The trailer is here, so the countdown to the holiday release of “Anchorman: The Legend Continues” begins. Will Ferrell looks as funny as ever as Ron Burgendy, and with the beautiful Meagan Good (check out our slideshow!) as a new love interest, the trailer gives a glimpse of how Ron is totally incapable of handling an interracial relationship. The results predictable but hilarious. Comedy sequels are tough to pull off, so hopefully the amount of time that’s passed since the original “Anchorman” has helped them come up with enough fresh material to make this one work.
Category: Movies (Page 142 of 191)
Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Helen Mirren, Nathan Fillion
Dan Scanlon
For the first 15 years of their existence, Pixar was bulletproof. For the past three years, less so. Following the soaring success of 2010’s “Toy Story 3” was going to be difficult regardless, but 2011’s “Cars 2” and 2012’s “Brave” marked the first time in the company’s history that they released back-to-back films that could be considered disappointments (at least from a critical standpoint; they still made just under $1.1 billion in worldwide ticket sales). With the announcement that their next film would be “Monsters University,” a prequel to 2001’s “Monsters Inc.,” people smelled blood in the water. They’ve run out of ideas. They’re not even trying to be the Pixar of “old.” (That last line is an actual complaint from a fellow critic.) And to be fair, “Monsters University” doesn’t tug at the heart strings the way its predecessor did, but at the same time, how could it? Boo was one of the cutest characters in movie history, and there was no organic way of playing that card in a college setting.
So no, “Monsters University” won’t be anyone’s favorite Pixar movie, but it’s still quite enjoyable, funny, beautifully rendered, and it has a great message for kids about not letting anyone tell you what you can or can’t be. It’s no “Up” or “WALL∙E,” but it’s better than Pixar’s last two films combined, and for that alone, we should be thankful.
Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) arrives on the campus of Monsters University with stars in his eyes. He has wanted to be a scarer since he was a little boy, and has read every book on the subject. Jimmy Sullivan (John Goodman), on the other hand, is a prodigy, a natural born scarer who takes his gifts for granted. After both are kicked out of scaring school because of their obvious shortcomings (Sulley is lazy, and Mike just isn’t scary enough), Mike makes a bet with the tough-nosed Dean Hardscrabble (a pitch-perfect Helen Mirren), where she will let him back into scaring school if he and his oddball fraternity brothers win the annual Scare Games competition. If he loses, he’s expelled from school. Yep, it’s “Revenge of the Nerds,” with monsters, and John Goodman on the ‘nerd’ side of the battle this time around.
Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Fana Mokoena, Sterling Jerins, Abigail Hargrove
Marc Forster
“World War Z” has gone through a battle of its own just to make it into theaters. In addition to rumors of a bloated budget and unrest on the set between director Mark Forster and star Brad Pitt, the film’s original release date was pushed back six months to accommodate major rewrites and additional shooting. The studio may not have been able to keep the behind-the-scenes drama under wraps, but it doesn’t seem to have affected the final product, because you honestly wouldn’t know there was even a problem to begin with from watching the movie. Although fans of Max Brooks’ bestselling novel will undoubtedly be disappointed by how much has been changed during the adaptation from page to screen, “World War Z” is an immensely entertaining film that also happens to be much smarter than your average summer blockbuster.
Pitt stars as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations worker who specialized in averting international disasters. These days, however, he’s just an ordinary stay-at-home dad living with his wife (Mireille Enos) and two kids in Philadelphia. During a routine trip into the city one morning, all hell breaks loose when people suddenly start attacking others on the street like feral animals, transforming the victims into similar monsters within seconds of being bitten. Gerry and his family barely manage to escape the chaos and are eventually rescued by helicopter and transported to an aircraft carrier in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean after his old U.N. buddy Thierry (Fana Mokoena) pulls some strings. Of course, Thierry has ulterior motives for saving Gerry’s life and wants him back in the field immediately to help track down the cause of the zombie epidemic, and if he refuses, his family will be swiftly booted off the VIP-only vessel.
Katie Chang, Isreal Broussard, Emma Watson, Taissa Farmiga, Claire Julien
Sofia Coppola
Sofia Coppola was once heralded as one of Hollywood’s most promising young directors, but over the years, she’s looked more likely to follow in the footsteps of her famous father’s recent work than his celebrated early films. After duds like “Marie Antoinette” and “Somewhere,” Coppola needed to deliver something great to get her career back on track, but while “The Bling Ring” offers an interesting commentary on America’s fame-obsessed youth culture, it’s an incredibly shallow exposé that barely skims the surface of what could have been a fascinating drama. Based on Nancy Jo Sales’ Vanity Fair article “The Suspect Wore Louboutins,” there’s no real point to the movie, unless it’s to say that stealing from B-list celebrities will make you equally as famous, in which case, isn’t it just contributing to the problem?
Though all of the names have been changed, Coppola doesn’t shy away from the fact that it’s based on a true story. If only the studio was as upfront about Emma Watson’s involvement, because despite being marketed as the star of the film, the actress plays a surprisingly small role. Instead, the story is centered on a gay outcast named Marc (Israel Broussard), who meets type-A bad girl Rebecca (Katie Chang) during his first day at a new school and is promptly taken under her wing. After wetting their feet with some petty thefts, Rebecca convinces Marc to break into Paris Hilton’s house when they read on a gossip website that she’s out of town for the night, leaving the pair free to go on a mini shopping spree of the hotel heiress’ massive wardrobe.
When they boast about how easy their conquest was to friends Nicki (Watson), Sam (Taissa Farmiga) and Chloe (Claire Julien), the group of teenage kleptomaniacs returns to Hilton’s house to indulge in their celebrity fantasies, leading to a series of burglaries in the homes of other Hollywood Hills residents like Lindsay Lohan, Megan Fox, Miranda Kerr and Rachel Bilson. (In every instance, one of the doors was either unlocked, or in the case of Hilton, a key was left under the doormat.) And since Coppola intercuts the main narrative with scenes of the rich kids preparing for their big day in court, it’s not a spoiler to reveal that they were eventually caught.
Every Tuesday, I review the newest Blu-ray releases and let you know whether they’re worth buying, renting or skipping, along with a breakdown of the included extras. If you see something you like, click on the cover art to purchase the Blu-ray from Amazon, and be sure to share each week’s column on Facebook and Twitter with your friends.
“Stoker”
WHAT: After her father dies in a car accident on her 18th birthday, India Stoker (Mia Wasikowska) becomes infatuated with her uncle Charlie (Matthew Goode), who she never knew existed, when he comes to live with India and her unstable mother (Nicole Kidman). But when people around town start disappearing, she begins to suspect that Charlie may be the one responsible.
WHY: Written by former “Prison Break” star Wentworth Miller, “Stoker” plays like one giant homage to Alfred Hitchcock (particularly his 1943 film “Shadow of a Doubt”), but with a decidedly unique and erotic twist that only a director of Park Chan-wook’s warped sensibilities could conceive. To call the movie a slow burn would be putting it lightly, but it’s entirely compelling in the way that it patiently seduces the audience into an almost dreamlike trance. You simply can’t look away, and that’s thanks mostly to the stylish combination of Chung Chung-hoon’s rich cinematography and Nicholas de Toth’s playful editing. Though it would be easy to criticize the film for favoring style over substance, there’s a lot more going on behind the sumptuous visuals, including some excellent performances by its lead actors. “Stoker” isn’t for everyone, but fans of Park’s previous work won’t be disappointed by this offbeat, psychosexual thriller.
EXTRAS: Fox’s single-disc release boasts a behind-the-scenes look at making the film, a trio of featurettes on the characters, production design and score, footage from the red carpet premiere and deleted scenes.
FINAL VERDICT: BUY
“Jack the Giant Slayer”
WHAT: When a young farmhand named Jack (Nicholas Hoult) accidentally opens a gateway between his world and a race of vengeful giants using some magic beans, he joins a search party of the king’s bravest men to climb the beanstalk and rescue the princess (Eleanor Tomlinson) from captivity, reigniting a centuries-old war.
WHY: Bryan Singer hasn’t made a good movie since “X2: X-Men United,” and that streak continues with this dull reimagining of the classic fairy tale, which features some of the ugliest special effects of the year (unless you include Ewan McGregor’s hair). There are so many things wrong with “Jack the Giant Slayer” that it’s hard to know where to begin, but a lot of the problems stem from the script, which strikes such a contradicting tone (one minute a silly adventure film, and the next a dark and gritty action movie) that it doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. The actors suffer the most as a result – especially star Nicholas Hoult, who’s unable to do much with such a bland, one-dimensional character. McGregor does have a bit of fun as the head of the king’s guard, but he’s about the only enjoyable thing in an otherwise lackluster film.
EXTRAS: In addition to an interactive experience on how to “Become a Giant Slayer” hosted by Nicholas Hoult, there are also some deleted scenes and a gag reel.
FINAL VERDICT: SKIP
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