Monthly Archives: December 2012

In magic acts, and in movie thrillers, it’s called “the reveal,” that “wow” moment when some secret that’s key to understanding what happened before is unmasked. In the movies, big “reveals” are usually in the third act. But in “The … Continue reading →

Three films into a critically dismissed, audience ignoring movie making career, it is becoming clearer why top drawer actors, from Robert Downey Jr. to Al Pacino, Diane Wiest to Chaz Palminteri flock to Dito Montiel’s movies. And no, it doesn’t … Continue reading →

Jennifer Westfeldt calls it her “accidental trilogy.” The actress, writer and now director has made three relationship comedies — “Kissing Jessica Stein”, “Ira & Abby” and now “Friends With Kids” — films which “embrace: the romantic comedy format and “subvert” … Continue reading →

Madonna, of all people, should know you can’t manage to be daring and demure in the same movie. Daring and often dull, yes. The Queen of Self Reinvention, an exhibitionist seemingly since birth, she seems to have lost her nerve … Continue reading →

It’s good to see Vince Vaughn back riding that Red Bull. He’s lost the “fat and happy” look. The caffeine is back, and so is the breathless manic patter. In “The Watch,” the neighborhood-watch-discovers-an-alien-invasion comedy, he’s second banana to Ben … Continue reading →

  Paul Rudd stands in front of a bathroom vanity and riffs a string of vulgar, not-very-funny euphemisms for the intercourse he plans to have with Malin Akerman in an outtake in the closing credits of “Wanderlust.” It’s a part … Continue reading →

A few years ago, that national treasure known as Christopher Walken saw something happening. To himself. And he was not pleased. Every standup comic, from Jay Mohr to Kevin Pollack, had a killer Christopher Walken impression. His “Saturday Night Live” … Continue reading →

“Where do We Go Now?” is a fitfully amusing, sometimes moving Franco-Lebanese riff on “Lysistrata,” the Greek play in which Greek women conspire to stop a war by withholding sex from the Greek men. Only in this musical version, sex … Continue reading →

  “The Words” is, as its name suggests, a wordy melodrama about a young writer, Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper), who finishes his first novel, three years in the making — which is promptly rejected. Maybe, he wonders, he’s not who … Continue reading →

  Disney Animation takes a page out of Pixar’s well-worn playbook for “Wreck-It Ralph,” a screwball farce with a novel setting and more edge than your average Disney ‘toon. Where “Toy Story” showed us the off-duty shenanigans of a kids’ … Continue reading →