Saturday, March 16, 2013
This movie about aging magicians could use a little more Hollywood magic.
Once the bright stars of the Vegas strip, illusionists Burt Wonderstone (Steve Carrell) and Anton Marvelton (Steve Buscemi) have lost the magic that sparkled for years in their act. Burt is more interested in seducing women that in convincing audiences what they are seeing is real. The two former best friends find their position is threatened by daredevil masochistic magician Steve Gray (an incredibly buffed Jim Carrey), so they, too attempt a dangerous trick--that fails miserably. The two go their separate ways, Burt to a retirement home where he meets Rance Holloway (Alan Arkin), a once big-time magician, and Anton to Africa. The question is: Can Burt revive the magic with Anton and regain his place as Numero Uno? Here's what the critics…
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Like its main character, the movie is neither great nor powerful, but it's okay.
Editor's note: "Oz The Great and Powerful" is rated PG and is playing at Regal Snellville Oaks in Snellville. Ever wonder how that Man Behind the Curtain got to Oz in the first place? Director Sam Raimi's new movie fills in the back-story of Oscar "Oz" Diggs, an unctuous charlatan in a traveling sideshow. He flees from an unsympathetic crowd in a hot air balloon, gets caught up in a tornado--what a cool idea!--and lands in the magical land of Oz. There, he meets three witch sisters, Evanora (Rachel Weisz), Glinda (Michelle Williams) and Theodora (Mila Kunis). And a cute, flying monkey and a China doll, who may be the movie's best characters. The witches try to convince Oscar that he is the foretold Wizard who will restore order to Oz and …
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Brad Pitt plays a hitman who is sentimental and deadly.
Brad Pitt is a hitman brought in to restore some much needed street credibility to a weak-looking mob syndicate in "Killing Them Softly." Pitt prefers to kill victims “softly” from a distance rather than watching them get “touchy-feely” up close. While trying to fix things he works alongside local mob lawyer Richard Jenkins. James Gandolfini resurrects the spirit of Tony Soprano as a boozing, hooker-loving hit man who has lost his killer touch. Ray Liotta plays a poker manager wrongfully accused of ripping off the mob. They are a solid cast in a dark, artsy movie peppered with hard-to-watch violent scenes. Slow-motion bullets flying and brain matter splatters. They all try to convey the message that capitalism and organized crime are …
Friday, October 19, 2012
If you enjoy watching characters sleep while their furniture moves around them, I have just the movie.
A Nevada family plays host to a very odd 6-year-old neighbor boy whose unseen mother has suddenly been hospitalized in "Paranormal Activity 4." A group of young unknown actors jump into the Paranormal Activity formula without a hitch. The long stretches of green night-cam footage manage to creep you out as you try to figure out if you just saw movement in the corner. And when something eventually flies across the screen, no matter how much you try to anticipate it, you jump. A neighborhood witches' coven plays into the proceedings, adding to the drama. In the end, as expected, all you really get is a whole bunch of jolts and scares. If you have seen any of the previous films, it's more of the same. This time around I was more tricked than…
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Now showing at Carmike 12 in Snellville, our Patch reviewer says this is simply an amazing movie.
Christian Bale plays Bruce Wayne again. His fortune is dwindling, his body is battered and his alter ego continues to elude police in "The Dark Knight Rises." This is a tough movie to review because I don't want to spoil anything. So I will try keep my review spoil-free. Basically, Batman is forced out of retirement after a new bad guy emerges from the sewer, a thug by the name of Bane (played by Tom Hardy). When he shows up, Gotham is overrun by anarchy. The supporting actors are fantastic in this film. Commissioner Gordon is again played by Gary Oldman; Marion Cotillard plays a philanthropist; Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a cop; and Anne Hathaway digs her claws into the role of Catwoman. You will laugh, you will cry, and there is a good …
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Prehistoric cartoon characters head out on another adventure for a fourth time, this one in 3D
Manny the Mammoth (Ray Romano), Diego the Sabertooth Tiger (Denis Leary), and Sid the Sloth (John Leguizamo) get stuck on a giant ice cube in "Ice Age: Continental Drift." Our gang of misfits runs into Pirate Captain Gutt (voiced by Peter Dinklage) on board the iceberg. This is followed by laughs, some slapstick and a few musical numbers. There's nothing in any way really awful about "Ice Age: Continental Drift" in 3D, just as there's no particular reason to recommend it. These guys just want to get off this iceberg and go home. As family offerings go, it's perfectly mediocre. This fourth installment in the "Ice Age" series continues to distort geological history here on Earth. Our planet's original great big single continent began to …
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Spider-Man is back swinging at the box office; it's somewhat of a reboot with different actors, a different look, and a whole lot more spidey-swagger.
Spider-Man is back, and we love it! Andrew Garfield takes over from Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker, a nerdy kid who gets bitten by a radioactive arachnid in "The Amazing Spider-Man." The film is somewhat of a reboot about the origins of Spider-Man. Parker gets bullied in school, meets a pretty girl, gets spidey powers. The family falls victim to street thugs; he becomes a superhero. It's pretty much the same storyline, just a bit grittier than the one 10 years ago. This one has more swagger, more angst and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, the new spidey love interest. This is not a total carbon copy of the original but it's basically the same storyline. Different actors, sure; a different director, sure. There is even a different bad guy; the CGI…
Saturday, June 23, 2012
The 16th president is on a mission to rid the United States of an urgent problem -- vampires.
Abraham Lincoln as a vampire hunter? Forget your notions of honest, stately Abe. This Abraham Lincoln is an ax-wielding, tough-as-nails, vampire slayer out to rid the country of a blood-sucking menace. Based on the book by Seth Grahame-Smith, ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’ presents an alternative version of our nation’s history. Young Abraham Lincoln, played by Benjamin Walker, embarks on a life-long quest to seek out and destroy the creatures responsible for the death of his mother. His quest for vengeance leads him all the way to the White House where he discovers a vampiric plot to take over the United States. The filmmakers describe the movie as bringing to the screen “the secret life of our nation's favorite president . . . as …
Saturday, June 16, 2012
The rock 'n' roll of the 1980s is in the spotlight this week, and, like a lot of rock from that decade and despite a bunch of A-list actors, it doesn't rock.
Boy meets girl, they rock each other's world, and it's all done to the tune of the 1980s L.A. rock scene in … "Rock of Ages." This rags-to-riches rock 'n' roll musical is set mostly in a music club on Sunset Strip. A lot of the entertainment, with some energetic musical numbers, includes several big names (Tom Cruise, Russell Brand and Alec Baldwin.) The two leads are Diego Boneta, as a bartender, and Julianne Hough, as a naive kid just off the bus from the Midwest. They prove that they too can sing covers of '80s rock classics. Basically the film is a set of songs linked together by a very weak story line (so as not to fool you into thinking you are watching a large-scale cover band concert). Honestly, it's not a good movie, but I think …
Saturday, June 2, 2012
A princess hunted by an evil queen leads a rebellion to reclaim her throne
Kristen Stewart is Snow White, a warrior princess who launches a battle to reclaim her kingdom from Queen Ravenna (Charlize Theron) in "Snow White and the Huntsman." As in the fairy tale, the queen locks Snow White in a tower prison while plunging the realm into chaos after the computer-generated mirror tells her she is no longer the fairest of them all. The queen then sends out studly huntsman Eric (Chris Hemsworth) to capture Snow White...But he soon declines his mission, opting to protect the princess — and face the queen's wrath. The film is not altogether bad. Its visual fireworks help keep the film afloat, even if Snow White (Stewart) can't get out of "Twilight" mode. A modern-day twist on this 200-year-old fairy tale, the movie is …
Johnny Saras
3:14 pm on Monday, June 25, 2012
So watch The Help. Or The Tree of Life. Or Hugo. Or Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Or Moneyball. Or The Artist. You watch your crap and we'll watch ours. more ›