Category: Movie Reviews
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Gulliver’s Travels aspires to appease the little people
Gulliver’s Travels – 2010 Directed by Robert Letterman Starring Jack Black, Amanda Peet, Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Billy Connolly, Catherine Tate, T.J. Miller, Chris O’Dowd Written by Joe Stillman, Nicolas Stoller based on the book by Jonathan Swift The first question one must ask when watching a movie such as Gulliver’s Travels, is who did…
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True Grit vs. New Grit
True Grit – 1969 Directed by Henry Hathaway Starring John Wayne, Glen Campbell, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Kim Darby, Jeff Corey, Strother Martin, John Fielder Written by Marguerite Roberts True Grit – 2010 Written and Directed by Joel and Ethan Cohen Starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Steinfeld, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper Both films based…
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The Rite is a decent passage from a stage actor to a screen presence
The Rite – 2011 Directed by Mikael Håfström Starring Colin O’Donoghue, Anthony Hopkins, Marta Gastini, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Toby Jones, Rutger Hauer, Alice Braga, Ciarán Hinds Written by Matt Baglio, Michael Petroni In the midst of an exorcism of a pregnant 16-year-old Italian girl, Father Lucas, plainly portrayed by Anthony Hopkins, receives a cell phone call. Quickly he asks his protegé,…
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Waiting for “Superman” shows teacher’s unions getting stronger as education fades into Hope
Waiting for “Superman” – 2010 Directed by Davis Guggenheim Starring The future of this country Written by Davis Guggenheim, Billy Kimball Money as the problem is dismissed early on in Waiting for “Superman.” Rather, Davis Guggenheim demonstrates that there is a legion of horrible teachers that, thanks to a strong union, have an immunity to…
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Conviction is average Oscar bait and switch
Conviction – 2010 Directed by Tony Goldwyn Starring Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Peter Gallagher, Minnie Driver, Juliette Lewis, Melissa Leo, Clea Duvall, Bailee Madison Written by Pamela Gray There is a scene early on in Conviction when Kenny Waters (Rockwell), who has brought his young child into a bar with loud, live music, along with…
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Drive Angry gives me a few good reasons I shouldn’t shoot it in the face
Drive Angry – 2011 Directed by Patrick Lussier Starring Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard, William Fichtner, Katy Mixon, David Morse, Billy Burke, Tom Atkins Written by Lussier and Todd Farmer This film is bad in the most glorious way possible. It is offensive, crude, dumb, overly violent and wholly unbelievable. What else can one expect, though,…
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Battle: Los Angeles fights a valiant war with the power of cliche
Battle: Los Angeles – 2011 Director Jonathan Liebsman Starring Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Ramón Rodríguez, Bridget Moynahan, Ne-Yo, Michael Peña Written by Chris Bertolini Rule#31 – Whenever a movie about an alien invasion starts mid-battle, and you know we have to go back to the beginning, the beginning needs to be exciting. Rule#548 – It’s never…
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Just Go With It: Many lies, many hugs, much learning = not much of a movie.
Just Go With It – 2011 Directed by Dennis Dugan Starring Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston, Brooklyn Decker, Nicole Kidman, Dave Matthews, Nick Swardson Written by Allen Loeb, Timothy Dowling When Jennifer Aniston looks back on her career and wonders why she never hit it big, I wonder if it will be her acting talent she…
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X-Men: First Class is the pinnacle of the series
X-Men: First Class – 2011 Directed by Matthew Vaughn Starring Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Oliver Platt, Kevin Bacon Written by Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stenz, Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn Somewhere along the way, they decided to step it up a notch. The last couple of X-Men films, while…
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Kung Fu Panda 2 joins the Mt. Rushmore of animated features
Kung Fu Panda 2 – 2011 Directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson Featuring the voices of Jack Black, Seth Rogen, Angelia Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Michelle Yeoh, Danny McBride, Dennis Haysbert, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Victor Garber, James Hong Written by Jonathan Aibel, Glen Berger The original Kung Fu Panda…
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