Melissa McCarthy received a surprise Oscar nomination for her over-the-top comedic performance in 2011’s “Bridesmaids”. Since then, her status as one of Hollywood’s top funny ladies has been taken quite seriously, with roles in hits such as “Identity Thief” and “The Heat”, as well as her starring role on the CBS sitcom “Mike & Molly”. […]
“Obvious Child” is an indie romantic comedy first showcased at this year’s South by Southwest and Sundance Film Festivals. Jenny Slate, who spent a season (’09-’10) on “Saturday Night Live”, stars in this adaptation of a short film she and director Gillian Robespierre made back in 2009. The plot of “Obvious Child” is very straightforward. […]
Clint Eastwood, one of the most-respected actors and directors of his generation, has been in front of and behind the camera for some of the most influential movies of the last half-century. Now he takes centerstage by adding a Broadway musical adaptation to his incredible resume. While not as sensational as the Great White Way […]
“The Rover” is director David Michod’s follow-up to 2010’s “Animal Kingdom”, for which Jacki Weaver (“Silver Linings Playbook”) received an Oscar nomination. This grizzly crime drama debuted last month at the Cannes Film Festival, with praise galore for actors Guy Pearce and “Twilight”‘s Robert Pattinson. Their performances are the best thing about “The Rover”, which […]
Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill teamed-up two years ago for the big screen revival of the 80s TV series “21 Jump Street”, which featured loads of action, laughs, and even a Johnny Depp cameo. That film was so successful that directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (who began 2014 with “The LEGO Movie”) decided to […]
The premise of “Locke” is simple, intriguing, and very anti-Hollywood: Tom Hardy (best known as Bane in “The Dark Knight Rises”) stars as Ivan Locke, a construction supervisor who decides to leave town and drive to London the night before the most important day of his career: a concrete pour for what will become England’s […]
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 […]
I instantly became a fan of off-beat and quirky director Wes Anderson after seeing his 2009 animated masterpiece “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, based on the book by Roald Dahl, and starring the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, and Bill Murray. “Mr. Fox” actually topped my list of the Best Films of ’09. However I was […]
There have been many “secret relationship” movies involving famous people brought to the big and small screen over the years. “The Invisible Woman”, directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes as legendary author Charles Dickens, is most recent and one of the best in the genre. Fiennes skillfully draws us into this story, making time and […]
“Lone Survivor” is based on the true story, chronicled in a 2007 book, of the Navy SEALS “Operation Red Wings” mission in Afghanistan in 2005. Director Peter Berg (“Friday Night Lights”) begins the film by showing us who the “Lone Survivor” is going to be. For those who don’t know any details of this story going in, this decision […]