Cowboys and aliens in the same movie should create some together-at-last levels of euphoria, and yet “Cowboys & Aliens” is shockingly dull, lacking in tension (though there were several story arcs teeming with the stuff), and crippled by the Slowly Revealing Repressed Memory story device. The subject matter had the potential to be the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of movies, but instead turned out to be Nuts & Gum. Set sometime during the gold rush, a man (Daniel Craig) wakes up in the desert with no memory, a strange metal bracelet attached to his wrist, and surprisingly good fighting skills.…
Author: David Medsker
One could make a very convincing argument that “Friends with Benefits” is this generation’s “When Harry Met Sally.” Both movies feature candid discussions about the pitfalls of sex and how it can destroy a friendship, both feature amusing rapid-fire dialogue, and both feature fantastical closing scenes. (“Benefits” even name-checks Nora Ephron for good luck.) Let’s make one thing clear, though: “Friends with Benefits,” while funny, is no “When Harry Met Sally.” Hell, it’s not even the first fuck buddy rom-com to come out this year (ahem, “No Strings Attached”). It’s the far better of the two 2011 fuck buddy rom-coms,…
In retrospect, if directing “Four Christmases” is what director Seth Gordon had to do in order to get his hands on “Horrible Bosses,” it seems like a small price to pay. Unlike many recent ‘hard R’ comedies, which tend to operate at one speed (zany), “Bosses” is careful to balance the outrageous with a healthy dose of subtlety. Most importantly, the movie’s plot, while unlikely, is within the realm of plausibility for someone desperate enough. Unlike “The Hangover,” this movie could actually happen, and that shred of believability is huge. Nick (Jason Bateman), Dale (Charlie Day), and Kurt (Jason Sudeikis)…
There is a saying that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. This expression is clearly lost on Michael Bay, because he has managed to make an even worse “Transformers” movie than he did the last time. If “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” could be politely described as ridiculous, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” is flat-out ugly. The characters, both human and alien, are nasty little buggers, but that’s not the worst part: the worst part is that the movie is boring. All this carnage takes place – the city of Chicago, reduced to rubble –…
“Cars 2” is more entertaining than the 2006 original, but it damn well better be. “Cars” is the weakest movie in Pixar history, and this movie, when compared to the rest of Pixar’s titles, still ranks no higher than the second-weakest or third-weakest movie in Pixar history. It looks fantastic, and contains some nifty action sequences, but the story, quite frankly, is beneath them. Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is looking forward to taking some time away from the racing circuit to hang out with his friends in Radiator Springs, but he is goaded into joining a three-stage, bi-continental race by…
“The Art of Getting By” is the kind of movie that only exists in the magical world of indie make-believe, where high school kids have little to no adult supervision and order drinks in bars without getting carded. It’s also a movie slightly out of time, the quirky love story complete with a hipster folk-riddled soundtrack that was in vogue three or four years ago. It has its good points, namely a unique protagonist and two likable actors at its core, but the story takes the easy way out far too often for the sake of striking a cool pose.…
J.J. Abrams is fond of teasing the audience, offering them tiny glimpses of his latest project without providing enough context for anyone to get a jump on the plot. In the case of his latest film, “Super 8,” he may have been skimpy with the details on the story, but ultimately he was hiding something far bigger: the fact that he just made a better Spielberg summer blockbuster than Spielberg himself has made in almost 20 years. In 1979, in the small town of Lillian, OH, Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) and his friends spend their summer days helping their friend…
Everybody loves “Grease.” Kids, adults, grandparents, stoners, Goth kids, neo maxi zoom dweebies, wasteoids, everybody loves “Grease.” And here’s the funny part: it’s a naughty, naughty movie. “Greased Lightning” has two bits that would be censored on pop radio today – let’s see Kanye West get away with calling his car a “pussy wagon” – while “Hand Jive” was slang for a certain kind of happy ending. It has promiscuous women, guys using plastic wrap as a condom, and a girl who learns that the best way to get the man is to dress like a whore (more on that…
“Kung Fu Panda 2” is far and away the best film DreamWorks Animation has released to date. Upping the first installment’s dizzying action sequences while expanding on its lead character’s back story and creating a memorable villain, “Panda 2” is a sequel in the best sense. It’s not just bigger, but better as well. Think of it as a version of “The Matrix” that you can show your kids: it has gravity-defying fights and a pinch of Eastern philosophy, with none of that Merovingian nonsense. Picking up where the first film left off, the newly-anointed Dragon Warrior Po (Jack Black)…
Join us for a trip back in time to the early 2000s, when superhero movies boiled down to a battle between the “X-Men” and “Spider-Man” franchises. (There were others, of course, but the less talk about “Daredevil” and “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen,” the better.) Both started off with flawed but entertaining debuts, followed by an exceptional sequel, and a third installment that could kindly be described as less than satisfying. Curiously, both franchises are receiving a reboot and, true to the original release dates, Fox is hitting the theaters first. “X-Men: First Class” is a ‘60s-era origin story of…