HollywoodandFine.com A film with both documentary urgency and an overwrought sense of melodrama, “The Assault” is a dramatization of a real-life airline hijacking from 1994. The actual events occurred in Algiers, when hijackers, demanding the release of Algerian prisoners in France, grabbed an airplane in Algiers and demanded that it …
HollywoodandFine.com “American Reunion” is like a movie that’s become a zombie: a franchise that has risen from the grave of straight-to-video sequels to bring back the no-longer-youthful original cast for one more (hopefully lucrative) go-round. The stench of desperation permeates this film, a sequel to the 1999 gross-out hit and …
HollywoodandFine.com Thoughtful but funny in a low-key way, Nanni Moretti’s “We Have a Pope” examines the idea of papal succession through a fictional story that reminds us just how daunting the job itself must be. After the death of the old pope in this story, when the College of Cardinals …
HollywoodandFine.com I am on the record – aggressively so – as being opposed to the mentality that has turned Comic-Con, the annual San Diego geek festival, into the force that seems to guide Hollywood. So I walked into Morgan Spurlock’s “Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope” (in limited release 4/6/12) …
HollywoodandFine.com As I watched the final few minutes of “Wrath of the Titans,” I thought, “What I wouldn’t give to be a 10-year-old boy right now.” That’s absolutely the audience that will enjoy this silly, overblown special-effects extravaganza. At 10, you can still buy into the reality of wild fantasy; …
HollywoodandFine.com The less said about “Intruders,” the better. Despite a cast led by Clive Owen (who seems in serious need of career direction), this is a horror movie without a ghost of a chance – or an authentically scary moment. Directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, “Intruders” operates on two tracks …
HollywoodandFine.com Recent events in the Maldives Islands – specifically, a coup that toppled democratically elected president Mohamed Nasheed by military loyal to his tyrannical predecessor, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom – give the documentary “The Island President” both an urgency and a poignancy. The film by Jon Shenk chronicles Nasheed’s attempts at …
HollywoodandFine.com Lee Hirsch’s “Bully” can’t help but move you. It’s an important and powerful film, one that should be required viewing for kids of any age – and their parents. With luck, The Weinstein Company will prevail in its battle against the R-rating conferred upon the film by the myopic …
HollywoodandFine.com “Turn Me On, Dammit” could be the Republicans’ worst nightmare: a movie about female sexuality that isn’t smarmy, sensational, exploitive – or judgmental. Talk about subversive. Indeed, this Norwegian film by Jannicke Systad Jacobsen is a total departure: the first teen coming-of-age film I can recall that uses a …
HollywoodandFine.com Our urban schools are screwed up; our teachers are under siege and burnt out; and the parents of the children who cause the most problems are the least involved. So what else is new? If all this seems obvious to you, it apparently comes as a shock to filmmaker …
HollywoodandFine.com With each new movie, filmmakers Mark and Jay Duplass show greater assurance as writers and directors. Though their films now feature recognizable (even well-known) actors and their production values are a little glossier, they haven’t lost their determinedly personal take on the stories and characters on which they focus. …
HollywoodandFine.com I’ll give Will Ferrell credit for this: There aren’t many actors who would make an entire comedy in a foreign language just as a joke. Now – if only the joke itself were funny… The movie in question is “Casa de mi Padre,” which feels like a spoof of …
HollywoodandFine.com Say “Jump,” and I’ll ask, “How high?” Say “21 Jump Street” and I’ll ask, “Why? Why? Why?” Why, indeed. The answer seems to be in the credits: because Jonah Hill, who was a preadolescent when the Johnny Depp TV show of the same name was on the air, apparently …
HollywoodandFine.com Playing like some disjointed hybrid of “Strangers on a Train” and “The Parallax View” by way of “Death Wish,” “Seeking Justice” is never terrible – just never terribly anything else, either. Having a seasoned action pro like Roger Donaldson at the helm helps. On the other hand, putting Nicolas …