LARRY CROWNE:  Watch It At Home – Giant Stars/Tiny Ambitions   Allow me to play Nostradamus for a moment.  the day will come–and it’s not far off–when you’ll be sitting in front of your TV set, remote in hand (or maybe you’ll be looking at your online streaming site, the vision is a little […]

    THE THING:  Watch It At Home – Not Interesting Enough To Be Scary   The third movie iteration of THE THING is as impersonal as the creature it’s about.  This version, the first feature directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr and with a script credited to Eric Heisserer (he wrote the remake of […]

    ONE FOR THE MONEY:  Not Even For Free – Another Heigl Misfire   Movie stars are, make no mistake, trademarks.  Consumers who invest in 2 hours of George Clooney or Will Smith expect the same kind of reliable enjoyment that they get from a can of Coke or a pair of Nikes.  And […]

  THE FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT:  Watch It At Home – If Only The Engagement Were A Little Shorter…   Judd Apatow, as both director (The 40=Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up) and producer (Bridesmaids, Superbad, Pineapple Express, TV’s new Girls) has brought a tremendous amount of first-class comedy to large and small screens in recent years.  But […]

  THE EXPENDABLES 2:  Watch It At Home – Grumpy Old Mercenaries The first reel of THE EXPENDABLES 2 is just about all the numbskull fun you could ever wish for.  Our intrepid team of Barney (Sylvester Stallone), Christmas (Jason Statham), Yang (Jet Li), Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), and Toll Road (Randy […]

  TAKEN 2:  Watch It At Home – “Particular Set of Skills” Indeed   As silly sequels to mindless hits go, TAKEN 2 is fairly entertaining, at least for a while.  The first movie, of course, was a surprise smash in 2009, at $145M (in the US alone) Liam Neeson’s biggest success as a solo […]

  A couple of Sundances ago, the actress/writer/producer Brit Marling was a festival darling, with two acclaimed pictures unveiled the same week.  In the end, while both Another Earth and Sound of My Voice received distribution, neither found much of a mainstream audience.  (Marling’s also established an acting career that included a very good turn in last year’s Arbitrage.) […]

  THE CROODS:  Watch It At Home – Prehistoric Sitcom’s Bland Storyline Doesn’t Evolve Hollywood already has a thriving CG-animated prehistoric franchise in the Ice Age series, but DreamWorks Animation is in serious need of a hit, so now there’s the new THE CROODS.  It’s far too familiar, not just in the setting and plot territory it explores […]