Oh, it’s cute. The little ones will love this charming tale of teamwork and the need to tell your friends how important they are. Children who already know A.A. Milne’s classic Winnie-the-Pool stories are likely to enjoy this movie the most. At the screening I attended, these kids followed every twist and turn in the […]
In Bob Godfrey’s animated classic, The Do-It-Yourself Cartoon Kit, the viewer is informed, “Whether you’re 6 or 96, you’re sure to love The Do-It-Yourself-Cartoon Kit. If you’re any ages between the two, however, you’re going to be pretty miserable and might as well leave the cinema.” While I can’t address the issue of how 96-year-olds […]
It sure keeps you on the edge of your seat, for which you’re grateful, because Proof of Life also has wide stretches of yawn-time. In this film, an American engineer, Peter Bowman (David Morse, The Green Mile), is kidnapped by narco-guerrillas in an Andean country. In a heartbreakingly haunting shot, Bowman looks behind as he […]
Officially, Paramount Picture’s Rat Race is not a remake of MGM’s legendary ’60s ensemble comedy, It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad World. Too bad. A remake of something terrific would have been better than this disappointing original dud. The real stars of Rat Race are lots of cars — including Adolf Hitler’s Mercedes Benz and a […]
“I could never be with a man who doesn’t love recess!” schoolteacher Miss Phinster shouts at the evil arch villain in Disney’s newest animated feature, Recess: School’s Out. My sentiments exactly! If adults are allowed coffee breaks and flex-time, children should always have recess. I don’t mean study hall. I mean good, old-fashioned, play-outside, be-with-your-friends, […]
With “faith, trust and pixie dust, anything is possible.” And so it seems — almost — in Return to Never Land, the first-ever sequel to Disney’s beloved Peter Pan original. Nearly 50 years have passed since 1953, when the boy who refused to grow up and his band of Lost Boys first took kids on […]
If somebody could convince Road to Redemption’s director, Robert Vernon II, not to write the next movie he directs, he might have a future. Vernon has potential: Redemption is beautifully shot, the action scenes are powerfully choreographed and there are even a few chuckles. But the positives about this movie are like patches on a […]
You don’t have to rush to see Rush Hour 2. The latest martial-arts mayhem movie is sure to be such a box-office hit, it should stay in theaters for months. When Chinese martial arts whirligig Detective Lee (Jackie Chan, Rush Hour) isn’t bashing somebody’s brains in, he’s an amazingly nice guy. He’s loyal and teary-eyed […]
Yes, here’s a feel-good movie of high order: Terrific script, uplifting story, superb acting. A virtually flawless technical production — from cinematography to editing — allows you to sit back and enjoy the ride. Here’s the plot: Sweet and delicate Grace Trevethyn’s dashing husband dashes right out of an airplane at high altitude, sans parachute, […]
See Spot Run is a cute, albeit predictable, movie for kids and dog lovers. The action scenes are admirably handled by first time feature-film director John Whitesell — indicating he has promise if given good material — but the movie’s inherent lack of substance suffers from his TV-only training. Spot is generously endowed with genuinely […]
Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron gallops across the screen in a mesmerizing dreamscape of unforgettable wildness and beauty. It proves, as if any more proof were needed in this new Golden Age of animation, that animation is more than equal to live-action film in its ability to create cinematic magic. Ostensibly an epic tale of […]
Has David Mamet — Pulitzer-prize winning, expletive-addict (and sometimes misogynist) playwright (Sexual Perversity in Chicago) of the ’70s — gone soft and gooey in his middle years? If State and Main — the latest gem from the prolific writer-director dynamo — is any indication, the answer is a resounding “yes!” And a charming, witty, downright […]
Australian high schools don’t have cheerleaders — which partially explains why Sugar & Spice‘s first-time Aussie director failed to capture the essence of this American high school mainstay, no matter how many images of the Stars and Stripes she managed to incorporate in almost every scene. The real question is: Why did she choose such […]
Summer Catch is a movie that some mothers might be hoodwinked into wanting their teenagers to see. It’s cute (almost innocuous, actually), there’s no swearing or drugs or graphic sex, everybody has good hair, and, most importantly, the young people in the move actually want something more than fun. Mothers in the movie, however, are […]
You can’t just send anybody to a film like That Darn Cat. It takes a certain “impur-r-r-tinence” to get the scoop on a cat who sleuths. And we’ve got just the snoops: Amanda Levesque and Claire McLendon — our teen movie reviewers who went out to bring back the dirt on Patti, Deke and Elvis. […]
The Bourne Identity, based on Robert Ludlum’s 1980 espionage page-turner, is perfect summertime fare. It roller coasts up and down death-defying escapes (literally), sizzles a little with two attractive stars, keeps your knuckles white with one of the best car chases ever (throughout Paris in a tiny Austin Mini, yet), creates unremitting visceral suspense — […]
The Brothers is a feel-good, Saturday-night-date movie that should also have a successful home video run for privacy-deprived parents on those rare when-the-kids-are finally-asleep nights. The story: Four good-looking, upscale “(“We are the cream of the crop!”) young African-American friends in Los Angeles — the “brothers” — use one another to gain wisdom on how […]
Some of the very best political speeches in recent years have been delivered by film actors playing courageous, progressive-thinking politicians. In The Contender, Rod Lurie’s skillfully scripted exploration of politics and principles, one of the most stirring speeches comes during the confirmation hearing of a female senator nominated to serve out the term of a […]
Crikey, mates! The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course is so bad you’ll leave the theater feeling really grumpy. It’s bargain-matinee fare only. If you have kids, wait until it comes out in video, because all the hype around this movie is a big set-up for disappointment. There wasn’t one laugh in the crowded Saturday afternoon audience, […]
The Emperor’s New Groove is a spectacular, goofy, manic, roller-coaster ride of a film. I loved it. While it doesn’t offer the emotional grandeur and sheer memorability of Disney classics such Bambi and The Lion King , I can guarantee you there will be no seat-fidgeting while this wild ride is on the screen. New […]
The Fast and the Furious is aptly titled. It careens, it screeches, it smokes. It delivers what the previews promised: a no-brakes, pulse-pounding, ear-splitting, sex-charged car-racing flick. Director Rob Cohen (The Skulls) has helmed a technical gem. Furious is vividly shot and edited; the computer-designed wizardry is awesome; costumes, sets, locations –everything technical is top-notch. […]
