Pitch Perfect moves the kind of kids we see on Glee into college and focuses them on competitive cappella singing. Then it kicks up the humor and drama by adding sufficient crudity-with-a-heart to just barely avoid an R-rating and combining that with inventive arrangements of contemporary (and not so contemporary) hits.
Category: Movie Reviews
Hotel Transylvania: Familiar Elements; Fun Twists!
Genndy Tartakovsky – who’s given us such delights as Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack and Star Wars: The Clone Wars – has taken a time-worn plot about an overly protective father and romance between a young couple who (really) come from different worlds and given it a lunatic freshness in Hotel Transylvania.
Dredd Is The Law!
The rebooted Judge Dredd movie, Dredd, is an action-packed ride that combines elements of the classic British series from the 2000AD magazine with the kind of triphammer percussiveness of Pantera. It doesn’t lay its Margaret Thatcher/Ronald Reagan government on steroids backdrop with a trowel, but the attitude of the comic is definitely the foundation […]
Trouble With The Curve Is an RBI Single Into The Gap!
Trouble With The Curve contains a lot of elements we’ve seen before: parent/child estrangement; a quirky romance; an older employee who is made to look over-the-hill; time honored methods vs. new technological advances – in short, there’s nothing much about the movie we haven’t seen in one form or another, many, many times. But sometimes, […]
Finding Nemo 3D: Classic Movie Really Doesn’t Need Partially Effective 3D To Be Great!
Finding Nemo is on the top five Pixar movies, which means it is already a bona fide classic in 2D. With this weekend’s re-release in 3D, it doesn’t really get all that much better because the 3D is only intermittently effective – though when it is, it’s really, really effective.
Toronto International Film Festival: Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story – A Review
‘Once you have fear, you need to find courage to survive.’ – Tomi Ungerer, legendary children’s author (among other things) and the subject of the documentary, Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story. Director/writer/producer Brad Bernstein does something fun with his subject – he gets him to tell his own story and then […]
The Words: Intriguing Technically But Annoyingly Predictable!
This is what I know from personal experience: a great, or even good movie can transcend pain; a mediocre one will have no effect, and a bad one will just make things worse. I went into The Words hoping for a distraction from a sore back; it just made things worse.
Robot & Frank Delights and Touches!
In Robot & Frank, a worried son presents his father with a robot designed to help him deal with the vicissitudes of life – from housekeeping to fighting Alzheimer’s. It’s a thoughtful, engaging and uniquely delightful film.
Lawless: Not Quite The Film It Wants To Be But Still Very Good!
Lawless – John Hillcoat’s latest collaboration with Nick Cave – wants desperately to achieve a Bonnie and Clyde vibe but lacks the panache. Instead, we get a kind of ‘30s Drive with stretches of character punctuated with sudden, explosive violence.
Premium Rush: Premium = Adrenaline!
If you’re looking for a breezy, relatively smart action flick to alleviate the late summer doldrums, then you want to see Premium Rush.
Sparkle: Great Performances, So-So Script!
Technically a remake of a 1976 movie starring Philip Michael Thomas (Miami Vice) and Irene Cara (Fame), Sparkle is a rehash of tropes we’ve seen before. Unlike the original version and other films that have told the same story (think Dreamgirls as an example), this one manages a few new wrinkles and is lifted by […]