Believe it or not, “Grown Ups 2” is writer, producer and star Adam Sandler’s first sequel. For more than a decade Sandler’s made bomb after bomb (with the exception of “Jack and Jill”, though most don’t consider that an exception). His films consistently get hammered by critics while still making enough money to keep his […]
“The Way, Way Back” marks the directorial debut of the Oscar-winning writing team of “The Descendants” – Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. The two also co-wrote this screenplay and have small roles in the film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. While it’s not nearly as compelling as the 2011 George […]
Ten years ago, Johnny Depp introduced us to one of his most iconic characters – Captain Jack Sparrow – in “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl”. Over the next decade, Depp played a wide variety of wacky and weird characters, always adding his own quirky brand of humor to the role. […]
No recent film can better be defined as “short, sweet, and to the point” than the animated sequel “Despicable Me 2”. The 2010 original was a pleasant surprise, as we were introduced to supervillain Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) whose evil ways were changed forever by three orphan girls, Margo, Edith and Agnes. And the […]
2013 has been the year of the “President in Danger” storyline: from “Olympus Has Fallen” to “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” to “Iron Man 3”. You have to feel bad for the real President, who can’t enjoy having the Commander in Chief being such a target, even if it is in the movies. Well, you can add […]
Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock and Academy Award nominee Melissa McCarthy team-up for the female buddy-cop comedy “The Heat”. This movie was originally scheduled to open on April 5th, but Fox decided to push the film’s release to the summertime hoping for bigger box office. Unfortunately they didn’t put-out a new trailer, so we’ve been […]
“World War Z” has been called “the most expensive zombie movie ever made”. With a reported budget of $190 million I think that’s a safe bet. Director Marc Forster (“Quantum of Solace”, “Stranger Than Fiction”) was likely faced with his toughest challenge yet: turning this best-selling novel into a equally-popular and effective action film. The […]
“Monsters University” is Pixar’s 14th animated feature. It’s also their first prequel, to a film that many have near the bottom of their list of all-time favorite Pixar films. 2001’s “Monsters, Inc.” grossed $255 million but lost the first-ever Academy Award for Best Animated Feature to DreamWorks’ “Shrek”. Recently I watched “Monsters Inc.” again, and […]
“Man of Steel” is “300” and “Watchmen” director Zack Snyder’s Superman origin story. Let me rephrase that: it’s Zack Snyder’s LONG, overly action-packed, Superman origin story. We begin, where else but on the planet Krypton. Russell Crowe’s Jor-El and his wife send away their new, naturally-born son Kal-El off to Earth because their planet is […]
“This Is The End” marks the directorial debut of comedian/actor Seth Rogen and longtime writing partner Evan Goldberg. The two also co-wrote this screenplay. They decided to go all-out and make a raunchy, creative, offensive and at times quite funny adult comedy about a subject that isn’t so funny: The End of the World. The […]