— by JAMES SHAW — “Girl, open your eyes” is the best statement I can use to describe “Baggage Claim,” a film about a flight attendant, Barbie type named Montana Moore (Paula Patton), who travels over 30,000 miles to reignite old flames as she is pressured into marriage by her mot[...]
Archive for September, 2013
Inequality for All: Trailer and Clips
— by BEV QUESTAD — I just couldn’t bear another depressing, boring, difficult to understand film about the financial demise of the US economy. So when a friend sent me the “Inequality for All” trailer, I almost didn’t check it out. Lo and behold, we’ve got comedy and he[...]
Review: Wedding Palace
— by RON WILKINSON — One of the first, if not the first, Korean-American romantic comedy to open in the USA, “Wedding Palace” is home grown and foreign at the same time. Backed by the Los Angeles Korean-American community, the film is American, with a few Korean curses thrown in. It [...]
Carrie: Don’t Go to Prom Featurette
— by JESSIKA OWENS — Remakes of horror films, if you ask me, are almost as common as horror films. Sometimes it works, other times I hate it. The upcoming re-imagining of “Carrie” has me dubious to say the least. Many iconic horror films have been redone, and a lot of them di[...]
Review: The Colony
— by RON WILKINSON — Emerging film-maker Jeff Renfroe tried hard on this slightly modified zombie flick, with good results for an emerging film maker. But the film is still inexcusably derivative and has little to recommend it over a thousand other thriller monster movies. The best thing[...]
Review: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
— by JAMES SHAW — “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” brings back the voices of Bill Hader (Flint), Anna Faris (Sam Sparks) and Andy Samberg (Brent McHale), and brings in newcomers Will Forte as Chester V, Kristen Schaal as Barb and Terry Crews, who replaces Mr. T as Earl. The voic[...]
Review: Le Week-End
— by RON WILKINSON — Screened at the 2013 New York Film Festival, Roger Michell’s (“Notting Hill,” “Venus”) newest elder rom-com is less of romp than a stroll. The screenplay openly dares the most romantic city in the world to pull the couple back from the abyss of the autumn y[...]
Review: Battle of the Year
— by JAMES SHAW — “Battle of The Year” is a dance movie … I mean marketing ploy … for director Benson Lee’s 2007 documentary “Planet B-Boy.” “Planet B-Boy” describes how B-Boying has evolved and illustrates the Battle of the Year competition: the Oly[...]
Review: The Wizard of Oz 3D
— by ADAM DALE — There has never been — and probably never will be — a film that can encapsulate such a feeling of awe and wonder, laughs and frights the way that “The Wizard of Oz” has done for the past 75 years. The film has become a rite of passage for the […][...]
Review: Jewtopia
— by RON WILKINSON — Based on the popular play of the same name (the longest-running off-Broadway comedy of all time) “Jewtopia” is a pratfall slugfest that swerves back and forth across all boundaries of taste and correctness and comes up smiling. Director Bryan Fogel’s debut feat[...]
Review: Mission Park
— by RON WILKINSON and BEV QUESTAD — “Deception has no friend.” A voice adds, “We grew up soldiers around here. Most don’t make it past 24. But I never thought it would come to this.” “Mission Park” begins with four friends as young boys around 11 years old. At that age the[...]
Review: Prisoners
— by ADAM DALE — Two families are distraught and in disarray when their young daughters go missing after a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner together. Anna, the 6-year-old daughter of Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) and Grace (Maria Bello), is missing along with Joy, the 7-year-old daughter of F[...]