It’s hard to imagine a movie called Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter being highbrow cinema, but that’s exactly what director Timur Bekmambetov aspired of for his follow-up to 2008’s cult-hit “Wanted.” Unfortunately, in spite of its silly title (which hearkens back to grindhouse-era exploitation cinema), the film rarely cracks a joke and its über serious tone…
Back-to-back duds from Pixar? What’s next — the Apocalypse? The writing was on the wall, however, when the opening short, “La Luna,” (about two men and a little boy shoveling little stars on the moon) — so long one of my favorite ingredients of this studio — comes across as overly artsy and not at…
It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel, well, okay, I guess . . . After viewing Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, which has elements of “On the Beach” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” it’s difficult to put my finger on just how I…
DisOrientation — ya gotta love the odd capitalization — is aimed at college kids and those of us who never grew up. Its core audience will like it, probably quite a bit. It’s certainly better than most big-budget raunch films out there today, even with its unlikely plot (or probably because of it). There’s a…
Tom Ricks (Ethan Hawke) tells the immigration officer at the airport that he has come to Paris to live, write a novel, and take care of his daughter Chloe while his ex-wife works during the day. He probably believes these words as he says them out loud; however, the audience quickly learns Tom is not…
Adam Shankman’s new film/musical Rock of Ages tells the story of a small town girl Sherrie (Julianne Hough) and a city boy Drew (Diego Boneta), whose separate journeys to chase their dreams of stardom bring them together on the Sunset Strip. At first it all seems like paradise to Sherrie as sparks fly between her…
Now this is how you make a proper action-thriller! Get the Gringo (a.k.a. How I Spent My Summer Vacation) is one hell of a film; a stripped-down, gritty actioner reminiscent of the kind of dark, no-nonsense thrillers we saw back in the ’70s and ’80s. With so many glossy, CGI-laden blockbusters hitting screens these days,…
