Movie Review: มีนาคม 2012

วันอังคารที่ 20 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2555

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (widescreen Edition) from Universal Studios Home Entertain.

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Adam Sandler and Kevin James star as best friends and fellow firefighters Chuck and Larry, the pride of their Brooklyn fire station. Chuck owes Larry for saving his life. Larry calls in that favor big-time by asking Chuck to pose as his "domestic partner" so his kids will get his pension. But when a fact-checking bureaucrat becomes suspicious, the two straight guys are forced to improvise as love-struck newlyweds. Jessica Biel, Ving Rhames and Dan Aykroyd co-star in this hilarious comedy.It's crude and sometimes awkward, but there's a gleefully subversive movie lurking inside I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. By virtue of a tooth-grinding contrivance, two manly Manhattan firefighters, Adam Sandler and Kevin James, must move in together and pretend to be gay; after seeing life from the other side, they learn something about tolerance. Sandler is the obnoxious, aggressively offensive womanizer, while James plays a widowed dad worried about his effeminate son. Nothing is too surprising about the way this works out, except for the film's unabashedly gay-rights fervor. It's one thing for a sensitive art-house movie to preach to the choir, and quite another for Sandler to speak to his multiplex audience on how uncool it is to use a homophobic slur. Ham-handedly directed and almost proudly sloppy, Chuck & Larry wins points for remaining defiantly rude; a nicer movie wouldn't have been as effective. There's a hilarious supporting performance by Ving Rhames, and Jessica Biel brings her Kim Novak-style glamour to a truly unbelievable character. Rob Schneider and Richard Chamberlain (two names not generally brought together) are amusing in small roles. --Robert Horton more...

Simply Irresistible (DVD)

Simply Irresistible from Fox

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Beautiful restaurant owner Amanda Shelton (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is falling head over heels for handsome, hard-driving executive Tom Bartlett (Sean Patrick Flanery). Unfortunately, Tom is too busy to recognize that she's truly the girl of his dreams until Amanda puts him under her tantalizing spell!Call it Buffy the Culinary Slayer. Sarah Michelle Gellar, who usually runs around staking vampires and fighting demons, turns cute and cuddly as an aspiring chef in this magical-realist comedy that borrows a page--heck, whole chapters--from Like Water for Chocolate. Out at the market one day, Gellar stumbles on both a magical crab and the babelicious Sean Patrick Flanery who, wouldn't you know it, is opening up a posh restaurant at Bendel's department store (actually, the two have been brought together by fairy godfather Christopher Durang). Odd and implausible circumstances give these two cuties more opportunities to moon at each other, and suddenly Gellar's cooking takes off--turns out all her nicey-nice feelings towards Flanery are going into her cooking, with the help of that quiet but powerful little crab. Gellar's almost-closed restaurant starts to thrive, and her desserts begin making everyone horny. A cute premise that never really takes off, Simply Irresistible glides along on Gellar's charisma alone; in her off hours, Buffy certainly can be the lighthearted girl next door, and Gellar works to give some depth to her one-dimensional character. Flanery, though, while appealing at times, plays up his character's commitment-phobia to irritating degrees. Chock full of fairy-tale elements that never really come together (is that crab really necessary?), Irresistible does boast charming performances by Patricia Clarkson and Dylan Baker as Flanery's secretary and boss, respectively. However, it's a little odd to see these two, who scored raves for two serious and harrowing art-house flicks (Clarkson in High Art, Baker in Happiness) doing the light-and-fluffy romantic comedy thing. They're two of the very few ingredients that occasionally make this soufflé of a movie rise; at the end, however, it's flat as a pancake. --Mark Englehart more...

The Queen (DVD)

The Queen from Buena Vista Home Video

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Winner of the Academy Award® for Best Actress, Dame Helen Mirren gives a spellbinding performance in THE QUEEN, the provocative story behind one of the most public tragedies of our time — the sudden death of Princess Diana. In the wake of Diana's death, the very private and tradition-bound Queen Elizabeth II (Mirren) finds herself in conflict with the new Prime Minister, the slickly modern and image-conscious Tony Blair. THE QUEEN, also starring Academy Award® Nominee James Cromwell (Best Supporting Actor, BABE, 1995), takes you inside the private chambers of the Royal Family and the British government for a captivating look at a vulnerable human being in her darkest hour, as a nation grieving for its People's Princess waits to see what its leaders will do. Suspenseful, heartfelt and riveting, it's a fascinating story you won’t soon forget.Helen Mirren reigns supreme in The Queen, a witty and ingenious look at a moment that rocked the house of Windsor: the week that followed the sudden death of Princess Diana in 1997. Diana's death came at just the same time that Prime Minister Tony Blair (played by the bright Michael Sheen) was settling into his new government--and trying to figure out the delicate relationship between 10 Downing Street and Queen Elizabeth II (Mirren). A large portion of the British population was trying to figure out the Windsors that week, as Elizabeth remained stiff-upper-lip and largely mum about the death of the beloved princess. In Peter Morgan's skillful script, we watch as Blair grows increasingly impatient with the Royals, who are sequestered in their Scottish estate while the public demands some show of grief. Prince Philip (James Cromwell, in good form) clumsily decides to take Diana's sons hunting, while a sympathetically-treated Prince Charles (Alex Jennings) displays some frustration with his mother's eerie calm.

None of this conveys how funny the film is, or how deftly it flows from one scene to the next. Director Stephen Frears (Dirty Pretty Things) deserves great credit for that, and for the performances, and for the movie's marvelous sense of well-roundedness; you could see this movie and groan at the cluelessness of the Royals and their outmoded existence, or you might just sympathize with showing reserve in a world that values gross public displays of emotion. But either way, you'll marvel at Mirren, who makes the Queen far more alert and human than one might ever have imagined. --Robert Horton

Beyond The Queen

The British are Coming! Kings & Queens on DVD

Helen Mirren Essential DVDs

The Queen: Music From the Motion Picture by Alexandre Desplat

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I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (widescreen Edition) from Universal Studios Home Entertain.

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An Education (DVD)

An Education from Sony

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This offbeat coming-of-age drama is set in a London suburb in the early 1960s, where a 16-year-old girl (Carey Mulligan) on the fast track to Oxford University develops an unusual friendship with a man (Peter Sarsgaard) nearly twice her age. Romance blossoms as she is swept up in Sarsgaard's cultured, sophisticated lifestyle. But a shocking revelation about his life makes Mulligan realize she may be growing up a little too fast. With Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, Olivia Williams, and Emma Thompson. 100 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtrack: English Dolby Digital 5.1; Subtitles: English (SDH), French; audio commentary; deleted scenes; featurettes.A young girl seduced by an older man may be a common story, but An Education is no common movie. As Jenny, a precocious middle-class British schoolgirl charmed by a small-time criminal, newcomer Carey Mulligan is luminous; her face can be plain and beautiful at the same time, her eyes expressing a restless intelligence and a hungry soul. As David, the seducer, Peter Sarsgaard (Year of the Dog, Garden State) gives yet another rich, thoughtful performance. The script, adapted by Nick Hornby (whose novels High Fidelity and About a Boy have been made into movies), is full of unexpected details that bring every moment to life. Director Lone Scherfig (Italian for Beginners) has made sure that every character is vivid and real; even seemingly minor moments have texture and vitality. The supporting cast--including Alfred Molina, Emma Thompson, Cara Seymour (Adaptation), Dominic Cooper (The History Boys), and Olivia Williams (Rushmore)--is simply impeccable. In a small but memorable part, Rosamund Pike (Die Another Day) shows an unexpected (and marvelous) comic side. In short, An Education is a funny, smart, and compassionate movie that will launch a great career for Mulligan and be a jewel on the filmographies of everyone involved. See this movie. --Bret Fetzer

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Scary Movie 3 (Widescreen Edition) (DVD)

Scary Movie 3 (widescreen Edition) from Miramax Home Entertainment

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The third time's an outrageously funny charm for this series, as David Zucker of "Airplane!" fame takes over the directorial reins. This time out, Anna Faris is a TV reporter investigating crop circles and killer videotapes while trying to save the world from an alien invasion. Laugh out loud as "Signs," "The Sixth Sense," "The Matrix," "The Ring," and other films are skewered. Charlie Sheen, Denise Richards, Timothy Stack, Jenny McCarthy, Camryn Manheim, and Leslie Nielsen also star. 84 min.Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1; Subtitles: Spanish; audio commentary; deleted scenes; alternate ending; "making of" documentary; outtakes.This freewheeling parody tosses horror movies, Eminem, The Matrix, and much more into a cinematic blender. Scary Movie 3 centers around Cindy (Anna Faris, Lost in Translation), a bubble-headed young newscaster who believes that a deadly videotape has some mysterious connection to the aliens who've been making crop circles in the cornfield of a local farmer (Charlie Sheen, Young Guns), whose brother (Simon Rex) hopes to win a local rap contest. Along for the ride are Queen Latifah, George Carlin, Anthony Anderson, Pamela Anderson, Jenny McCarthy, Jeremy Piven, Camryn Manheim, Ja Rule, dozens of rap stars, and Leslie Nielsen as the President of the U.S. No need to have seen the first two Scary Movie flicks--though a few of the characters recur, the movie leapfrogs from gag to goofy gag, plundering The Ring, Signs, and The Others as needed. Silly and slapdash, but with a decent dose of laughs. --Bret Fetzer more...

วันจันทร์ที่ 19 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2555

Material Girls (DVD)

Material Girls from Tcfhe/mgm

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Sisters Tanzie and Ava (Hilary and Haylie Duff) have it all ? designer clothes to wear, hunky guys to date and millions of dollars to spend. Their life has been one big party since inheriting their dad's cosmetics company... but the party ends when a product scandal leaves the celebutantes without a penny to their name. It's a hilarious riches-to-rags tale as the girls go from maximum fun to minimum wage. Co-starring Anjelica Huston and Lukas Haas, MATERIAL GIRLS proves that laughter is always in fashion.Glamour girls Hilary and Haylie Duff (featured in Lizzie McGuire and 7th Heaven, respectively) star as cosmetic heiresses Ava and Tanzie Marchetta, whose lives get turned upside down when their deceased father's company is accused of selling toxic products. Wouldn't you know it, Ava and Tanzie decide to go all Erin Brockovich and investigate. Material Girls should be awful--but it isn't. It's not a great film, it may not even be a good film, but it's more watchable than it has any right to be, thanks to the confident and thoughtful guiding hand of director Martha Coolidge (Rambling Rose, Valley Girl). It's hard to say exactly how a director can keep something like Material Girls from being as insipid as, say, New York Minute. Coolidge injects some hint of awareness of what it actually means to be poor, casts some surprising actors (like Anjelica Huston, Prizzi's Honor; Brent Spiner, Star Trek: The Next Generation; and Lukas Haas, Brick), and somehow makes the Marchetta sisters both vapid and sympathetic--all of which is some impressive cinematic alchemy. The result is the most enjoyable film of Hilary Duff's career. --Bret Fetzer more...

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (DVD)

The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian from Walt Disney Video

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The magical world of C.S. Lewis beloved fantasy comes to life once again in Prince Caspian, the second installment of The Chronicles Of Narnia series. Join Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, the mighty and majestic Aslan, friendly new Narnian creatures and Prince Caspian as they lead the Narnians on a remarkable journey to restore peace and glory to their enchanted land. Continuing the adventure of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe with more magic and a brand-new hero, Prince Caspian is a triumph of imagination, courage, love, joy and humor your whole family will want to watch again and again.More exciting than The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian continues the movie franchise based on C.S. Lewis' classic fantasy books. The movie picks up where the first left off... sort of. It's been a year since the Pevensie children--Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and Lucy (Georgie Henley)--returned to England from Narnia, and they've just about resigned themselves to living their ordinary lives. But just like that, they're once again transported to a fantastical land, but one with a long-abandoned castle. It turns out that they are in Narnia again--and they themselves lived in that castle, but hundreds of years ago in Narnia time. They've been summoned back to help Prince Caspian (Stardust's Ben Barnes, resembling a young, cultured Keanu Reeves), the rightful heir to the throne who's become the target of his power-hungry uncle, King Mraz (Sergio Castellitto). And he's not the only one threatened: Mraz's people, the Telmarines, have pushed all the Narnians--the talking animals, the centaurs and other beasts, the walking trees--to the brink of extinction. Despite some alpha-male bickering, Peter and Caspian agree to fight Mraz alongside the remaining Narnians, including the dwarf Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage) and the swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep (voiced by Eddie Izzard). (Also appearing is Warwick Davis, who was in Willow and the 1989 BBC Prince Caspian.) But of course they most of all miss the noble lion, Aslan, who would have never let this happen to Narnia if he hadn't disappeared. Prince Caspian is epic, evoking memories of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. (Some of the battle elements may seem too familiar, but they were in Lewis's book.) And it's appropriate for kids (Reepicheep could have come out of a Shrek movie), though the tone is dark and there is a lot of death, albeit bloodless. After two successful films, Disney and Walden Media's franchise has proved successful enough that many of the characters are scheduled to return in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. --David Horiuchi

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