Whatever happened to the youth movement at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences? Younger hosts, hipper movies and A-list stars were supposed to be the recipe for alleviating anemic ratings for the annual Oscar telecast. But you’d never know it judging by this year’s crop of nominees, two of which are in their 80s, or the show’s host, 63-year-old Billy Crystal. Even the nominees for Best Picture are set in days of old.
Oscar prognosticators should feel about as comfortable this year as a bleeding-heart liberal at a tea party rally. Unlike last year, sure bets are rare with many of the races coming down between two nominees, turning predictions into coin tosses.
Just in time for Black History Month, HBO is re-releasing some of its original productions on DVD and Blu-ray. Normally, “made-for-TV movie” implies a cheap, half-hearted effort aimed at filling a few off hours in some undesirable programming slot. But HBO has always tried a little harder.
Prepare to be charmed by “The Secret World of Arrietty,” a lushly animated take on Mary Norton’s beloved children’s tale, “The Borrowers.” Born in the confines of Studio Ghibli, Pixar’s sister company in Japan, and meticulously refitted for American audiences, the film is a wonder for the eyes and ears, as it recounts a universal story of big ideas played out in miniature.
Ralph Fiennes has fashioned an easily accessible take on the play (yes, it’s in Shakespearian, but don’t worry about it) that, with just a slight squint of the eyes and mind, fits perfectly into today’s world.
Woody Harrelson gives a performance so searing you swear you’d be burned if you dared touch the screen.
In "The Secret World of Arietty," real-life married couple Will Arnett and Amy Poehler lend their voices to this Japanese-made version of Mary Norton’s classic children’s book, “The Borrowers.”
America’s sweetheart, Reese Witherspoon, dutifully serves as the unsuspecting grand prize in a contest between a pair of lame brain CIA agents out to capture her heart with the sort of chicanery normally reserved for the likes of Osama bin Laden.
William Shakespeare’s seldom-produced play “Coriolanus” fits right in with the climate of uncertainty in today’s world. Perhaps that’s why British actor Ralph Fiennes chose the story of the lust for power as his first film directing project.
No matter what Punxsutawney Phil saw when he was removed from his climate-controlled burrow to venture forth in search of his shadow, February is still the dead of winter. It can slam us to the mat with blowing snow and subzero temperatures. When you’re tired of fishing show reruns or watching your favorite celebrity hunter pull down yet another monster buck, there are some “outdoor” feature films that can take the sting out of a chilly, football-less winter afternoon.
Madonna has always struck me as a person who wants most what she can’t have –– namely, a movie career. For her latest movie misadventure, the dippy diptych “W.E.,” she moves behind the camera to co-write and direct a stupefying tale that borrows the “Julie & Julia” formula.
Just in time for Valentine’s Day comes the “The Vow,” a Nicholas Sparks-style romantic drama about getting a second shot at love. It’s by-the-numbers Sparks all the way, with clunker lines like, “I vow to live within your heart and to always call it home.”
There’s no mystery to “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” beyond the fact that there’s no mystery. The sequel to 2008’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth” offers zero surprises by revealing up front that everything will wrap neatly.
Since their release, a few of the diehards out there have panned Episodes 1-3 as the “George Lucas has lost his mind and only wants money now” trilogy. It will be interesting to see what that sector of fandom will think a second time around.
Can’t wait to see the next “Bourne” film? Don’t worry. It opens in theaters Friday. It just happens to be called “Safe House,” a film with so much in common with the “Bourne” films that you’d almost think it was an intentional rip-off.
It’s sad when an actor as great as Denzel Washington continues to waste his talents on generic drive.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson gets to do a little bit of everything in his newest starring role, as a tough and stern but caring and good-humored stepfather to troubled teen Josh Hutcherson in “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island,” which opens Friday.
Initially a dancer, then a drummer, then a singer, then an actress, and for the past three decades a true pop star, the ambitious Madonna tried film directing a few years back (does anyone even recall the forgettable “Filth and Wisdom?”). On Friday she goes at it again with “W.E.,” a complicated story that covers two very different time periods.
“Drive” coasts by on a whole lot of style and not much substance, but that’s OK. When a movie is this stylish, I can’t see any reason to complain.
It’s rare that a film so perfectly captures the utter joy and exuberance of being young. But “Chronicle” caps off that achievement by setting its story inside an ultra low-budget, purposely gimmicky science fiction tale of three high school seniors who make a bizarre discovery.
