**
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Abduction**
**
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
"Ringer:" Hip Thriller or Mediocre Mystery?
Monday, September 12, 2011
"Contagion" Review ****
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Music Review: Mat Kearney's "Young Love"
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
The Top Five Reasons to See "The Help"
She has one scene in “The Help” that isn’t funny at all though. I was floored, in fact, at the depth of sadness she portrays after hearing some news from her on-screen mother, played by Allison Janney. What really got me was a tiny detail: her chin wobbles. As far as I know, chin wobbling is no easy feat. Stone must have reached deeply into her character, or perhaps her own life, to produce such a perfect display of sorrow.
Monday, August 15, 2011
The Battle of the Ryans
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
X-Men: First Class ***1/2
Rated PG-13 (for intense sequences of action and violence, some sexual content including brief partial nudity and language)
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Written by Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Bridesmaids * * * *
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Mother's Day Mix ("Something Borrowed," "Water for Elephants," "African Cats")
Something Borrowed
Water For Elephants
African Cats
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Soul Surfer * * * *
Starring AnnaSophia Robb, Helen Hunt, Dennis Quaid, Lorraine Nicholson, Carrie Underwood, Kevin Sorbo
Rated PG (for an intense accident sequence and some thematic material)
Written by Sean McNamara, Debra Schwartz (based on the book "Soul Surfer" by Bethany Hamilton, Sheryl Berk, and Rick Bundschuh)
Directed by Sean McNamara
Sunday, January 23, 2011
No Strings Attached **
Rated R (for sexual content, language and some drug material)
Directed by Ivan Reitman
Screenplay/Story by Elizabeth Meriwether and Michael Samonek
* *
If you can’t get enough of Natalie Portman this season, then by all means, rush to see “No Strings Attached.” Soak up the gorgeous pint-sized actress’s offbeat, quirky humor. Otherwise, this film is one to Netflix.
It’s not that Kutcher and Portman don’t have chemistry, they surely do. Nor is it that they aren’t believable in their roles: Portman is Emma, a brilliant commitment-phobe doctor and Kutcher is Adam, a wannabe writer with a big heart. Even the script and storyline aren’t bad; it’s Hollywood’s effort to appeal to both sexes watching the film that baffles me.
Instead of smart humor that tickles the funnybone, there are endless penis and vagina jokes. The writers rely on a lot of raucous humor and drug references to draw laughs, which has become all too predictable in this new generation of rom-coms. While “No Strings Attached” isn’t as horribly off-target (and offensive to both sexes) as 2009’s “The Ugly Truth” with Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler, it comes in as a distant second. Its saving grace is the quality of the acting and the story.
Despite all of this, there are several winning supporting actors that bring humor to the film on a much simpler level. Kevin Kline is Kutcher’s horrible father and young talent Olivia Thirlby plays Portman’s younger sister. Other appearances, unfortunately few and far between are from Cary Elwes and “The Office’s” Mindy Kaling.
Amusing throughout, with some sweetly romantic moments, “No Strings Attached” misses the mark on being truly entertaining to both men and women. Instead it relies on dumbing down its audience with base humor for a quick laugh. I have high hopes that audiences are looking for more than that.