There are two chief takeaways from 'Ernest & Celestine.' The first is that in France and Belgium they don't have a Tooth Fairy, they have La Petite Souris, which is, basically, “The Tooth Mouse.” I also learned that when the story is funny, the characters are well-rounded and the world is imaginative, a modestly budgeted hand-drawn animated film can still have just as much effect as a big, blown-out computer generated affair.
From 'Knocked Up' to 'Juno,' we've seen how women cope with unplanned parenthood, though they always seem to end with the birth of a child. 'Obvious Child,' however, from writer-director Gillian Robespierre, gives us another and totally relatable option: what if our fumbling heroine decided to get an abortion? And what if that was just totally OK?
Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston star as contemplative vampires in Jim Jarmusch's 'Only Lovers Left Alive,' a story that is more tone poem than film. It is a languid, existential narrative that follows Adam (Hiddleston) and Eve (Swinton), two vampires who have seemingly existed since the beginning of time and have been in love for just as long, observing the world as it evolves and devolves around them. Jarmusch brings his arthouse sensibilities to the vampire genre, removing the focus from needless stereotypes and finding the humanity in the inhuman.
As if in response to Cate Blanchett’s Oscar acceptance speech contention that audiences want to see films with women at the center of them, Tyler Perry’s latest, ‘The Single Moms Club,’ focuses on four women struggling, often with humor, to deal with single parenthood.
Unfortunately, Perry’s gift at creating opportunities for actresses to lead their own movies does not extend to creating good movies, much less characters. A stacked deck of one-dimensional demonstrations of female oppression, explored – and overcome – with Perry’s typically well-intentioned but misguided notions of empowerment, ‘The Single Moms Club’ ranks among the filmmaker’s worst work yet.
Director Adam Wingard and his writing partner Simon Barrett, who last gave us horror favorite 'You're Next,' return with 'The Guest,' a genre throwback to the dark suspense thrillers of the late '80s and early '90s -- but this isn't mimicry or simply homage. Wingard and Barrett put their wryly sinister spin on this consistently engaging and unnerving story, throwing in a dash of classic John Carpenter for good measure. And who knew 'Downton Abbey' star Dan Stevens could be such a badass?
“I’m not that good at a lot of stuff, especially thinking things through.”
Nope, Guy Trilby (Jason Bateman) really isn’t so good at thinking things through, but the bad choices that pepper Bateman’s directorial debut, ‘Bad Words,’ go so far beyond misplaced common sense that Guy’s early and wholly understated confession about his decision-making style is perhaps the last actually relatable bit of the entire film. A black comedy with a black heart, Bateman’s ‘Bad Words’ knowingly attempts to push the envelope of unlikability, littering the big screen with pintsized victims and one heck of a mangled word-centric competition. Often funny by virtue of its shock value and Guy’s clever wordsmithery, ‘Bad Words’ still doesn’t feel quite so great going down, but it at least announces Bateman’s directorial sensibilities loud and clear, and there’s plenty here to mine for future projects.
Jake Gyllenhaal and director Denis Villeneuve have recently set about turning their blossoming cinematic partnership into the kind of professional pairing that cranks out clever, creepy feature films that stick with their audiences long after they end. In short, these two like to make skin-crawling films that freak people out, and it turns out they’re pretty good at it.
Villeneuve and Gyllenhaal premiered both of their collaborations last year at the Toronto International Film Festival, though their bigger-budget (and bigger-named) ‘Prisoners’ hit theaters while the intriguing ‘Enemy’ bided its time before a more low-key release. While ‘Prisoners’ presented a terrifying premise that was still relatable – a pair of suburban couples are heartbroken when their young daughters go missing, and the fallout is very unexpected – ‘Enemy’ goes full throttle on a plot line that’s both bizarre and purposely hard to swallow.
There are 35,000 deaths due to motor vehicle accidents in the United States each year. Every ten seconds someone is given emergency treatment because of a car crash. According to a report by the CDC the financial impact is close to $100 billion on injury care and lost productivity.
I know 'Need For Speed' is just a movie, and movies are entertainment, but it is shocking beyond all reason how much this movie thinks automotive safety is a big joke. I understand loving an outlaw, but when 'Bonnie & Clyde' robbed banks they were “punching up.” When Aaron Paul and his merry band of mayhem mechanics destroy public works and send innocent bystanders careening off of highways, they are “punching down.” 'Need For Speed,' its producers, writers, director and maybe even its stars should all hang their heads in shame.
'Open Windows' stars Elijah Wood as Nick, the nerdy but affable web master of a site dedicated to fictional superstar actress Jill Goddard (former porn star-turned-actress Sasha Grey). When Jill cancels the dinner Nick won with her in a contest, a mysterious hacker named Chord allows Nick the opportunity to spy on Jill and play a little game that quickly turns dangerous and veers into an evening filled with myriad plot twists in this thriller from festival favorite director Nacho Vigalondo. Unfortunately, the film is a bit too ambitious and convoluted from the director, who's been admired for his deft sci-fi indies in the past.
Seven years after the end of the television series, 'Veronica Mars' returns with a full-length feature film (thanks in part to a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign), reuniting star Kristen Bell with all of those familiar faces for a brand new mystery that hits pretty close to home for the former teen detective -- this case hits right in the middle of her hometown, in fact, dragging her back from her new life in New York for one last job ... or is it? Both old school fans and newbies alike will find plenty to love in Rob Thomas' 'Veronica Mars' movie, which blends the series' particular brand of wry humor with an exciting new mystery, familiar faces, and some new blood.