Posts Tagged ‘Articles’
 

 

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES” – Take the Train

> Watch It At Home; Dreary Franchise Moviemaking. In the 137 minutes of Pirates of the Caribbean:  On Stranger Tides, the 4th installment in Disney’s hugely successful franchise (and yes, you have to sit through all ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

ARTHUR: 12-Step Programmer

> Watch It At Home. Were the executives at Warner Bros so desperate to be in business with Russell Brand that they huddled together in a conference room one day, frantically going through their library titles in search of alcoh...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ SUNDANCE REVIEW: “Wish You Were Here”

>Two Australian couples vacation together on the beaches of Cambodia, but only 3 people return. That’s the set-up for Kieran Darcy-Smith’s skilled debut WISH YOU WERE HERE, which premiered as part of Sundance’...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ SUNDANCE REVIEW: “Celeste & Jesse Forever”

> The festival has its first crowd-pleaser in CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER, a light but heartfelt romantic comedy-drama in the Woody Allen vein. Written by Rashida Jones (who also stars as Celeste) and Will Mc McCormack (on hand a...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

LIMITED RELEASE: “POM Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold”

> Watch It At Home:  Morgan Spurlock’s latest doc is more stunt than revelation. If Michael Moore were a movie franchise, Morgan Spurlock would be the direct-to-video entry in the series.  Or maybe the one that ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

“THE HANGOVER PART II” – Hair Of the Dog

> Worth a Ticket; It Wasn’t Broke, They Didn’t Fix It In Hollywood, the word “sequel” is often code for “remake.”  This isn’t news:  the James Bond series has been going on fo...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

YOUR HIGHNESS: Ye Olde Disaster

> Not Even For Free Let’s give a little love to the devious people at Universal who cut the trailers.  The masterminds behind the red-band for YOUR HIGHNESS managed to find, in its 102 dull minutes, roughly 3 and a h...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ SUNDANCE REVIEW: “Lay the Favorite”

> The fundamental problem with LAY THE FAVORITE, Stephen Frears’ new film that premiered last night at Sundance, is that it’s made by people who seem to have little if any interest in gambling. And since this is a m...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

FAST FIVE: Boxoffice Express

> Worth a Ticket:  Diesel and The Rock keep their pedals to the metal. If you want to feel truly American, try reflecting on the new FAST FIVE while wall-to-wall coverage of the British royal wedding is airing on the telev...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

ARCHIVE REVIEWS: “Prince of Persia” and “Moon”

> SOURCE CODE is this weekend’s major live-action opening, so here’s a look at some recent work by its star Jake Gyllenhaal and its director Duncan Jones. Gyllenhaal has had a curious Hollywood career thus far, and ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

“KUNG FU PANDA 2” – Black Belt

> Worth A Ticket; This franchise has been working out. Over the past few years, DreamWorks Animation has been emerging a bit from its place as the jokey, insubstantial sidekick to Pixar’s superhero studio.  How To Tr...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

LIMITED RELEASE: “The Double Hour,” “Incendies” & “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”

> Plot spoilers are even more problematic when it comes to limited releases, because by definition they’re only being seen by a few people in certain selected locations, and–if they’re good–will ideally ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID–RODRICK RULES: Shortbus

> Not Even For Free It was a feel-good story last weekend when the expensive shambles called Sucker Punch went down, defeated by the relatively low-budget family comedy DIARY OF A WIMPY KID:  RODRICK RULES.  (Mitch Me...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

“THE TREE OF LIFE” – God, Man & Terrence Malick

> Worth A Ticket; An often stupendous achievement that courts ridicule–and sometimes earns it. Terrence Malick’s THE TREE OF LIFE is at once the filmmaker’s most emotionally grounded and dizzyingly ambitious f...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ SUNDANCE REVIEW: “For a Good Time, Call…”

> There’s a principled discussion to be had about whether the Sundance Film Festival should be featuring movies that are essentially low-budget Hollywood entertainments made outside the studio system. But that discussion ...
by Mitch Salem