If I were to substitute salt for sugar while making a cake I would have a dessert that would look about the same but would be a bit of a disaster. In making The Heat, director Paul Feig and writer Katie Dippold take the same approach to the buddy/cop movie by focusing on female law […]
Chuck Koplinski
Posted inArts & Culture
Ranger undone by schizophrenic tone
Without question, sitting through director Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger was the most frustrating film-going experience I’ve had all year. Epic in scope, gorgeous to look at, mythic in its approach to its seminal title character, at its best the film successfully hearkens back to some of the great Westerns and at times pays homage […]
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Reunion at the core of Monsters University
With Cars 2 and Brave, Pixar Studios showed that they too could deliver mediocre animated films much like their competition. The problem with those two films was that they lacked the heart and pathos that made nearly all of the company’s previous efforts so distinctive. Some have claimed that increased input by the corporate bigwigs […]
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Down acceptable
Check your brain at the door and be prepared to file Roland Emmerich’s White House Down firmly in the “guilty pleasure” file. The latest from the master of disaster is a gloriously realized piece of popcorn entertainment that revels – and at times wallows in – the ridiculousness of its premise. Sure, we’ve seen the […]
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Epic scope, intelligence save Z
Beset with an ending that had to be reshot over seven weeks at great expense, causing the release date to be pushed back, which only contributed to its already skyrocketing cost, World War Z has been plagued with no shortage of problems. Burdened with a budget somewhere between $170-200 million, the film has quickly gone […]
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End an effective, comedic look at the rapture
I would be willing to bet that movie studios dread it when a major star, whose films have generated big box office, approaches them with a vanity project. These are movies that are personal in nature and tend to have no superheroes, car chases or explosions in them, meaning they’re going to bomb at the […]
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Midnight a bracing look at the realities of love
Richard Linklater’s Before films are a special collection of movies that not only takes an unique look at romantic love but reminds us how engaging the fine art of conversation can be in capable hands. Before Sunrise (1995) introduced us to Jesse (Ethan Hawke), a young American tourist on a train to Vienna who meets […]
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Purge lacks the strength of its flimsy convictions
James DeMonaco’s The Purge hints – and I mean hints – that it might be a socially relevant film that imagines that today’s divide between the “Haves” and the “Have Nots” will develop into a blood sport in the near future. Its premise of Social Darwinism in action is an intriguing one and, in braver […]
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No Clark makes for cold Steel
One of the crucial aspects of superheroes is the notion of the secret identity, the physical and psychic split in the character that delineates the real person from the heroic persona. Whenever this narrative conceit is examined the conversation always turns to Superman and Batman. They were the first two of the modern superheroes, arguably […]
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Both Smiths end up marooned on Earth
Much has been written in the last week pertaining to how awful Will Smith’s After Earth is. It’s been referred to as the Battlefield Earth for a new generation, described as “cheesy,” “horrible” and “uneven” while one critic has stated that one of the main characters “has all the likability of an anal fissure.” (Yep, […]
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Internship surprises as sincere summer sleeper
Every summer season produces a sleeper, a film that comes out of nowhere and exceeds expectations. Shawn Levy’s The Internship is that movie for 2013. It succeeds in not only delivering some solid laughs but also manages to provide a pleasant romantic subplot. Equally important is its vital, timely message that should be embraced by […]
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Hangover III brings the wolf pack home
As years go by and I sit through more and more insufferable, unimaginative comedies, Todd Phillips’ The Hangover continues to stand the test of time. It was apparent when it was first released in 2009 that the director had caught lightning in a bottle, providing one surprise after another in delivering a film that defied […]
