Take Me Home Tonight

It's possible that new movie "Take Me Home Tonight" might actually have a good story buried somewhere beneath the bad acting, lousy writing, terrible slapstick, and jokes that fly like lead balloons, but director Michael Dowse never gives it a chance to  emerge.
In the entire first act, and well into the second, over the top comedy is rammed at the audience until none of it even registers anymore. This upcoming movie's audience doesn't even seem to notice when a relationship between a guy and a girl he liked in high school starts to bud.
Young audiences may be lured into the theater by the movie trailer that puts its emphasis on heavy partying, but for the most part, "Take Me Home Tonight" is a DVD in the making.
Gordon Kaywin, and the new movie's star, Topher Grace, are the executive producers and real life best friends since they were 15. Their intention was  to write a comedy based on life as best friends well beyond high school and college. Jackie and Jeff Filgo wrote the script, just like Kaywin and Grace asked them to. Unfortunately, the most noticeable thing about this script is that the friendship doesn't make any sense.
It would be possible for the relationship between two guys to work, despite the fact that one of them, in the movie picture, is an engineer with a degree from MIT and the other is a jobless ex-car salesman, because they might have something else in common. However, the movie is based on the fact that the two men have a strong bond and have nothing whatsoever in common.
Grace's Matt Franklin is the son of a cop and yet goes with a friend to steal a car, drives while drunk and under lots of other "influences, is instrumental in starting fights at parties, and then ends up crashing the car he stole because he's trying out the coke he finds in the glove box.
The movie's silly central set up is that Matt, a nice looking, smart guy, can't get a date with a former high school beauty named Tori, played by Teresa Palmer. And the fact that his twin sister, played by Ann Faris, is going to marry a stupid partier played by Chris Pratt, is equally goofy.
None of this makes sense. Matt and Tori only hook up when she decides she's as lost as he is. At that point Barry finds the love of his life, Kitchelle, played by Michelle Trachtenberg. And this is right after a weird encounter with a strange, female sexual predator played by Angie Everhart.
Nobody is going to give these relationships more than a day, and neither are they going to give "Take Me Home Tonight" more than 24 hours on the big screen.

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Recent movie pictures with movie news - Cars 2

Pixar has another winner with upcoming movie "Cars 2." "Cars", the 2006 model from Pixar, is considered by movie news to be one of its best efforts and it seems that director John Lasseter has gone a couple of steps further to make "Cars 2" even better. Animated characters Lightning McQueen and pick-up truck Mater have left Radiator Springs and have joined the Grand Prix circuit in this new movie. The "friends" go around the world on the circuit and get involved in some international intrigue. The cars in "Cars 2" are plenty sweeter than the cars in "Fast Five," and new movierelease "Cars 2" runs more smoothly than a lot of Pixar's recent moviepictures. This movie is going to do well both at home and internationally.

This sequel just fine on its own and it's not necessary to see the first movie to understand the second. Lasseter is a car fancier and uses the international locations to add all sorts of vintage cars to the show from an Aston Martin to an East German Trabant. He also dresses up Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower and the end credits to the movie. Lasseter manages to have something special or beautiful to look at in every scene and to listen to as well.

Co-directors Brad Lewis and Dan Fogelman, along with Lasseter, and screenwriter Ben Queen, have come up with a story that's simple but not too simple. The movie begins on the ocean and is full of scary oil rigs and British spies, Finn McMissile (Michael Caine's interpretation of an Aston Martin), and Holley Shiftwell, a Miata-type car voiced by Emily Mortimer. These "cars" use their special enhancements like wings and weapons to make a nighttime escape from the sea.

Back in the desert, red car Lightning McQueen, voiced by Owen Wilson, is hanging out with buddy tow-truck Mater, voiced by Larry the Cable Guy. Here Lightning is talked into entering some races where a Land Rover named Sir Miles Axelrod, voiced by Eddie Izzard, plans to prove that his clean fuel called Allinol is a good substitute for gas. There are loads of jokes here: verbal, visual, and musical.

The first international scene takes place in Tokyo. Cars are involved in sumo wrestling here and the lights of Ginza are extraordinarily bright. The lights (Pixar makes them preternaturally bright to make up for the dimming effect of 3D glasses) are so bright you'll be glad for your 3D glasses.

In Paris, Les Halles is a spare parts marketplace, you'll see Gusteau's from Ratatouille, and the tops of the Eiffel Tower, and the Arch de Triomphe are re-imagined. Mater is back after returning home after Tokyo and his laugh can get pretty old and take over the film a bit.

Then on to Porto Corsa, Italy: it tends to look like a Monaca if it were a theme park. Francesco, the Italian champ voiced by John Turturro, plans to run over Lightning McQueen and Mater, in disguise, plans to get in with a bunch of Euro cars who are going to discredit Allinol so as to keep oil markets high. You'll get the message.

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Beginners

Upcoming movie, "Beginners," is Mike Mills' first dramatic feature since "Thumbsucker" in 2005. He manages to mix family drama an understated comedy and his special brand of artfulness in this new movie. Christopher Plummer plays Hal Fields, a 75 year old who has lost his wife and then tells his adult son, played by Ewan McGregor, that he's ready to come out of the closet and begin living as a gay man. Just about the time that Ewan has digested the idea that his father is not only out of the closet but has a much younger lover, played by Goran Visnjic, he also learns that his father has cancer. Anna, played by Melanie Laurent, an attractive French actress Oliver meets at a costume party, helps 38 year old Oliver come to terms with the changes in his life. Unfortunately, Oliver is simply not adept at relationships.

Movie picture "Beginners" was picked up by Focus Features at the Toronto Film Festival for release in June 2011 at the same time they picked up "The Kids Are All Right" to release in June 2010. Movie forums say that "Beginners" is not going to be as successful as "The Kids Are All Right" which brought in $20M. It just doesn't have as friendly a trailer or as many celebrity leading roles. However it's getting good reviews, and is favored by the gay community so it may do better than "Thumbsucker" which brought in $1.3M. It will probably be big in art houses this summer.

For Mills this is a semi-autobiographical film. He based it on his experiences with his own father who also came out at 75. He has made "Beginners" into a sweet family story. Although the story is unusual, Mills has managed to make it very easy to relate to. Not only does it show that an adult can finally get to really know his elderly parent but that sometimes the bittersweet truth is that the relationship may be over just as it peaks.

Christopher Plummer is excellent in his role as Hal Fields – a man at the end of his life who commits himself to living honestly for the first time. His last roles were as Tolstoy in "The Last Station" and he starred in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" as well.

Ewan McGregor is wonderful as this serious role as the crushed son. He has excellent chemistry with Plummer and their scenes together are honest and tender. Melanie Laurent is a strong supporting actress and Goran Visnjic is also terrific in his role as Plummer's much younger boyfriend.

Mills adds superb little touches like subtitles so that Hal's Jack Russell can communicate with Oliver. Oliver's wonderful graphic design work reflects the fact that graphic design is one of talented Mills' other professions.

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Bad Teacher

"Bad teacher" is a foul-mouthed new movie release, in some good ways much like Bad Santa was, but it's not like "Bad Santa" at all. All in all, it's a good successor to Bad Santa's black comedy. Cameron Diaz stars in "Bad Teacher", right after her role in "Green Hornet." She's showing her star-power here as the foxy teacher who will do anything to get boob enhancement to attract a good-looking and wealthy fellow teacher. It seems like audiences are looking for more female comedies after the success of Bridesmaids, which made $100 million in the month of May. New Movie Bad Teacher is up against "Cars 2" and "Green Lantern."

In this upcoming movie Diaz plays Elizabeth Halsey. She's a substitute teacher and a real gold-digger. On the final day of school she goes home to her fiancé, a limp-wristed, millionaire, mama's boy, and finds that he wants to break up with her. So she's forced to go back to teaching – if you want to call it that. She spends her days asleep at her desk while her students watch movies and she tries to figure out how to snare another millionaire. She soon finds out that the new teacher at school, Scott Delacorte, played by Justin Timberlake, is rich as Croesus. She then decides to get a boob job to win him over. But how is she supposed to get enough money for the surgery? She decides to have her students cheat on a state test so she can win a school incentive check.

What causes most black comedies to fail is the director's desire to make the lead character more sympathetic. Director Jake Kasdan makes Elizabeth a "mean girl" from the beginning of the movie to the end of it. She never gets to love having small breasts or gets used to not having much money. What Kasdan does do is create a smarmy character named Amy Squirrel, played by Lucy Punch, who is so annoying that we want Elizabeth to beat her up! Punch is great at playing the passive-aggressive school marm in this moviepicture.

The two men who circle around Elizabeth, Scott, played by Timberlake, and Russell, played by Jason Segal, show the difference between the best catch and the best guy. Scott is clueless but has good intentions. Russell is patient, funny, and doesn't seem to mind Elizabeth's bad intentions. Both are funny. Segal's discussion of a car ride sans map is a riot. The funniest scene in the film is probably the totally clothed humping session between Elizabeth and Scott.

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Your Highness

Upcoming movie, "Your Highness,"  which features, among other things, the severed penis of a Minotaur as a trophy, sinks from low to lower in the first five minutes of the new movie.
One big surprise of this movie picture is that David Gordon Green agreed to be the director. After directing "George Washington" and "All the Real Girls," he looked like he had a great future. Another surprise is that Green and producer of "Your Highness," Scott Stuber, managed to talk such an impressive cast into working on this new movie release. Box office will be iffy.
Mel Brooks was known for making this type of spoof of genre movies look easy. Monty Python's troupe were the masters of the medieval fantasy. Green is fantasy clueless and he really shouldn't have listened to his buddy Danny McBride who co-wrote, co-produced and starred in what he calls his "twisted tale." "Your Highness" falls totally flat.
The set design is savvy and the images, filmed in Northern Ireland, are striking, and there is a plethora of digital effects. The characters wander around the landscape on some ill-defined quest that ends up being a contest as to who has the dirtiest mouth. The only special effects that men are going to remember are the semi-naked, sand-painted women in one vignette.
Danny McBride is Thadeous, the second son of the king who plays second-fiddle to his younger brother, Fabius, played by James Franco who's even duller here than in his Oscar hosting gig. Rasmus Hardiker plays servant Courtney, Thadeous' rather stupid companion. Belladonna, played by Zooey Deschanel , Fabious' intended bride, looks rather confused, and is kidnapped by Justin Therous, playing an evil wizard. Charles Dance, the king, insists that Thadeous join Fabius on his quest to get Belladonna back.
On their quest they meet Natalie Portman who plays a lady warrior who flips and pirouettes her way to joining the little band, which has been betrayed by friends played by Toby Jones and Damian Lewis. There's also a mechanical bird named Simon – you have to wonder what movie genre he materialized from.
The filmmakers have hidden the joke in this movie very well. McBride smokes dope and masturbates on his trek through the forest while making stupid wise-cracks. Any laughs he receives are because his lines are pathetic.
Tech credits are excellent against anything else that anyone else in the movie has accomplished.

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Mars Needs Moms

Robert Zemeckis really utilizes his performance capture system, which turns life-action into animation, in new movie "Mars Needs Moms." The human and the Martian characters in this upcoming movie fall through space, slide, chase each other through corridors, turn quickly, dance, and and jump into caves made of trash. The process has improved to the point where the weird faces, like those in "The Polar Express," which was Zemeckis' first shot at performance capture, have been replaced by more normal looking faces. A lot about this system is getting better – including the design and a lot of details. This makes one wonder why movie picture "Mars Needs Moms" is so insignificant.
Zemeckis has used this technique primarily for children's movie's, with the exception of "Beowulf." The technical advances in "Beowulf" ran towards "Avatar" but new movie release "Mars Needs Moms" is more reminiscent of a ride at Disneyworld.
This movie comes from ImageMovers Digital, a company owned by Zemeckis and Walt Disney Pictures. It was filmed on accommodating screens and will be projected in Imax 3D and Disney Digital 3D. Younger family members will be thrilled. There isn't much in this movie to interest teenagers or anyone older.
It will be interesting to see how this movie does up against Rango, a movie that appeals to adults as well as younger audience members, which will be in its second week during Mars' first week. Zemeckis is missing out by only making his films appealing to children.
"Mars needs Moms" is one up on another Zemickis film, "A Christmas Carol." It does emotions much better. It's based on a novel for children, by Berkeley Breathed, which was inspired by a child's complaints about his nagging mother. The movie is about a mom being kidnapped by Martians and her rescue by her son and is full of emotion. It talks about all the things that moms do for their kids.
The director is Simon Wells, known as director of "The Time Machine" and co-director of "The Prince of Egypt." He and his wife, Wendy, co-directed this new movie.
The movie centers around nine-year-old Milo. He's acted by Seth Green and voiced by an eleven-year-old named Seth Dusky. Joan Cusack plays the mom but she's kidnapped for most of the movie so the bigger roles belong to Dan Folger, a very funny guy who's a techie named Gribble, and the other human on Mars, Elisabeth Harness who plays Ki, who is a rebellious Martian who learned to speak English watching old sit-coms. Mindy Sperling plays the humorless Martian leader.
Doug Chiang, designer, obviously enjoyed playing around with the Red Planet by giving Martians triangular heads, no noses, and odd bodies. Women run Mars and men get thrown around with the garbage – it seems that Mars doesn't need men.

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Arthur

You're going to be disappointed if you expect new movie release "Arthur"to be as good as the 1981 original which grossed $100 mil in America alone, won best song and supporting actor Oscars for John Gielgud, and Oscar nominations for original screenplay and best actor for Dudley Moore. The butler in the upcoming movie, Hobson, is played by Helen Mirren, rather than John Gielgud, and Russell Brand plays Arthur. The story is the same: a well-heeled alcoholic without a care in the world discovers that, if he doesn't get married, he'll lose his fortune. Somehow, it's just not as good. The excellent cast of this new movie will bring in some viewers but, according to movie forums, it's not going to have staying power. It's not going to do awfully well as a DVD/Blu-ray, either.

Russell Brand was born to play Arthur and he has a producing credit as well. He does quite well, although it's hard to be in Dudley Moore's shadow. Brand did a better job of "playing Arthur" in his recent movie "Get Him to the Greek." It was a better showcase for his considerable talent. It was a great idea to make his butler a woman, but it doesn't quite work. The script by Steve Gordon has been updated in this movie picture but it's still mostly unchanged in the adaptation by Peter Baynham and under Jason Winer's direction. Geraldine James, who plays Arthur's mother, threatens to revoke his $900 million inheritance unless he marries a girl named Susan, played by Jennifer Garner. She's a social climber who only wants his name. Instead Arthur falls in love with an ordinary but sweet girl played by Greta Gerwig and his family does not give their approval. Mirren spends her time trying to keep him out of trouble and offering him good advice as to how to clean up his act.

This version is more PC than the original and the drunken silliness has been toned down some. Unfortunately, this incarnation of "Arthur" is without life and falls flat next to the earlier version. Director Winer can be held partly to blame as his direction is, itself, rather lifeless. He goes in for senseless setups and dark cinematrography by Uta Briesewitz. Both Winer and Briesewitz are known for their small screen work and they have trouble here working on the big screen.

Brand and Mirren really try hard but there isn't much chemistry between them. The supporting cast is somewhat blah. Gerwig, in Liza Minnelli's old role, is innocent and likeable but she and Brand don't exhibit much chemistry. Garner is over the top in her role as villain. Nick Nolte's talented is wasted in the role of Greta's father. Luis Guzman, who plays Arthur's driver, has a few good moments.

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I Saw the Devil

In a movie clip from "I Saw the Devil" a young woman calls her fiancé to tell him that she's stranded in her car and that it's romantic to be talking to him while it's snowing. What the fiancé then hears is blood curdling. The guy who pulled over to "help" her is a serial killer. Director Kim Jee-woon tells a terrible tale of murder and the revenge that follows. Only those who enjoy horror to the extreme are going to be able to stomach this South Korean new movie release that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It's too bad because, besides the gore, there is a lot good about this upcoming movie. If "I Saw the Devil" could pull in a slightly larger audience, the box office would really do well.
The fiancé is Soo-hyun, played by Lee Byung-hyun, a South Korean special agent. When he decides to revenge Ju-yeon's death, (Ju-yeon is played by Oh San-ha), he's better able than the average Joe to do so. He quickly finds a suspect, Kyung-chul, played by Choi Min-silk, who was recently seen in
"Old Boy."  And Soo-hyun doesn't just want revenge, he wants his victim to suffer as much as the killer's victims have suffered. Soo-hyun decides to do it at his own pace, even though it's possible that the killer may get a few more victims in the meantime.
It seems, in the new movie, "I Saw the Devil," that Korea must be just overflowing with serial killers. But Kyung-chul is different. He uses lots of different ways to kill off his victims. And he has an odd personality for a serial killer – he's cranky and is easily offended. His nasty temper probably is as much of a cause of his crimes as his psychiatric disorder. Soo-hyun is his opposite. He's quiet and does not grieve openly. Soo-hyum doesn't realize that in his cold-blooded hunt for the devil, that he is becoming more like the devil himself.
Lee Mogae, cinematographer, makes the country of South Korea look gorgeous in this movie picture and in sharp contrast to the horror of the murders. If not for the grieving of those who are left, the horror and violence of this film might make it just that – nothing but a violent horror film. Soo-hyun suffers in silence. But Ju-yeon also left a sister named Se-yeon, who's played by Kim Yoon-seo, and her father, Jang, played by Chun Kook-haun. He's retired from the police force. There are lots of deaths in this movie but it's the first one that the viewer feels throughout the entire movie. Soo-hyun's plan makes the nightmare even worse, but in his world, where the devil stalks innocent people, it seems understandable.

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Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil

Upcoming movie "Hoodwinked! Hood vs. Evil" is at sequel to the 2005 movie, "Hoodwinked." It's a slight movie and seems to want to do one better than fairy tales and contains lots of references to "Shrek." The Red Riding Hood clone is voiced by Hayden Panettiere. She's a much feistier version than Amanda Seyfried in Catherine Hardwicke's recent go at the fairy tale. And this Red Riding Hood is a whole lot better at martial arts than Seyfried's version. The animation is a lot like a big crayon and Panettiere's performance is about as deep. Patrick Warburton plays the Wolf and David Ogden Stiers is the frog who's the boss of the organization called Happily Ever After, or HEA. Box office for new movie "Hoodwinked, Too!" is actually expected to be poor and it will go quickly to DVD.
The new movie release explains the story of the first movie in a quick intro. It tells how Red, voiced by Panettiere, saved Granny, played by Glenn Close, from the clutches of Boingo the Bunny, played by Andy Dick. He is now in an institution. Wolf is working for HEA, an FBI like organization, and Red is in training in a monastery. Her education seems to combine baking cookies and Kung-fu. Granny is busy, in "Hoodwinked Too!," stopping Joan Cusack, who voices an evil witch, from baking Hansel and Gretel (played by Bill Hader and Amy Poehler, respectively) into a pie. Granny then gets herself kidnapped. Red leaves the monastery, teams up with Wolf, earns her black belt and stops the witch from ruling the world.
This movie picture also spews a lot of sitcom like jokes in order to get adults to buy the kids the tickets to see it. This is going to be a hard movie to market. There are lots of good scenes and it's well directed by Mike Disa, but it's not quite all there.

The new movie release explains the story of the first movie in a quick intro. It tells how Red, voiced by Panettiere, saved Granny, played by Glenn Close, from the clutches of Boingo the Bunny, played by Andy Dick. He is now in an institution. Wolf is working for HEA, an FBI like organization, and Red is in training in a monastery. Her education seems to combine baking cookies and Kung-fu. Granny is busy, in "Hoodwinked Too!," stopping Joan Cusack, who voices an evil witch, from baking Hansel and Gretel (played by Bill Hader and Amy Poehler, respectively) into a pie. Granny then gets herself kidnapped. Red leaves the monastery, teams up with Wolf, earns her black belt and stops the witch from ruling the world.
This movie picture also spews a lot of sitcom like jokes in order to get adults to buy the kids the tickets to see it. This is going to be a hard movie to market. There are lots of good scenes and it's well directed by Mike Disa, but it's not quite all there.

 

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The Conspirator

Robert Redford's upcoming movie, "The Conspirator," is about the people who were tried for the murder of Abraham Lincoln, including one woman and seven men. This thriller will keep viewers on the edges of their seats from the beginning to the end. This new movie release reveals things that have been lost in history. New movie "The Conspirator" is the first release of the American Film Company, a new company that will specialize in movies about the history of America. According to movie forums "The Conspirator" may garner some interest from older groups because they're familiar with Redford but some younger people will stay away. This movie picture may do very well with schools and on DVD later on.
Redford knows that it's hard to sell a historical drama so he deserves a pat on the back for telling this story, set in Washington after the Civil War. The story is about the trial of eight people: Mary Suratt, played by Robin Wright, and seven men, who were charged with a conspiracy to kill Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, the Vice President, and Edwin M. Stanton, the Secretary of State, played by Kevin Kline. The meatiest part of the story is about Mary Suratt's relationship with the lawyer and Union war hero, Frederick Aiken, played by James McAvoy, who must defend her against a military tribunal with a strong Union bias. Suratt was the owner of the boarding house where the plot was reputedly hatched. It involved John Wilkes Booth and Suratt's son John, played by Johnny Simmons. Aiken comes to believe that Suratt has been set up as her son is the only man missing from the group and he takes strong measures to save her life. The most effecting part of the film is the mother - son relationship that grows between them. There is some criticism depicted about the politics of the time and the very touchy peace between the North and the South.
Redford has done movies before with an historical bent including "Quiz Show" and "All the President's Men" and "The Conspirator" is not like something you'd be able to watch on the History Channel. The story feels fresh because it's not in our history books, even though it was big news at the time. The cast is excellent, especially McAvoy as the reluctant lawyer. Wright does a beautiful job in the role of Suratt, displaying not only strength, but dignity as well. Kline is an wonderful Stanton and Tom Wilkinson and Evan Rachel Wood are also standouts.

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