HollywoodandFine.com “Rock of Ages” is technically a jukebox musical: a stage presentation of comedy, drama and song in which, instead of using original songs, the writers build a story out of existing music, re-purposing it to retrofit a plot or a plot point. Think “Mamma Mia.” But really, the jukebox …
HollywoodandFine.com I settled in for the screening of “Marina Abramovic The Artist is Present,” with the same skepticism I’d had when I went to see her retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, which the film documents. But I came away feeling chastened – mostly that I’d been so dismissive …
HollywoodandFine.com Lynn Shelton had me at “Humpday,” the feature that introduced me to the intuitively funny filmmaker, who comes back strong with “Your Sister’s Sister,” opening in limited release Friday (6/15/12). Working once again with Mark Duplass, Shelton brings Emily Blunt and Rosemarie Dewitt into the mix, in a story …
HollywoodandFine.com I’m not sure why, but no one has been willing or able to speak truth to box-office power, so let me try: Robert Pattinson is a terrible actor. Oh, he’s pretty enough, with his sleepy eyes and pouty lips. Let him play a vampire in the “Twilight” series and …
HollywoodandFine.com Greta Gerwig is a cross between a younger Chloe Sevigny and a young Meg Ryan. She’s somehow backed into semi-“It” girl status, at least among boosters of a certain segment of independent film. She comes off mostly as off-puttingly self-pitying and mopey in “Lola Versus,” a self-consciously quirky-moody rom-drom. …
HollywoodandFine.com There’s spoof that works and there’s caricature that depends on stereotype – and Bruce Beresford’s “Peace, Love & Misunderstanding” is witless caricature. Watching it makes you wonder what its creators saw in the script by Joseph Muszynski and Christine Mengert. In the world it creates, the town of Woodstock, …
HollywoodandFine.com As an act of cinema, “Prometheus” is stunningly designed, shot with great purpose in a serious fashion. When it finally shifts gears from “Building Dread” to “Action,” director Ridley Scott is in his sweet spot: cannily designed, well-crafted suspense in the familiar pattern of tension and release, tension and …
HollywoodandFine.com Small and delightfully self-assured, “Safety Not Guaranteed” celebrates the idea of taking a chance and accepting the unexpected, in ways that are quietly funny. It opens Friday (6/8/12) in limited release. Coming from first-timers Colin Trevorrow (director) and Derek Connolly (writer), the film is built on that hoariest of …
HollywoodandFine.com I’m not going to invoke the title of this film to describe writer-director Todd Solondz. But “Dark Horse,” opening in limited release Friday (6/8/12), is pure Solondz, a return to form after “Life During Wartime” and “Palindromes,” which seemed like experiments in style more than anything else. He once …
HollywoodandFine.com Nominated for the Oscar as best animated feature (which went to the visually brilliant but drastically unfunny “Rango”), “A Cat in Paris” is a slight but entertaining tale, most noteworthy for going old-school, with hand-drawn animation. Directed by Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol from a script by Gagnol, this …