Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart in a buddy comedy should equal gold. But with “Get Hard” the result is the exact opposite. In fact, even though it attempts to play it tough with a Hard-R tone, it’s actually quite light and wimpy – often not even trying to make us laugh. The premise itself is […]
“Divergent”, released exactly a year ago, was based on the first installment of a popular tween/teen book series about a female heroine in a post-apocalyptic world. Similarities were immediately made to “The Hunger Games”, with “Divergent” having copycat concepts and lackluster big screen results in comparison. Interestingly, Lionsgate, which recently bought Summit Entertainment, is now […]
“Run All Night” is the fourth action/thriller starring Liam Neeson to be released in the last 13 months. Jaume-Collet Serra directed Neeson 2011’s underrated gem “Unknown” and last year’s “Non-Stop”. Both of those films provided intrigue, suspense and engaging storylines worthy of your full attention from the first frame to the last. “Run All Night” […]
Disney’s animated “Cinderella” was released in 1950. Now, 65 years later, as part of The Mouse House’s current trend of remaking/reimagining classics from the vault (which will continue over the next few years with new versions of “The Jungle Book”, “Pete’s Dragon” and “Beauty and the Beast”), veteran director Kenneth Branagh brings to life the […]
“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” is a 2012, Golden Globe-nominated dramedy with an all-star cast of veteran actors playing seniors looking to re-live their youth and re-charge their lives by traveling to India and staying at a newly built, but poorly constructed hotel. It was solidly entertaining, but a little overrated and rather depressing, all […]
“Chappie” is the latest sci-fi effort from “District 9” and “Elysium” director Neill Blomkamp. Is it sappy? Yes. Will seeing it make you happy? No. Is it, overall, crappy? Unfortunately, yes. But “Chappie” goes way beyond these slightly above-average, yet obvious puns. In an attempt to sum-up what I watched for two hours, I quote […]
Will Smith hasn’t starred in a movie since 2013’s sci-fi disaster “After Earth”, a Smith family affair that also involved son Jaden as co-star and wife Jada as co-producer. Oh, and M. Night Shyamalan was the director. And…it laid an egg. If Smith believed, after reading the script for “Focus”, that this could be his […]
“McFarland, USA” is the latest “Based on a True Story” sports drama from the studio king of the genre, Disney. This time, the Mouse House employees had to go all the way back to 1987 to find their latest inspirational, underdog story. And, after using baseball, football, basketball, hockey, horse racing, golf, bobsledding, and even […]
I did not see the original “Hot Tub Time Machine”, which was released in 2010, but a lot people did and many consider it a modern cult classic comedy. Now, a whopping five years later, we get the just plainly ridiculous “Hot Tub Time Machine 2”, which joins the list of “Taken 3” and (while […]
In 2011 Colin Firth won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in “The King’s Speech”, which included many memorable scenes. Now, four years later, Firth stars in “Kingsman: The Secret Service”, director Matthew Vaughn’s follow-up to “X-Men: First Class”. “Kingsman” does provide Firth with the opportunity to appear in, quite possibly, the most memorable […]