Posts Tagged ‘Articles’
 

 

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
 

 
 

PRIEST: Pray For Us

> Not Even For Free; The 3D Must Stand For “Dull Deadly Dud” If you squint at the post-apocalyptic desert wasteland settings of PRIEST, I swear you can see the camera crews from The Book of Eli, Jonah Hex, Resident ...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

LIMITED RELEASES: “Queen to Play,” “Ceremony” and “Meet Monica Velour”

> Today, 3 films from first-time directors: Caroline Bottaro’s marvelous QUEEN TO PLAY is, in a sense, a sports movie.  We have the out-of-nowhere player whose newly-discovered talent shakes up her whole life, the wi...
by Mitch Salem
 

 
 

INSIDIOUS: What’s That Noise?

> Worth a ticket. The director and writer of Saw, James Wan and Leigh Whannell, combine again to bring us–hey, where are you going?  No, seriously:  don’t run away.  Leaving aside that Saw is rather u...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

THE SKED: A Word About Busted Pilots

> “Busted” pilots, for those who don’t know, are simply the ones not ordered by their commissioning networks to series.  We’re going to start taking a look at some of last year’s busted pilots...
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
 

 

 

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
 

 
 

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
 

 

 

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 SKED PILOT REPORT: PREMIERING TONIGHT – FOX’s “New Girl”

> Disclaimer:  Network pilots now in circulation are not necessarily in the form that will air in the Fall.  Pilots are often reedited and rescored, and in some cases even recast or reshot.  So these critiques sh...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ SUNDANCE REVIEW: “Compliance”

> Sundance has a thriving Park City At Midnight program that features plenty of high-octane horror movies, but the most unnerving and disturbing film of this year’s festival may have been Craig Zobel’s COMPLIANCE, a...
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: “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
 

 
 

SHOWBUZZDAILY @ SUNDANCE REVIEW: “Save the Date”

> Michael Mohan’s SAVE THE DATE, which premiered this afternoon at Sundance, doesn’t earn its points from an original premise. It concerns 2 divergent sisters, Sarah (Lizzy Caplan) and Beth (Alison Brie), but mostly...
by Mitch Salem
 

 

 

SCRE4M: Meta Boo!

> Watch It At Home;  The thrills are so postmodern, they don’t seem to be happening in the theater. When the original Scream arrived in 1996, the slaughtering-the-teenagers genre was already old enough to drive; the ...
by Mitch Salem