Category: The Twenty-First Century
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Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 [2013] ★★½
I really enjoyed the first “Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs” back in 2009, so naturally I was looking forward to part two. As far as sequels go, this one is entertaining, brightly colored with more plot than is truly necessary. The movie picks up where the last one left off with inventor Flint Lockwood (voiced…
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The Family [2013] ★★
Robert DeNiro plays a mobster in “The Family”, the new movie from director Luc Besson (“The Professional”, “La Femme Nikita”). Last time he played the role of a mob was…10 minutes ago? Anyway he and his family are put in the witness protection program in Normandy (France, just in case), after daddy DeNiro ratted out…
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Empire State [2013]
Welcome to Dwayne Johnson’s 100th movie of the year (I’m not really sure about the number but who’s counting?). He plays a cop who tries to stop a couple of morons (that would be the dreadful Liam Hemsworth and Michael Angarano) from robbing an armored car company. That’s it for plot in this truly awful movie.…
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Gravity [2013] ★★★½
Question: How do you transform a simple story about survival into one of the most dazzling movies you’ll see this year? You call Alfonso Cuaron, the director of “Children of Men”, who turns it into a magnificent and moving experience. Cuaron’s use of 3D to tell the story is absolutely thrilling. Like “Life of Pi”, from…
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The World’s End [2013] ★★★
Leave it to the brits to turn a one joke premise into one of the funniest movies of the year. “The World’s End”, the third collaboration between director Edgar Wright and comic duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost made me laugh from start to finish. Much of this has to do with the likability of…
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Runner Runner [2013] ★½
It takes a certain misdirection to make the talent of a good cast (Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlake and Gemma Arterton) disappear right before your eyes. “Runner Runner”, clumsily directed by Brad Furman (“The Lincoln Lawyer“) from a lousy script by Brian Koppelman and David Levien does exactly that. So what’s it about? That’s hard to…
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Prisoners [2013] ★★★½
Other films this year will have to try hard to match the explosive power and masterful direction of Denis Villeneuve’s “Prisoners”. His film sneaks up, messes with you head and leaves you breathless. Allow it. Yet on the surface, the plot sounds like an ordinary police procedural: Keller Dover’s (Hugh Jackman) six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing,…
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Getaway [2013]
Do not confuse this terrible mess with Steve McQueen’s classic movie “The Getaway”. This loud, ugly film made my ears hurt. Which leads me to this: why in hell do Hollywood studios always choose September to bury their misfires? They must think we won’t notice, distracted by the summer leftovers (I’m talking to you, “Riddick“). Well…
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Planes [2013] ★★
I admire Disney’s animated features a lot, that it hurts to actually give one of their movies a low rating. Then again I’ve never gotten a headache watching any of their previous films. Because there is no leftover story to tell from “Cars” anymore, “Planes” takes place in the same world, except that it features…well…
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This Is The End [2013] ★★½
Hate on Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s bizarre comedy all you want. But these dudes know exactly what they’re doing. Yes “This is the End” is built on a one joke premise, but it’s one heck of a joke. Take James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Danny McBride, Michael Cera, Craig Robinson, Jason Segel and Jay…
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The Bling Ring [2013] ★★
Talented directors can miss the mark every now and then. Case in point: Sofia Coppola’s “The Bling Ring”, an empty exercise that makes “Marie Antoinette” look like “The Godfather”. I admit: it had me going for a while. The fact based story follows Nicki (Emma Watson) and a bunch of kids who decide to rob…
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Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters [2013] ★★
The sequel is livelier and slightly better than “The Lightning Thief”— the first of the films being made from Rick Riordan’s five “Percy Jackson” books. But that 2010 movie should have taught a lesson. Both films had potential: why not introduce a dyslexic ADHD boy and let him discover that he is a demigod and the son of…
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Welcome To The Punch [2013] ★½
“Welcome to the Punch” is a stinker from start to finish. That’s all you need to know. Rating: 1.5/4
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Riddick [2013] ★★
It had me going for a while. The first 30 minutes felt like an old fashioned B western flick in which Vin Diesel’s Riddick gets dumped in the middle of nowhere and finds himself struggling to survive on a lifeless planet. Not a bad idea for a premise. But then Dave Bautista (from WWE) and…
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The Frozen Ground [2013] ★★
Confession: I was a huge Nicolas Cage fan back in the 90’s and early 2000’s. “Face- Off”, “The Rock”, “Matchstick Men” and “Lord Of War” were among his best work. So what happened? “The Wicker Man”, “Ghost Rider”, “Season of the Witch”, “Stolen” and “Trespass” were just God-awful movies, we assumed that he’s only in…
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Turbo [2013] ★★★
It’s not “Kung Fu Panda” or “Monsters Inc”, but “Turbo” has enough charm and colorful characters to entertain kids and adults alike. The unusual hero here is a snail called Theo who dreams of competing in the Indianapolis 500. Of course that’s no easy task for a snail, that is until it gains superpowers during…
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Kick- Ass 2 [2013] ★½
If you read the blog back in 2010 (I doubt it), you may understand why I wasn’t looking forward to this much-hyped sequel. I thought the first Kick- Ass movie was decent enough, but I can’t call myself a die-hard fan. I guess this is my way of saying that part 2 sucks. I was…
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2 Guns [2013] ★★
Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg are a pleasure to watch in almost anything. But they’re both too good for a standard-issue action movie like “2 Guns”. I had a good time watching it, I can’t deny that, but the movie is full of possibilities and it sucks that only a few of them are realized.…
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The Conjuring [2013] ★★★
“The Conjuring” is quite simply the most chilling movie I’ve seen in a very long time. It comes at you like a beast in the dark. Credits go to director James Wan (“Saw”, “Insidious”) who decides to use familiar techniques to haunt his audience. And damn it, it works like a charm. Based on paranormal investigator…
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The Mortal Instruments: City Of Bones [2013] ★½
I’m always fascinated when a studio thinks a movie it has produced sucks so bad that it refuses to screen it for critics. So Monday afternoon I paid up to see “The Mortal Instruments”. Two guys walked in then left 45 minutes later. That left me and 2 other girls in a warm theater with…
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