Posted in Popcorn movies, tagged Angelina Jolie, Dennis Haysbert, Dustin Hoffman, Gary Oldman, Jack Black, Jean Claude van Damme, Kung Fu Panda, Seth Rogen on May 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »
“KUNG FU PANDA 2” My rating: C
minutes | Rating: G
“Kung Fu Panda 2” is one of the most beautiful animated films ever, with fantastic action scenes, astonishingly detailed “sets” and a filmic sense worthy of any live-action epic.
It’s a good thing it’s so gorgeous, because dramatically it’s pretty much a wash.
Not awful. But not memorable.
This sequel assembles most of the voices from the first “Panda,” especially Jack Black (more…)
Posted in Popcorn movies, tagged bangkok, bradley cooper, ed helms, hangover, ken Jeong, thailand, zach galifianakis on May 27, 2011| 1 Comment »
“THE HANGOVER PART II” My rating: B
102 minutes | Rating: R
In comedy funny trumps everything else.
“The Hangover Part II” isn’t smarter than, say, “Bridesmaids.” And it has little of the emotional heft of a truly great comedy like “Local Hero” or “Groundhog Day.”
But it’s still about the funniest thing to hit the screen in a long while — providing you’ve got a high threshold for raunchy outrageousness.
You can’t accuse its makers of messing around too much with a successful format. Despite a change of locale — sinful Bangkok takes the role previously played by sinful Las Vegas — this sequel is a recycling of characters and incidents from the first film. That might be a liability if it wasn’t so damn hilarious.
Posted in Popcorn movies, tagged fountain of youth, geoffrey rush, johnny depp, mermaid, penelope cruz, pirates on May 19, 2011| Leave a Comment »
“PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES” My rating: C
137 minutes | PG-13
“On Stranger Tides,” the fourth entry in Disney’s phenomenally profitable “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, is at least an improvement over the last two sequels.
It’s still not a particularly good movie (though it remains hugely impressive from a technical standpoint) but at least it didn’t make me want to pound a handspike into my forehead.
“Pirates” 2 and 3 were runaround movies in which the principal players would first run over here, then run over there without a whole lot of reason. Basically director Gore Verbinski was mounting special effects extravaganzas in which plot and characters were a distant afterthought.
Now helmed by Rob Marshall (who followed up on his smash “Chicago” with the dismal “Memoirs of a Giesha” and “Nine” and badly needs a commercial hit), the franchise has jettisoned (more…)
Posted in Popcorn movies, tagged Anthony Hopkins, Chris Hemsworth, comic books, Kenneth Branagh, Marvel, Natalie Portman, Ray Stevenson, Thor on May 17, 2011| 3 Comments »
There’s absolutely no reason why any of us must see “Thor,” the latest Marvel Comics big-screen adaptation.
The good news is that if you do see it, there’s no harm done.
This is a surprisingly effective (I’m tempted to call it smart) addition to the superhero canon, a moderate success for a most unlikely filmmaker: Kenneth Branagh.
The Irish-born Branagh, of course, is the theatrical wiz kid who burst upon the cinema scene with his terrific “Henry V” back in 1989 and who has periodically created and/or appeared in other Shakespearean films, among them “Othello,” “Hamlet” and “Much Ado About Nothing.”
His non-Bard movies, on the other hand, have been flops. While Branagh has proven himself a valuable supporting player in a variety of worthwhile films (“Rabbit Proof Fence,” the Harry Potter franchise), his credibility as a filmmaker for years has been on the skids. (more…)
Butler's Cinema Scene 