Sylvester Stallone as Barney Ross in Expendables 3. Having now sat through three Expendables movies, I can safely say that this is the most predictable franchise in film history. Nothing, and I mean nothing, comes as a surprise in Sylvester Stallone’s series for geriatric action heroes. Each movie’s plot marches lockstep through a pattern that’s […]
Chuck Koplinski
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Brown biopic
Jill Scott and Chadwick Boseman in Get on Up. I’ve often said that film biographies are a no-win proposition and any director foolhardy enough to take one on is just asking for trouble. Sure to disappoint those who are expecting to see a full examination of the subject’s life and likely to run afoul of […]
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Guardians: Star Wars for a new generation
Chris Pratt stars as Peter Quill/Star Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy. PHOTO COURTESY MARVEL STUDIOS It’s been a dismal summer at the movies not only where the quality of films is concerned but also in regards to how much fun viewers have been having. Sure, 22 Jump Street was funny and X-Men: Days of […]
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Dismal Sex Tape
Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz in Sex Tape. In watching Jake Kasdan’s dismal Sex Tape, I was under the impression that many of its key players were having a series of days like this during its making – uninspired, flat, dull and not at all funny. The movie is a lackluster effort where lead actor […]
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Snowpiercer chilling
Chris Evans in Snowpiercer. Joon-ho Bong’s Snowpiercer is the sort of film in which the director asks you to buy into his premise and trust that the trip he’s taking you on will be worthy of your time. To be sure, it’s the sort of movie that can be picked apart if everyday logic was […]
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Earth an echo of other better films
A scene from Earth to Echo. When does a film, obviously inspired by another, segue from being a homage to a blatant rip-off? If a story has a similar plot but some narrative changes, is it considered a variation on a theme or is it really the work of someone with little imagination? I think […]
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Too not everyone’s cup of tea
Romany Malco, Michael Ealy, Gary Owen and Kevin Hart. Film critic Gene Siskel once put forth the notion that reviewing comedies was a useless exercise. He felt that comedy was a subjective genre and that while he might think something was funny, others might not be amused at all and vice versa. I think there’s […]
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22 Jump Street
Jonah Hill as Schmidt and Channing Tatum as Jenko in 22 Jump Street. PHOTO COURTESY COLUMBIA PICTURES Mismatched partners, police officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) have been handed a ridiculous assignment – they’re to enroll as college students in order to track down the source of a fatal drug that’s sweeping the […]
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Tomorrow stumbles
Tom Cruise as Major William Cage There’s no question that Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow is a solid one hour and 40 minute movie. Too bad it runs one hour and 53 minutes. Smart, funny, exciting and thought provoking, like all good science fiction should, the film delivers everything you could want and more from […]
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Blended a familiar concoction
Drew Barrymore as Lauren Reynolds and Adam Sandler as Jim Friedman in Blended PHOTO COURTESY WARNER BROS. PICTURES As funny as it sounds, I held out a modicum of hope for Blended. After all, two of Adam Sandler’s more successful films, The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates, also co-starred Drew Barrymore and there’s no […]
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Manic Spider-Man 2 nothing but a blur
One gets the impression that director Marc Webb knew he was going to have a hard time squeezing in everything that was in the script for The Amazing Spider-Man 2. After all, there must be some reason why the film starts with an action sequence, progresses directly to another and proceeds to pile one breathless […]
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Hit and Miss
There’s an “almost, not quite” quality to Nicholas Stoller’s Neighbors, a ribald comedy that is at times uproariously effective but at others frustratingly tame. Though it sports an intriguing premise – young married couple versus the frat boys who move in next door – there’s still an air of the familiar to the film as […]
