On this week’s episode of the Critic Speak Podcast, we discuss “The Big Wedding” and what’s happened to Robert De Niro in recent years, the new Michael Bay flick “Pain & Gain,” and Zach Braff’s recent Kickstarter campaign. Then, we interview my buddy and fellow movie lover Oscar Velasquez about his Letterboxd challenge “Great Movies […]
Critic Speak Podcast: Episode 3 Read More »
Hello from Hollywood. We’re a day and a half into this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival and I’ve been able to catch three movies so far — perhaps not as many as I would have liked, but still a decent amount given the hustle and bustle of taking the train up from San Diego, sprinting
2013 TCM Classic Film Festival: Dispatch #1 Read More »
Not two minutes into “The Big Wedding,” we know what its primary purpose is: to allow Robert De Niro to earn a paycheck for minimal work. The film begins with lackadaisical voiceover from the legend-turned-professional-phoner-iner that’s reminiscent of most of the other roles he’s collected on lately, in “New Year’s Eve” and “Little Fockers” and
Review: “The Big Wedding” Read More »
“Oblivion” is a movie certain to give you déjà vu, and not because that peculiar sensation is a plot point. This Tom Cruise vehicle sports a narrative that’s a blatant composite of countless other films, including but not limited to “WALL-E,” “The Matrix,” “Independence Day,” “Total Recall,” “Planet of the Apes,” and even director Joseph
Review: “Oblivion” Read More »
The fourth annual TCM Classic Film Festival kicks off tonight in Hollywood and, despite a stellar lineup of old films on brand-new DCP restorations and glistening 35mm archival prints, plus famous guests aplenty, all I can think about is the festival’s main venue: Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Or, if we must honor the recent naming rights
2013 TCM Classic Film Festival: Preview Read More »
Hello and welcome back to Box Office Beat, the column in which I predict the upcoming weekend’s box office results. I’m in Hollywood covering the TCM Classic Film Festival, so I’m short on number-crunching time, but I figure I’ll quickly throw together some analysis and figures in hope of sustaining my accuracy from last week
Box Office Beat: Weekend of April 26 Read More »
This week on the Critic Speak Podcast, we review “Oblivion” with Tom Cruise, talk about various news stories from CinemaCon 2013, and cover the new Blu-Ray releases “Gangster Squad” and “The Impossible.” Be sure to show your support for the show by subscribing and rating on iTunes, where new episodes go up the day after
Critic Speak Podcast: Episode 2 Read More »
Critics and casual moviegoers alike frequently complain of a lack of originality in the output of Hollywood and the broader film industry, the implication being that we see the same half-dozen stories rehashed over and over again. But what if the gratingly familiar nature of most new releases has less to do with story itself
Review: “To the Wonder” Read More »
Hello and welcome back to Box Office Beat, the column in which I predict the upcoming weekend’s box office results. Even though there’s a $120 million-budgeted science-fiction blockbuster starring Tom Cruise, who either used to be or still is one of the world’s biggest movie stars (depending on who you talk to), being released, this
Box Office Beat: Weekend of April 19 Read More »
If we are to accept that “42,” a Hollywood-financed Jackie Robinson biopic, was going to be manipulative no matter the talent involved—which is to say, dramatized to the hilt, with constant reminders (swooning musical score, over-the-top dialogue) that the sociopolitical stakes of each scene are higher than Cheech and Chong—then this Brian Helgeland-directed film is
