With six Chainsaw films to reflect upon, one would hope that director John Luessenhop (Takers), eager to decorate the Leatherface family tree with crisp teen body parts, would have at least unearthed a fresh meat hook or two upon which to hang his sequel. The story picks up where Tobe …
Of late, Miles Teller’s choices in film projects have taken a heroic turn for the worse. Last week, he was a firefighter in Only the Brave, now he’s following that with a chance to cash in by playing a returning soldier. Don’t expect the irony to stop at the title. …
Who says “dick jokes” have lost their power to appall and amuse? Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan, and Miles Teller star as a pack of lusty himbos in this better-than-average (and Apatow) raunch carnival. The title references that point in any “boy’s night out” sex comedy where Loyal She inquires …
For years Adam Sandler has been threatening to remake several Jerry Lewis pictures. The closest he's come is borrowing the title of a 1951 Martin & Lewis picture for this insipid, deeply misogynistic excuse for a comedy. Doing a gravelly-voiced, baby-talking variation on Al Pacino (complete with fright wig), Sandler …
Based on what little I know of Stephen Hawking’s private and personal life, the man has never given the impression of one prone to wresting pity from gawkers. Why then turn the life of the smartest guy on the planet into a treacly, over-romanticized tearjerker? Music and lighting act as …
H-ee-e-e-e-ere's Harry! He was the first person of any color who Johnny Carson asked to guest-host a week’s worth of The Tonight Show. Nebraska-born Carson didn’t feel qualified to talk about the Civil Rights Movement, but recognizing both the significance and immediacy of the subject — the date was February …
Only in Los Angeles are prisoners afforded the luxury of a two-picture deal. Antonio, Jared, and Juan sign up for a 20-week screenwriting course and wind up not only writing a short, but starring in their own documentary feature! Ben Lear’s documentary never once questions the guilt of its subjects: …
In four short years, John Carpenter followed his wholeheartedly fearsome Shatner-masked mutation with the unseen terror of homichlophobia before confronting the ultimate in evil: a heedless remake of one of horror cinema’s Pantheonic achievements, The Thing From Another World. Filmmakers Christian Nyby and Howard Hawks went out of their way …
In this globe-hopping parade of non-stop degradation, the participants get off acting as one another’s whores. Paul Haggis’ unwittingly sidesplitting multi-character experiment in reheating his Oscar souffle produces more of a clunk than a Crash. The all-star cast, as game as the material is gamy, boots us through over two …
This is 134 minutes! Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann star as the now-married couple Judd Apatow first introduced us to in Knocked Up. (Katherine Heigl, who told Vanity Fair that the original “paints the women as shrews, as humorless and uptight, and it paints the men as lovable, goofy, fun-loving …
On a map, the mountainous South African enclave is designated Nasaretha, but 80-year-old Mantoa (Mary Twala) and the other villagers coolly call it The Plains of Weeping. During the black plague, travelers from distant shores would pass through Nasaretha while transporting their sick to healing centers. Those who didn’t outlive …
It’s 1986, and the dream of 17-year-olds Carlos (a cauterized Xabiani Ponce de León) and Gera (José Antonio Toledano) is about to come true: admittance to Mexico’s (not Berlin’s) most exclusive night spot. Invite ‘em once, and they’ll be back every night begging for more. When asked if the makeup …
Two or three things I learned from this made-for-YouTube jaunt through Paris. Her’s might not have been the first celebrity sex tape leaked to an eager public, but credit media personality Paris Hilton for holding the title “Architect of Selfie.” A 24/7 walking fashion show — she’s to blame for …
There wasn’t enough room on the poster to add of Cinema as We Know It. After exiting a screening of Observe and Report, a fellow patron let his date and everyone within earshot know, “If Seth Rogen took a shit on screen for two hours, I’d watch it.” Here’s your …
For his first narrative feature since the unforgettable Il Divo, director Paolo Sorrentino once again turns out an epic account of a passive subject. This tack worked when used to illustrate the life of a nondescript, hunchbacked dwarf who quietly ran roughshod over Italian politics for almost 50 years. The …