It’s easy to get upset with the writer and director of “Lottery Ticket” for not trying hard enough to deliver a better movie, but the simple fact of the matter is: why should they? “Lottery Ticket” is exactly what its target audience wants from a ‘hood comedy; it’s mouthy, it’s sexy (Teairra Mari, wow), and it even has a surprisingly effective moment of dramatic release. Yes, the ending has all kinds of cheap resolutions, and the characters doth protest too much rather than speaking their minds…and the cranky movie critics in the audience were the only ones who cared. High…
Author: David Medsker
The girls all want to be with him, and the guys all want to have a beer with him. For a generation, D.B. Sweeney was George Clooney before there was George Clooney, and while it may have been 18 years since his big close-up in the ice skating rom-com “The Cutting Edge,” the mere mention of his name still makes the hearts of our female friends go a-flutter. Bullz-Eye caught up with Sweeney as he was promoting the darkly comical road movie “Two Tickets to Paradise,” his directorial debut – which he made four years ago, but is getting re-released…
It takes a special kind of baseball fan to write about the minor leagues. In “Bull Durham,” writer/director Ron Shelton, who spent five years in the Baltimore Orioles farm system, has put together the snappiest, funniest and most poignant love letter to baseball ever written, though its ultimate moral deals with matters of the heart. Based in the Carolina leagues, veteran catcher Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) is signed by the Durham Bulls to act as mentor for pitching prospect Calvin “Nuke” LaLoosh (Tim Robbins), who has “a million dollar arm and a five cent head.” Crash has his work cut…
Thank goodness that “Dinner for Schmucks” is not the soulless, mean-spirited movie that its ads make it out to be. If anything, it’s like “The Cable Guy” crossed with “Dennis the Menace,” if Dennis grew up to be geeky and completely lacking in self-awareness and common sense. Unfortunately, heart or no heart, it’s still not very funny. Outrageous, perhaps, but it’s too full of itself to get emotionally invested in. Financial analyst Tim (Paul Rudd) wants a promotion, and when he makes an impressive pitch to company head Lance (Bruce Greenwood), he receives an opportunity to make the jump to…
The snarky thing to say about a movie like “Salt” is “why?,” and in defense of the people who resort to such unimaginative commentary, we can’t say we blame them. The movie is clearly a Bourne wannabe, with a dash of “The Fugitive” for flavor. But Hollywood is a business, just like any other business, and when the Jason Bourne franchise went on hiatus, it made sense that a rival studio would fill the gap with a Bourne-ish thriller because there is always a thirst for high-octane political intrigue, even if there is almost nothing new that can be brought…
It is officially time to stop the conversation about Christopher Nolan, one of the greatest filmmakers of the last ten years, and begin discussing Christopher Nolan, one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. The weakest film he’s made since his backwards-spooling 2000 breakthrough “Memento” is his 2002 remake of the Norwegian thriller “Insomnia,” and that movie is still very good. His latest movie, “Inception,” is a veritable embarrassment of riches. The visuals are stunning, the performances are refreshingly low-key, and the story is one of the most enjoyable mind trips you’ll ever take. You have to love a movie…
Universal has balls of steel for naming their first foray into the world of computer animation “Despicable Me.” In truth, it’s not the best title from a marketing perspective, since it doesn’t tell you anything about the movie, certainly not in comparison to, say, “Toy Story,” “The Princess and the Frog” or “Finding Nemo.” Yet “Despicable Me” is the perfect title for this delightfully silly movie, because it sends a clear message up front that this is not your typical animated adventure. Sure, it has the traditional, sweet moral (being there for your kids is more important than anything you’ll…
Imagine the wrap party for the 20th season of “Saturday Night Live.” Adam Sandler and Chris Farley are leaving the show, so the drinks are a-flowin’. David Spade calls up former “SNL” cast mates Chris Rock and Rob Schneider, and the five of them play an epic game of “Yo Mama,” where each tries to come up with the best putdown on a given subject (age, weight, looks, your biggest weakness, etc.) The sun is about to rise, and the guys know that they will never have this moment together as long as they live, so they make a deal:…
“Eclipse” is easily the most action-packed of the “Twilight” movies to date, but as the series goes on, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to care one way or the other what happens to any of these people. The actual amount of story contained within each movie is shockingly small – seriously, how are these movies all two hours long? – and each story requires a group of smart people to all act pretty dumb in order to work. They are, as Roger Ebert so eloquently described them, Idiot Plots. That doesn’t change here. Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is about to graduate…
Imagine that you’ve finally gotten your chance to direct a movie, after years of working various jobs on the moviemaking food chain. Now imagine that the first movie you get a chance to direct is the third installment of one of the most beloved film series of all time for a studio that has never had a flop. Welcome to the world of Lee Unkrich, who becomes only the fifth person to direct a Pixar movie and makes his debut with “Toy Story 3.” Bullz-Eye chatted with Unkrich about the pressures of not just making an animated feature but a…