Wednesday 19 Jun
 
 

The Last Exorcism Part II

Unlike many moviegoers, 17-year-old farm girl Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell, The Day) has no memory of the events of The Last Exorcism, a found-footage smash of three years prior. The Last Exorcism Part II finds her taking steps to build life anew, beginning in a boarding house for troubled girls, where the deeply devout Nell is exposed to such heretofore corrupting influences as lipstick and rock music and YouTube and cotton candy.
06/19/2013 | Comments 0

The ABCs of Death

Suspense novelist Jeffery Deaver once praised the short-story format, writing that the minimal time investment on the part of the reader allows the writer to get away with endings he or she cannot in the long form. In other words, the writer can be meaner, more devious. He's absolutely right, and the theory applies wholesale to The ABCs of Death, more or less a horror anthology depicting "26 ways to die."
06/19/2013 | Comments 0

Ninja III: The Domination

Don't ask why Ninja III: The Domination begins with a ninja assault on a municipal golf course. Just be grateful it does. You also may wonder why its sex scene employs a can of V8: Don't question it. Just lie back and enjoy it.
06/14/2013 | Comments 0

Lifeforce

Tobe Hooper got a raw deal. The director of horror hits The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Poltergeist didn't deserve to be sent to movie jail for 1985's Lifeforce. It's a well-crafted, well-intentioned work that was mismarketed and misunderstood, losing a bundle of money and soon sending Hooper into the lands of episodic television and direct-to-video features.
06/14/2013 | Comments 0

Dead Souls

With Dead Souls, we can prove something about the Chiller cable network's original features that Remains could not: Source material is not to blame for their pervasive generic nature — it's the economy, stupid.
06/11/2013 | Comments 0
Home · Articles · Movies · Comedy · Fred Claus
Comedy

Fred Claus


None November 15th, 2007

fredclaus

 

Reviewer's grade: C

Swinging for the bleachers, Vince Vaughn hits a shaky single with this holiday-centered family comedy about Santa's (Paul Giamatti) older brother. After a millennium of being the "other" sibling, Fred is tired of having his Claus removed. Needing cash to open a betting parlor, Fred heads north to help Santa meet the growing world's demand for presents. Santa also is being scrutinized by an efficiency expert (Kevin Spacey) who wants to outsource manufacturing to the South Pole. That's cold.

 

Director David Dobkin can't decide whether this is a satire suitable for smart kids or a dumb kiddie picture that needs the occasional boost of adult humor to keep the parents from going to sleep. The premise is amusing, but Dan Fogelman's dialogue is flat-out forgettable. The supporting cast rocks, but has little to do.

 

This is Vaughn's flick and he doesn't seem to want to share much of it, even with Giamatti. Making Christmas movies is tougher than it looks. It's hard out here for a ho (ho, ho). PG

 

"”Doug Bentin 

 

View trailer

 
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
 
 

 

 
 
 
Close
Close
Close