This movie feels more like a video game. All the characters are caricatures, the action defies all laws of gravity and physics. We’re striving toward an end result that leaves the battlefield littered with bloodless bodies, but the heroine is saved. The big difference is that she has to save herself. And we’re not even sure, until the end, which one she is.
Ever wonder how the Lincoln assassination really happened? “The Conspirator” won’t answer all your questions. But you’ll feel like you know as much as anyone else involved, and even better, you’ll feel like you were there. Robert Redford’s direction is that good.
When “127 Hours” came out, people immediately said, “Oh, that’s the one about the hiker guy who had to saw off his hand.” And despite all that the producers and directors tried to say about how it was much more than that…..the same is true here. People hear about “Soul Surfer” and say, “Oh, that’s the one about the surfer girl who lost her arm in the shark attack and survived.” And that’s exactly right, that’s the one-sentence synopsis. Now the challenge will be to convince people that “Soul Surfer” is more than that…
Have you ever wondered whatever happened to those old-style Hollywood films? You know, the ones where everybody remains clothed, everyone routinely smokes, and maintaining viewer interest depends on dialogue and plot twist and character development, and it all feels a little like the filming of a stage play? Well, they’re still making them like that in France. As an American, you’ll just have to put up with the subtitles…
There have been a lot of movies lately about teenagers with extraordinary powers, most of them imaginary, legendary, magical or extraterrestrial. Here’s a different twist: an adolescent girl who’s especially strong and smart because her genetics were altered at conception. But the problem with test-tube genetic manipulation is that the poor kid doesn’t grow up with anything resembling a normal family environment, which makes her not only a biological mutant, but an undersocialized freak. You can’t raise a human in social isolation and then expect her to be normal…
You don’t expect “Arthur” to work very well, because it’s a remake, and the original won two Oscars (very rare for a comedy), and who can replace Dudley Moore’s lovable insouciance or Liza Minnelli’s electric vivacity?
“Bridesmaids” is a genre so rare it is practically in a category by itself: female buddy-movie raunch comedy. Those who are aficionados of television’s “Saturday Night Live” will recognize veteran comediennes Kristin Wiig and Maya Rudolph. They play best friends, Annie and Lillian, who can tell each other anything, including the messy details of their love lives. The men may come and go, but their friendship endures, and has since childhood…
