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Archive for the ‘Popcorn movies’ Category

“PHASE 7”: Quarantined in Rio

Posted in Cinema Espanol, Popcorn movies, tagged , , on July 13, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Jazmin Stuart and Daniel Hendler in “Phase 7”

“PHASE 7” My rating: C 

98 minutes | MPAA rating: R

Urbanites imprisoned in their own apartments are nothing new (see “Quarantine” and plenty of zombie movies), but the low-budget Argentine effort “Phase 7” tries to spice the genre up with droll humor.

Actually, “spice” is the wrong word to use here, since Nicolas Goldbart’s film is so laid back and casual that you can practically see it evaporating off the screen.

Coco (Daniel Hendler) and his wife Pipi (Jazmin Stuart) are city dwellers expecting their first baby. We encounter them in a supermarket where they seem not to notice that other shoppers are running around madly and grabbing items off the shelves as if the end of the world had just been announced. (more…)

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DVD review: Cleanup on aisle five

Posted in New on DVD, Popcorn movies, tagged , , on July 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Rutger Hauer goes postal in "Hobo with a Shotgun"

“HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN” (Available July 5)

Is it a good bad movie? A bad good movie?

“Hobo with a Shotgun” muddies the distinctions.

It’s based on a fan-created faux trailer that won Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse Trailer Contest, which means that from the outset this tale of a hobo (Rutger Hauer) who single-handedly cleans up a corrupt, crime-riddled city is packed with over-the-top violence and bad (deliberately so, one hopes) acting.

After all, the Grindhouse concept embraces the lurid tackiness (more…)

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DVD review: Strut your smut with “ELEKTRA LUXX”

Posted in New on DVD, Popcorn movies, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 2, 2011| 1 Comment »

Carla Gugino and Timothy Olyphant in "Elektra Luxx"

“ELEKTRA LUXX” (Now available)

I’ll watch Carla Gugino in anything (“Spy Kids” movies excepted); apparently I’m not alone in this.

Which may account for the straight-to-video success of 2009’s “Women in Trouble” and now this sequel, “Elektra Luxx.”

Both comedies feature Gugina — ravishing in blond wig and cleavage-challenging fashions — as Elektra Luxx, a legendary porn star. This new entry finds Elektra retired from the skin game and pregnant with the baby of a recently deceased rock star.

The films — both directed by Sebastian Gutierrez — are story thin and smarm rich. Basically they’re a series of loosely-related comic episodes (more…)

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“LARRY CROWE”: Lower education

Posted in Popcorn movies, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 1, 2011| 2 Comments »

Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks in "Larry Crowne"

“LARRY CROWNE”  My rating: C (Opens wide on July 1)

99 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13

“Larry Crowne” is so slight a romantic comedy that it’s hardly even there.

It’s not unpleasant. It has moments of lightweight charm.

But given the powerhouse potential of stars Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks (more…)

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“TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON”: Soulless smackdown

Posted in Popcorn movies, tagged , , , , , , on June 27, 2011| 2 Comments »

“TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON” My rating: C (Opens wide June 29)

153 minutes | Audience rating: PG-13

I’m not going to tell you that Michael Bay has no soul. Only that I’ve never seen evidence of one in any of his films.

The irony, of course, is that by commercial standards Bay is the filmmaker of his generation, able to hits the mass audience’s sweet spot with a fusion of flash, noise, endless f/x and eye-blurring action.

Characterization? Content? Subtext?

Who needs ‘em?

(more…)

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“CARS 2”: Thrown rods

Posted in Popcorn movies, tagged , , , , on June 24, 2011| Leave a Comment »

“CARS 2”  My rating: C- (Opening wide on June 24)

105 minutes | MPAA rating: G

The animation wizards at Pixar are yet to make a genuinely bad movie.

But with “Cars 2” they’ve made a truly mediocre one.

(more…)

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“MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS”: Penguin poop

Posted in Popcorn movies, tagged , , , , on June 17, 2011| 1 Comment »

“MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS” My rating: C  (Opens wide on June 17)

95 minutes | MPAA rating: PG

Jim Carrey used to be dangerous.

You wouldn’t know that from “Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” a soft-hearted comedy that has “cute” scrawled all over it.

(more…)

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“GREEN LANTERN”: Green around the gills

Posted in Popcorn movies on June 17, 2011| 1 Comment »

“GREEN LANTERN” My rating: C- (Opening wide on June 17)

105 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13

“Green Lantern” suggests we’ve reached the tipping point on special effects extravaganzas.

Just about every shot in this adaption of the long-running DC Comics series is crammed with CG doodling. There’s stuff here that, had we seen it even ten years ago, would have left us in the geek version of post-coital exhilaration.

But the truth is that we’ve seen so many special effects in recent years that they’re no longer special. They’re ho-hum.

Know what makes a movie special? Great characters. Fantastic dialogue. Interesting stories.

None of which are in evidence here.

(more…)

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“SUPER 8” : J.J. Abrams phones home

Posted in Popcorn movies, tagged , , , , , on June 10, 2011| 1 Comment »

“SUPER 8” My rating: B-

112 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13

J.J. Abrams’ highly-anticipated “Super 8” is a riff on all those Spielberg-inspired films from the ‘80s in which suburban kids got sucked into other-worldly adventures.

“Goonies” is a big influence here. So is “E.T.,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and a half-dozen other titles.

As a work of homage, “Super 8” will have you tabulating references to all those movies. It makes for a diverting parlor game.

The film itself is a mixed bag. The first half is excellent, with Abrams and a spectacular cast of young performers delivering several strikingly original sequences.

And then “Super 8” becomes a movie we’ve already seen way too many times. It’s not awful, just discouragingly familiar.

(more…)

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“X-MEN: FIRST CLASS” : Almost a class act

Posted in Popcorn movies, tagged , , , , , , on June 3, 2011| Leave a Comment »

X-MEN: FIRST CLASS  My rating: B-

132 minutes | MPAA rating: PG-13

There are moments in “X-Men: First Class” that are so good they almost don’t belong in a superhero movie.

This is a backhanded compliment, I know. But that’s how I feel about the genre — the less it’s like a superhero movie, the better.

And before it backslides into the usual cliches, “First Class” delivers some very interesting stuff.

(more…)

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