What if the new next-door neighbors made your life a living Hell? That’s the better-than-average premise behind Seth Rogen’s latest comedy “Neighbors”. Unfortunately, even with a decent concept and cast, there aren’t nearly enough laughs to qualify this as a neighborhood must-watch. Rogen and Rose Byrne play Mac and Kelly, a young married couple with […]
“Rio 2” is the sequel to 2011’s animated musical hit from Blue Sky Studios, the makers of the “Ice Age” series. “Rio” had a very average story, eye-popping, candy-colored characters and over-the-top musical numbers. The same can be said for this sequel, which is unfortunately unlikable. Blu and Jewel (again voiced by Jesse Eisenberg and […]
Father-son relationship issues, bullying at school, parent/principal/social worker meetings, loads of anger, frustration, serious tones and no laughs. All the ingredients of a bad, live-action family comedy. But, amazingly, these are only some of the unnecessary plot elements in DreamWorks’ latest animated feature, “Mr. Peabody & Sherman”, which lacks all the fun and wonder of […]
1987’s “RoboCop” re-defined the sci-fi/action genre, with Peter Weller starring as the Detroit detective who became a half man/half machine anti-crime hero. Two sequels followed in the 90s, and now director Jose Padilha (“Elite Squad”) brings this story back to life with a slightly updated remake. The problem is, since practically every man-machine concept movie […]
I imagined Ben Stiller’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” to be a much stronger film than it turned out to be. This is a very loose adaptation of the 1947 original and the acclaimed James Thurber short story. The beauty of the written work was figuring out, through the words, which situations were real […]
Peter Jackson directed the epic, Oscar winning “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. But his resume took a bit of a hit last year thanks to Part 1 of his new 3-Parter, the prequel to “LOTR” – “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”. It was long, dull, and shot using the previously unseen HFR (high frame rate) technology, which sped-up the […]
“Black Nativity” is based on the popular, 50-year-old off-Broadway play written by Langston Hughes. The screen version has been modernized and energized with the help of spiritual songs by some of the music world’s brightest stars. Troubled teenager Langston (played by Jacob Latimore) lives with his mother Naima (Grammy and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson) in […]
“Thor: The Dark World” is the latest Marvel superhero blockbuster. However, while our main character wears a cape and fights evil-doers, and the word ‘Dark’ is in the title, this is essentially a romantic comedy. Let me re-phrase that: a BAD romantic comedy. After Anthony Hopkins’ long, unnecessary intro about the evil Dark Elves, his […]
Believe it or not, the Hanna-Barbera animated series, “Top Cat”, ran for only one season on ABC, from 1962-63. But fifty years later, the classic cartoon returns with the release of “Top Cat: The Movie”, which is finally available on DVD. However, this big screen version, which was first released in Mexico in 2011, then […]
First there was Hannah Montana. Next came The Jonas Brothers, followed by the late Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry. All of these artists have been the subjects of recent concert documentaries (or “con/docs” as I like to call them). The latest on this evergrowing list is the British boyband One Direction. When I […]