SPEED RACER
by LEW IRWIN
View Film Profile
|
 Reviews of Speed Racer are likely to compound the nervousness of Warner Bros. execs over the Wachowski Brothers' expensive animated/live-action movie. Cheap horror films are often treated with greater critical kindness. Consider Joe Morgenstern's critique in the Wall Street Journal: "This toxic admixture of computer-generated frenzy and live-action torpor succeeds in being, almost simultaneously, genuinely painful -- the esthetic equivalent of needles in eyeballs -- and weirdly benumbing, like eye candy laced with lidocaine," Morgenstern writes. A.O. Scott has a less corrosive review, but it's nearly as damning: "The childhood experience the Wachowskis evoke is not the easy delight of lolling in the den watching one cartoon after another, but rather the squirming tedium of sitting in the back seat on an endless family car trip, your cheek taking on the texture of the vinyl seat as some grown-up lectures you on the beauty of the passing scenery," he says. Or take Kyle Smith's comparison in the New York Post: "This adventurously awful film is awful in many ways at once," Smith observes. "It is, like a Ferraro poking across East 42nd Street at rush hour, fast yet slow. It is futuristic ally retry. Its attention span is measurable in microseconds, yet it runs more than two hours. And it spent a trillion dollars imitating the look of a 10-cent cartoon from the primitive '60s -- artistically, the Cro-Magnon era. I was initially awed by its splendors. Bu ºt when I'd had my fill, there was still an hour-45 left." Nevertheless, a few critics are impressed with the artistic achievement of the animators. "On the levels of technical craftsmanship and pure eye-candy, Speed Racer is some kind of triumph of the will," Try Burr comments in the Boston Globe. And Refer Guzmán in Newsday calls it "one of the most visually audacious films to come along in years." |
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WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS
by LEW IRWIN
View Film Profile
|
 What Happens in Vegas, starring Ashton Butcher and Cameron Diaz, shoots snake-eyes with critics. Some of their reactions: Rock Grown in the Toronto Globe and Mail: "What Happens in Vegas should damn well have stayed in Vegas." Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal: "What Happens in Vegas should have stayed in development -- forever." Manohla Dargis in the New York Times: "One of those junky time-wasters that routinely pop up in movie theaters." Claudia Puig in USA Today: "A mediocre movie that takes no chances." Michael Sragow in the Baltimore Sun: "A screwed-up screwball farce." And while Speed Racer at least got props from a few critics for artistic merit, Michael Phillips concludes tersely about Vegas in the Chicago Tribune: "The movie looks like crud." |
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MADE OF HONOR
by LEW IRWIN
View Film Profile
|
 The romantic comedy Made of Honor will be the only new film opening wide against Iron Man (which opened Thursday night) this weekend. Some critics seem to agree that it represents effective counter-programming. The New York Times's Stephen Holden remarks that the movie "adds tart satirical flavors to a cotton-candy formula without sabotaging the sugar rush." Roger Moore in the Orlando Sentinel comments that "fortunately ... [the movie] earns enough goodwill in a clever and sexy opening act to carry it through" to the end. Most other critics, however, suggest that it's merely another rendering of the 1997 film My Best Friend's Wedding, with a gender reversal, and one even compares it, unfavorably, with the classic The Philadelphia Story. He is the Toronto Star's Philip Marchand, who remarks that the audience is not likely to show much interest in the principal character, played by Patrick Dempsey. "Somewhere in the shades of Hollywood, the ghost of Cary Grant is shaking his head," Marchand writes. Kyle Smith in the New York Post calls Dempsey's character "a preening yet uptight jerk," and says that the outcome of the movie -- which character will wind up with whom? -- is never in doubt. "Still," he writes, "there was a certain amount of suspense in the air at the screening of Made of Honor: Would Tom and Hannah realize they're perfect for each other at the altar, or would I burn down the theater first?" Desson Thomson frames his review as if he were writing about a freeway accident. "Actors Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan are trapped in the wreckage of a bad romantic comedy. Observers suggest the vehicle in which they were riding was poorly engineered and believed to be constructed of cheap, recycled material. The severity of their injuries is unclear at this time." |
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SON OF RAMBOW
by LEW IRWIN
View Film Profile
|
 Sylvester Stallone has given his endorsement to the British film Son of Rambow [sic], which opens today (Friday) in five theaters in New York and Los Angeles. The film concerns two boys in the 1980s who discover a video of First Blood and go about making their own version of the movie. Stallone told today's Los Angeles Times that when he first heard about Rambow he "assumed it was going to be a very broad and stylized joke-a-minute comedy at Rambo's expense." But he thought otherwise after he saw it. "The fact that it was so heartwarming is the result of brilliant filmmaking by its creators," Stallone said. Nevertheless writer-director Garth Jennings and producer Nick Goldsmith disclosed that it took an extraordinary amount of time to obtain the necessary permission to use clips from the Stallone movie in theirs. They said they used the delay as an opportunity to preview the film at film festivals, where "it wasn't being judged on whether it was doing anything at the box office, it was purely whether we made a film that worked. I can't tell you how satisfying that was," Jennings said. Initial reviews have been positive if not enthusiastic. Manohla Dargis in the New York Times calls it "a likable, lightly sticky valentine to childhood." To Carina Chocano in the Los Angeles Times, it's "a dewy-eyed, plaintive, unafraid-to-be-adorable exercise in stylish nostalgia." And Claudia Puig in USA Today describes it as "surprisingly charming."P> |
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IRON MAN
by LEW IRWIN
View Film Profile
|
 Robert Downey Jr., an unlikely choice to play a superhero, is receiving much praise for his performance in the title role of Iron Man, which is opening at 8:00 p.m. in many theaters throughout the country tonight (Thursday). "This supremely gifted actor will please several generations of filmgoers," writes Bill Zwecker in the Chicago Sun-Times who calls the movie itself "simply great escapism." Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times notes that the part seems to be "nicely tailored to Downey's talents and is a great deal of fun as a result." Says Lou Lumenick in the New York Post: "First and foremost, this is Downey's show." And some show it is, most critics agree. "Make no mistake," writes Peter Howell in the Toronto Star, "this is the birth of a new franchise. The only thing wrong with Iron Man -- and I can't believe I'm saying this -- is that it's too short, even at 126 minutes. It ends just as the action is really picking up. When was the last time a summer blockbuster left you longing for more?" And Michael Sragow concludes in the Baltimore Sun: "So far this spring, as far as live-action would-be blockbusters go, all that glitters is iron." |
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BABY MAMA
by LEW IRWIN
View Film Profile
|
 Former Saturday Night Live players Tina Fey and Amy Poehler go to the movies with Baby Mama in which Fey's character hires Poehler's as a surrogate mother while she tends to her career. Manohla Dargis in the New York Times suggests that the movie is "sitcom functional," but that "it pulls you in with a provocative and, at least in current American movies, unusual mix of female intelligence, awkwardness and chilled-to-the-bone mean." Carina Chocano in the Los Angeles Times reacts similarly. The movie, she writes, "hardly allows itself any sharp moments at all -- it's much too sweet-natured to be cruel, and much too cheerful to be angry. It probably could have pushed a few more buttons, but Baby Mama aims to please and succeeds." John Anderson in Newsday is not so generous, writing that the movie seems "mild to the point of pabulum, taking a pretty fertile topic -- surrogate motherhood -- and making it inoffensive to anyone." He then quickly adds, "This is not an endorsement." And Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune thinks the entire project may have been calculated by media planners. He writes: "Every moment of this project feels beat-driven, focus-grouped and designed to package Fey as a viable movie star with great pins (as one character takes pains to note) to go with the breasts (ditto). This isn't writing, it's advertising." |
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Other Current Reviews
|
| HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY
|
The
stoner
characters
Harold
(John
Cho)
and
Kumar
(Kal
Penn),
having
left
White
Castle,
now
escape
from
Guantánamo
Bay,
but
many
critics
suggest
that
whatever
political
punch
the
movie
(more)
|
DECEPTION
|
Deception,
starring
Hugh
Jackman,
Ewan
McGregor,
Michelle
Williams
and
Charlotte
Rampling
may
be
described
by
its
promoters
as
a
sex
thriller,
but
critics
are
describing
it
as
just
(more)
|
| FORBIDDEN KINGDOM, THE
|
The
traditional
violence
of
martial-arts
films
has
been
toned
way
down
for
the
family
film
The
Forbidden
Kingdom,
starring
Jackie
Chan
and
Jet
Li.
Critics
are
expressing
mixed
reaction
(more)
|
| FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL
|
Critics
may
not
be
giving
Forgetting
Sarah
Marshall
a
lot
of
props
for
craftsmanship,
but
they
are
for
daring
--
daring
to
show
the
star's
penis
in
particular.
As
(more)
|
88 MINUTES
|
Al
Pacino
is
back
in
a
Jon
Avnet
thriller,
88
Minutes,
and
a
few
critics
agree
that
the
film
will
satisfy
expectations,
especially
if
those
expectations
aren't
very
high
(more)
|
| PROM NIGHT
|
Prom
Night,
which
did
not
have
a
special
screening
for
critics,
drew
the
expected
howls
from
them
over
the
weekend
when
they
viewed
it
with
paying
customers.
In
the
(more)
|
| STREET KINGS
|
Street
Kings,
based
on
a
novel
by
James
Ellroy
--
Ellroy
also
receives
credit
for
contributing
to
the
screenplay
--
is
not
the
kind
of
film
that
will
win
(more)
|
SMART PEOPLE
|
Smart
People,
about,
well,
smart
people
in
academia,
is
opening
with
quite
a
mixture
of
critical
reaction.
It
passes
the
IQ
test
with
flying
colors.
And
intelligence
plus
genuine
(more)
|
Young@Heart
|
A
group
of
senior
citizens
performing
rock-and-roll
numbers
in
a
theatrical
documentary
are
receiving
much
critical
praise
from
film
critics
as
the
film
opens
in
limited
release
today
(Wednesday).
(more)
|
| LEATHERHEADS
|
Leatherheads,
studio
publicists
have
said,
is
intended
to
be
a
kind
of
throwback
to
those
movies
of
the
'40s
and
'50s
called
"screwball
comedies."
And
Rafer
Guzmán
in
Newsday
(more)
|
| NIM'S ISLAND
|
Many
of
the
critics
reviewing
Nim's
Island
realize
that
most
of
the
folks
reading
their
reviews
will
never
see
the
movie
unless
they're
the
parents
of
small
children,
so
(more)
|
| STOP-LOSS
|
Critics
are
suggesting
that
Stop-Loss,
from
Boys
Don't
Cry
director
Kimberly
Peirce,
is
unlike
any
antiwar
film
ever
produced,
certainly
unlike
any
about
the
Iraq
or
Afghan
wars.
A.O.
(more)
|
| 21
|
21
craps
out
with
many
of
the
nation's
critics.
"A
feature-length
bore
about
some
smarty-pants
who
take
Vegas
for
a
ride"
is
how
Manohla
Dargis
describes
it
in
the
(more)
|
| Meet The Browns
|
Like
previous
Tyler
Perry
movies,
Meet
the
Browns
was
not
screened
for
critics
--
at
least
not
in
the
U.S.
Philip
Marchand
of
the
Toronto
Star
either
attended
a
(more)
|
| DRILLBIT TAYLOR
|
New
York
Times
critic
A.O.
Scott
says
that
he
counts
himself
among
the
admirers
of
Judd
Apatow's
comedies
but
considers
Drillbit
Taylor
the
way
he
would
a
fashion
(more)
|
| HORTON HEARS A WHO!
|
Movies
based
on
the
Dr.
Seuss
children's
books
have
rarely
received
decent
reviews.
Horton
Hears
a
Who!
is
definitely
an
exception.
Ty
Burr
in
the
Boston
Globe
calls
it
(more)
|
| NEVER BACK DOWN
|
Reviews
for
Never
Back
Down
are
mostly
as
bad
as
they
get.
Kyle
Smith
in
the
New
York
Post
describes
it
as
"a
formula
flick
that
should
have
tapped
(more)
|
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