Monthly Archives: January 2013

You’ve never seen Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones quite like this. As old marrieds facing “intensive” couples counseling over their comatose sexual relationship, two of America’s finest screen actors are by turns silly, befuddled, awkward and confused. And “Hope … Continue reading →

We haven’t seen Tom Hanks or Julia Roberts in a movie like “Larry Crowne” in decades.When you’ve got “Oscar winner” and “blockbuster hits” on your resume, feather-light character comedies fall off your radar.

Stupid freaking Judd Apatow, with his stupid freaking foul-mouthed and sentimental “Hobbit” length comedies, his stupid freaking insistence on not only peopling them with his old comic cronies, but his wife and cursing kids. Happy freaking R-rated holidays, America. Here’s … Continue reading →

  Boy, it sure looks like Dax Shepard is doing all his own crazy, gonzo stunt-driving in “Hit and Run,” the car-chase comedy he wrote and co-directed. “All me, 100%,” he says. You know how you can tell? Look in … Continue reading →

In ancient times, before the phrases “Global Warming” and “Peak Oil” ruined our fun, Hollywood used to make car chase comedies, automotive epics that were more about burnt rubber than good acting. An aspiring director like Ron Howard could launch … Continue reading →

For their latest comic trick, Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen go for something that neither has been known for over the course of their respective careers – cute. With “Guilt Trip,” they’ve made a holiday comedy safer for Streisand’s audience … Continue reading →

Here’s something they don’t teach you in acting school. When you’re making a movie and running for your life, you need to look like it. You need to go all out, eyes wild with fear, arms flailing. Look like Pierce … Continue reading →

With rudeness, cruelty and self-absorption now universally heralded American attributes, with cynical political opportunists, unworthy “talents” and lowlifes dominating reality TV, the time is certainly right for a “Falling Down” remake. Which is the jumping off point for “God Bless … Continue reading →

There are always pearls of wisdom in the cinematic sermonettes of Tyler Perry. And even if they’re a tad too obvious, it’s plain that his connection to Oprah has paid off when he has characters in his films talk about … Continue reading →

“The Grey” is an old fashioned survival tale harboring pretensions that it is something more. Not a lot more, just a hint of the  psycho-cerebral, here, a smidge of the primal and primitive there.