ICE AGE: CONTINENTAL DRIFT is a sweet film that, like its predecessors in the franchise, delivers the same earnest message about friendship and family. Exactly the same message. If the lessons to be learned by the characters old and new, though, have a too familiar feel, and if some of the tropes are barely a… Read More »
TED
From the fertile and unconventional mind of Seth MacFarlane (FAMILY GUY, AMERICAN DAD!) comes TED, the rude yet surprisingly sentimental tale of male bonding as played out by a boy, his magical teddy bear, and what happens when adulthood is thrust upon them. The biting wit and sophomoric sensibility of the writing is not a… Read More »
CAMPAIGN, THE
This being an election year, its natural for Hollywood to capitalize on it. Hence, THE CAMPAIGN, an ultimately disappointing melange of wit and silliness. There is much about which to make sport in the American democratic process, and much of it is covered here, but not consistently well, and with little originality. The eponymous electoral… Read More »
MAID IN MANHATTAN
Shes the best-looking maid working at any posh New York hotel. Hes the best looking politician around and hes staying at her hotel. Naturally, romance will bloom because shes Jennifer Lopez, hes Ralph Fiennes, and the fairy tale that theyre starring in is MAID IN MANHATTAN. Leave reality at the concession stand along with your… Read More »
MOONRISE KINGDOM
MOONRISE KINGDOM is a piquant masterpiece that will be as fresh and as relevant 50 years from now as it is today. The ironic tone and the artificial conceit form a wry tension with the genuine sentiment at work here, forming a quintessence that parses the mystery and absurdity of the human condition with a… Read More »
GUILT TRIP, THE
THE GUILT TRIP could have gone many ways, most of them unfortunate. Yet, in the able hands of Barbra Steisand and Seth Rogan, what could have been a painful excursion into the murky depths of schmaltz is, instead, a sharp and funny look at mother love and filial duty and what happens when the two… Read More »
PARENTAL GUIDANCE
PARENTAL GUIDANCE is a sloppy concretion inadvertently showcasing pretty much everything that can be done wrong in filmmaking short of forgetting to remove the lens cap. Though in this case, that last might actually have been an improvement. The story is incoherent, the characters are as thin as the wispiest of vapors, and the jokes,… Read More »
IDENTITY THIEF
Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman are two of the funniest people on the planet. Theirs is the comedic version of perfect pitch, be it broad slapstick, or subtle irony, they take a line or a situation and wring from it every possibility for guffaws, chuckles, and even chortles. So why, when you have these two… Read More »
INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE, THE
THE INCREDIBLE BURT WONDERSTONE is a sweet little film about finding, losing, and then rediscovering a sense of wonder. Any sense of the ponderous, however, in telling this tale with a definite moral is more than offset by the gentle silliness with which the story is told. Its a deft bit of sleight-of-hand as befits… Read More »
ADMISSION
ADMISSION is a thoughtful comedy being tragically hyped as a comedy of the screwball variety. Its a disservice to a story that is both funny and intelligent, as well as to a ticket-buyer led to believe that he or she will be enjoying something mindless and fluffy. This is anything but. The theme is passion,… Read More »
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- …
- 43
- Next Page »