Even the most vocal detractors of David Frankel’s “Hope Springs” must recognize the miracle of the film’s existence. This is a studio-funded production about the sex lives of old people that is neither an Oscar-hungry downer nor an outrageous farce. It approaches an issue that affects married couples over 40–hardly Hollywood’s target demographic–honestly and empathetically. […]
Review: “Hope Springs” Read More »
“Two and a Half Men” gets a bad rap for being a misogynistic, uninventive CBS sitcom, but for those of us who prefer our “so bad it’s good”-style comfort food relegated to the boob-tube rather than the silver-screen, the show hits the spot rather well. Now comes news from The Hollywood Reporter that “singer-actress” Miley Cyrus,
Miley Cyrus to play Jake’s love interest on “Two and a Half Men” Read More »
Ever since “The Dark Knight Rises” took the megaplexes by storm, the box office has been in a relative slump, what with “The Watch” and “Step Up Revolution” bombing two weeks ago and “Total Recall” and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days” underperforming last weekend. Well, that slump just ended, because “The Bourne Legacy”
Weekend Box Office: “Bourne,” “Campaign” end Hollywood’s two-week slump Read More »
Hello and welcome back to Box Office Beat, the column in which I predict the upcoming weekend’s box office grosses. It must be August, because we finally have a weekend with a healthy four new releases after many consecutive weekends of just one or two, which is the standard schedule for summer tent-pole season. That
Box Office Beat: Weekend of August 10 Read More »
Director Jay Roach’s “Game Change,” which aired on HBO earlier this year, ranks among the most blockheaded political movies ever made. Without so much as smirking, Roach and writer Danny Strong ask the viewer to accept the impossible proposition that Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin was so ill-informed when she joined the McCain campaign that
Review: “The Campaign” Read More »
Rashida Jones’ Celeste, the protagonist of “Celeste and Jesse Forever,” publishes a non-fiction book called Shitegeist, which, as you may have inferred, is about how the zeitgeist has been turned to ‘shite’ by entitled rich kids and talentless pop-stars. This could have been the basis for a sharp, funny observation of the fact that the
Review: “Celeste and Jesse Forever” Read More »
With 2009’s “Coraline” and now “ParaNorman,” the artists at LAIKA, Inc. have asserted themselves as some of the best minds in contemporary animation. While not as cerebral as Pixar’s best works, LAIKA’s two features achieve the same great feat that the productions of that preeminent studio are known for: transcending the “family film” mold by
Review: “ParaNorman” Read More »
Martin McDonagh’s “In Bruges” is two movies in one — the first two acts a mournful, blackly funny, Catholicism-influenced mediation on guilt; the last a balls-to-the-walls, screwball action farce. If the film were a man walking down the street, he’d be dressed in a crisp dress shirt and a finely tailored sport-jacket on top and
Reviews by Request: “In Bruges” (2008) Read More »
Famed British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen isn’t letting the fact that his “The Dictator” (due out on Blu-Ray August 21) didn’t turn as much of a profit as prior efforts “Borat” and “Brüno” did. He is moving forward on a James Bond spoof that he will write with Phil Johnston (“Cedar Rapids”) for Paramount Pictures.
Sacha Baron Cohen to write James Bond spoof Read More »
It was another mostly uneventful weekend at the box office, with both of the new openers, “Total Recall” and “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days,” failing to conjure up much excitement from the moviegoing masses. Neither came close to beating “The Dark Knight Rises” for the top spot. That said, both did markedly better
Weekend Box Office: “Total Recall” opens OK, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3” lowest in series Read More »
