With a skeletal narrative and more tepid one-off gags than you can count, “Despicable Me 2” would be indistinguishable from your average Nickelodeon cartoon episode if not for its $76 million budget, A-list voice cast, and hour-and-a-half running time. The first two components of that list are saving graces—at least the images are top-of-the-line and […]
Review: “Despicable Me 2” Read More »
This week on the Critic Speak Podcast, James and I split on “Star Trek Into Darkness” (what else is new?), take a break from movies to talk TV including “The Office” finale and the return of “24,” and revisit “The Last Stand” with Arnold Schwarzenegger in conjunction with its Blu-Ray release. Be sure to show
Critic Speak Podcast: Episode 6 Read More »
The world of egomaniacal, spray-tanned Las Vegas magicians in which “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” takes place is perfect fodder for a comedy, and I have no doubt that Christopher Guest would have gotten a lot of milage out of this premise. But director Don Scardino and writers Jonathan Goldenstein, John Francis Daley, Chad Kultgen, and
Review: “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” Read More »
Hello and welcome back to Box Office Beat, the column in which I predict the upcoming weekend’s box office results. My accuracy doesn’t get much better than it was last weekend: I nailed “Oz the Great and Powerful” down to the decimal and I came within $400,000 of “Dead Man Down.” I’d quit the predictions
Box Office Beat: Weekend of March 15 Read More »
Even the most vocal detractors of David Frankel’s “Hope Springs” must recognize the miracle of the film’s existence. This is a studio-funded production about the sex lives of old people that is neither an Oscar-hungry downer nor an outrageous farce. It approaches an issue that affects married couples over 40–hardly Hollywood’s target demographic–honestly and empathetically.
Review: “Hope Springs” Read More »
