous martial arts warfare when, well, that’s the problem. Po is the unlikely eponymous panda… Read More »
TROPIC THUNDER
The problem with making a satire about Hollywood is that the real thing, ego-and money-driven to the point of madness, is so much more absurd than anything writers can come up with. TROPIC THUNDER succeeds as a brilliant piece of inspired lunacy because it doesn’t try to top reality, instead it reflects it with just… Read More »
YEAR ONE
YEAR ONE is a lazy excrescence of a film. Crude, sloppy, flat, and singularly uninspired, its only redeeming virtue is proving that Michael Cera is capable of rising above even this abominable material. He does this by being in a film that is entirely separate from the one taking place around him, a smart move.… Read More »
GULLIVER’S TRAVELS
GULLIVERS TRAVELS is a distressingly wretched updating of Jonathan Swifts classic tale. Denuded of Swifts deadly satire, it has become a dull vehicle for Jack Black to mug and frolic and generally find a million ways to not be entertaining. He plays the eponymous Gulliver, first name Lemuel, in a world where Swift never wrote… Read More »
GULLIVER’S TRAVELS
GULLIVERS TRAVELS is a distressingly wretched updating of Jonathan Swifts classic tale. Denuded of Swifts deadly satire, it has become a dull vehicle for Jack Black to mug and frolic and generally find a million ways to not be entertaining. He plays the eponymous Gulliver, first name Lemuel, in a world where Swift never wrote… Read More »
THE BIG YEAR
Birds are sublime creatures. THE BIG YEAR, a film about the birders who rabidly pursue a sight or sound of them, is not. Based on the book of the same name by Mark Obmascik, it is a flat pastiche of painfully clichéd moments strung together around the theme of three guys competing for the honor… Read More »
SCHOOL OF ROCK
It’s not that THE SCHOOL OF ROCK blazes any new trails cinematically. It’s a strictly by the numbers story, but with Jack Black as its hyperkinetic star, it’s a joy to watch. He’s Dewey Finn, a rock musician recently tossed from his band and about to be tossed from the apartment he shares with old… Read More »