Susan Sarandon
Movie Review: Tammy
Let me just start out by saying I’m a huge fan of Melissa McCarthy, I absolutely loved her in Bridesmaids (2011). Unfortunately, the new film Tammy is not her best work. She plays pretty much the same role here that she has before, a tough but really mushy big girl that is forever getting into trouble. Tammy was written by McCarthy and her husband, Ben Falcone (who also has a small role and direct...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Super Bowl XLVII Movie Spot Roundup!
Well, another Super Bowl has come and gone – congratulations to the Baltimore Ravens on their victory, and good job to the San Francisco 49ers, too. But for people like me, who are cinephiles and not football fans, the main thing that the Big Game has to offer is the new TV spots for upcoming movies. This year, there were seven movie spots during Super Bowl XLVII, and on this week’s Trailer ...[Read More]
Movie Review: Arbitrage
First we need to start with a definition: “arbitrage” refers to the simultaneous buying and selling of the same negotiable financial instruments or commodities in different markets in order to make an immediate profit without risk. In a nutshell, the film Arbitrage is like a much longer version of the television series, American Greed. How does it play out? Not great, the film is predictable, bori...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: Sci-Fi Meets the Surreal in Cloud Atlas
Another week brings another new trailer to dissect and analyze. In this week’s column, I turn my cold, bespectacled gaze onto the second trailer for the upcoming sci-fi/drama epic Cloud Atlas. Premise: An epic story of humankind in which the actions and consequences of our lives impact one another throughout the past, present, and future, as one soul is shaped from a murderer into a savior, ...[Read More]
Trailer Trashin’: It’s Up Meets Short Circuit in Robot & Frank
Happy Fourth of July, everyone! Whatever you do to celebrate – have a barbecue, go to the movies, watch fireworks – enjoy yourself. I’ll be watching my local parade, having lunch at the Coney Island, and then watching my traditional double feature of Jaws (1975) and Independence Day (1996). But in the meantime, let’s take a look at the first trailer for the upcoming indie sci-fi comedy...[Read More]
Movie Review: That’s My Boy
Adam Sandler movies seem to go from one extreme to the other. Either they are classic great ones like, Happy Gilmore or horrifyingly bad like Jack and Jill. That’s My Boy is somewhere in the middle. There are moments that you do laugh, as well as certain moments when you are just plain embarrassed for all involved in this film. My best guess is that Adam Sandler fans will enjoy this movie, but it ...[Read More]
The Ten Best Baseball Movies Ever Made
There’s a speech given by James Earl Jones as writer Terence Mann in Field of Dreams that perfectly sums up the American love affair with the game of baseball. As Mann tries to convince Kevin Costner’s character, Ray Kinsella, that a baseball field in the middle of an Iowa cornfield is a surefire money-making business venture and not the byproduct of a midlife crisis, he hits upon why we love the ...[Read More]
Movie Review: Jeff, Who Lives at Home
Jeff is 30 and lives in his mother’s basement. He’s unemployed, smokes too much weed, and hasn’t had a girlfriend since high school (surprised?). He’s a slacker in every sense of the word, but according to Jeff he simply hasn’t found his destiny yet. I’m guessing many slackers use the same excuse to justify their laziness, but I doubt any slacker alive is as obsessed with the M. Night Shyamalan mo...[Read More]
Bela Lugosi’s Not Really Dead: A Vampire Movie Primer
Vampires are so commonplace in entertainment these days that I cannot fathom how anyone could find them mysterious, otherworldly, or especially frightening. In our narcissistic age, people romanticize vampires because the idea of staying young forever trumps any of the existential sadness of such a proposition. Furthermore, the horror aspect of the undead has been entirely co-opted and taken to ex...[Read More]