Last time, I reviewed the movies “Rio,” “Monte Carlo” and “Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer” so my dad didn’t have to, but this time, I’m reviewing the movies “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” and “The Smurfs.” I loved the movie “Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” and everything about it. It was a comedy that I definitely enjoyed. […]
DVD reviews
Posted inArts & Culture
Night Train Murders
It’s not, but the comparison to Wes Craven’s 1972 debut is hardly unwarranted, because director Aldo Lado’s Italian film is practically a remake, right down to the lead ugly-mugged thug, but with an added mode of transportation. Heck, a poster in the disc’s advertising gallery even reveals an alternate title of “Last House — Part […]
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Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us?
But this is no peep show. Director/producer Taggart Siegel (“The Real Dirt on Farmer John”) has loftier goals in mind with this documentary on colony collapse disorder. That’s a fancy-sounding scientific phrase for the disappearance ’round the globe of worker bees. While the insectophobic among us may think that’s not that big a deal, “Queen […]
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Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure
See, Johnny Lee Sausage and Mitch Deprey had trouble sleeping because of the drunken arguments pouring through the paper-thin walls of the oil-and-water old men Ray and Pete, one of whom was gay, both of whom drank constantly, and neither of whom worked. Ray and Pete’s nightly exchanges included slurred shouts of “cocksucker” and “fuckin’ […]
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Cold Sweat
One drop of the stuff and your head resembles a watermelon dropped from a skyscraper. Certainly, this is among the most original concepts in modern horror, and indie director/co-writer Adrián Garcia Bogliano does not let the audience down. His pair of inglorious bastards — the mastermind having only one eye and requiring a walker — […]
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Tucker and Dale vs Evil
Still, even with the trailer freshly consumed and digested, you shouldn’t miss the movie. Putting a spin on a staple of slasher films — if not all of cinema, post-“Deliverance” — rednecks Tucker (Alan Tudyk, “Dodgeball”) and Dale (Tyler Labine, “A Good Old Fashioned Orgy“) aren’t actually trying to kill, maim or otherwise harm the […]
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Answer This!
Answer: “Answer This,” a harmless, but forgettable romantic comedy not worthy of the exclamation point in its title. Caterpillar-eyebrowed Christopher Gorham (TV’s “Covert Affairs”) plays Paul Tarson, a TA of a “Bible as Literature” college class, and son of the esteemed English professor Dr. Elliot Tarson (Ralph Williams, in his first feature). Living in his […]
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Redline
While director Takeshi Koike’s (“The Animatrix,” TV’s “Iron Man”) animated extravaganza depicts a world where aliens and animals walk and talk and dine on Hexagonal Worm Spaghetti Soup, our hero is an old-school human named JP, who’s cast in 1950s Elvis Presley mode, complete with Johnny Bravo pompadour. With a Patrick Warburton-esque delivery in the […]
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In the Name of the King 2: Two Worlds
Then, inexplicably, he’s warped from the “Time Beyond” to centuries ago, where he’s told by the king (Lochlyn Munro, “Daddy Day Camp”) to serve as the “Chosen One” and help his village battle the “Dark Ones.” Bearing a bejeweled crown atop a fright wig, Munro looks less like a king and more like a waiter […]
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Warrior
In Philadelphia, his estranged brother, high school physics teacher Brendan (Joel Edgerton, “Animal Kingdom”), is a family man upside-down on his mortgage. Dire circumstances force the two independently to enter a winners-take-all, mixed-martial-arts tournament in Atlantic City, with “all” equating to a prize of $5 million. For Tommy, it’s a chance to move away from […]