Jun 18, 2011
Whether you love or hate it, there’s no denying the title of this film is laugh-out-loud hilarious. Not to mention ends up being better than the movie. It’s Pasadena California, 1969, and a little boy named Juan is cursed and dragged to hell. Fast forward to 2009 and Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is a mortgage loan officer vying for the position of assistant manager. An old woman (Lorna Raver) comes in and is denied a loan by Christine. Big mistake. Christine’s life is instantly turned upside down and haunted, while her clueless boyfriend, Clay (Justin Long) doesn’t help either. Written and directed by Sam Raimi it’s not so much gory or scary as it is just plain silly nonsense. One can’t help but think, if you’re a teen who’s never seen a horror film, this is the virgin version to break them in on. Two tiaras
Jun 18, 2011
(Rated R, 122 mins.)
Richard Gere heads up this Robert Altman ensemble cast including Academy Award winner Helen Hunt, Oscar nominee Laura Dern, Farrah Fawcett, Kate Hudson, Liv Tyler, Shelley Long, Janine Turner, Andy Richter, Lee Grant, and Robert Hays in this romantic comedy. The film finds the mavericks director revisiting a favorite topic: relations between men and women. Dallas gynecologist Dr. Sullivan Travis (Gerg) is a man juggling many, many women both professionally and personally. His wife may be Fawcett, but he has regressed into a childlike state (a la “American Beauty’s” Kevin Spacey) for the upcoming wedding of cheerleader daughter Dee Dee (Hudson). When sister in law (Dern) moves in with her three little girls, Kennedy-conspiracy-buff daughter Connie (Tara Reid) is sounding the alarm about Dee Dee’s chosen maid of honor, the mysterious Marilyn (Tyler). Overwhelmed, Dr. T begins spending more time as his country club’s golf course, adding a new woman to his life – easygoing new golf pro, Bree (Hunt). Gere plays his straightest-laced character to date, and the whole pun on being a gynecologist (the job every man thinks is perfect) works in showing, it isn’t. The Gere chemistry with Hunt is a far cry from “Pretty Woman” but nothing could ever top that anyway.
Jun 18, 2011
(rated PG)
Again? Why is it Eddie Murphy no longer makes original comedies but instead pumps out lame sequels (Nutty Professor etc.)? While Dolittle is less vulgar and funny, this story has the good doctor taming his healing power efforts toward the furry population of a forest in the Pacific Northwest. Juggling his family struggles and newfound celebrity he must locate an endangered bear (voice of Steve Zahn, a former alleycat in “Stuart Little”), who must mate with a female bear (Lisa Kudrow) in order to repopulate the region. Murphy comes to the Yenta-style rescue and well, you know the rest. Same old same old, but the bear is cute (brother of Bart from “The Bear”). Kids will love it and isn’t that what summer’s all about?
Jun 18, 2011
(Rated PG, 97 min.)
Opens Jan. 21
A romantic and comedic tale of Freddie Prinze Jr. and Julia Stiles as a young couple whose passionate romance takes them for a ride down the all-too-powerful-path of first love. Set against the chaotic and pressure-driven lifestyle of college in New York City, their story brings to light the ever-present conflict between true love and the temptation to wander astray. Henry Winkler delivers a strong portrayal as Prinze’s father in the best teenage date movie since “American Pie.”
Jun 18, 2011
(rated PG 13. 88 mins.)
A millenium version of the 70’s “Heaven Can Wait”, Chris Rock stars as Lance, an amateur comedian (the Warren Beatty football player in the original). One moment he’s here and next he’s at heaven’s door. Convinced there’s been a mistake, he is miraculously right. Chazz Palminteri is the hip New York gangster who runs Heaven, Eugene Levy as the snotty matire d’ at the heaven/hell intersection telling Lance that returning to his own body is not an option. Instead he must enter the body of an elderly millionaire who has just been bumped off (but not yet discovered) by his wife and lover plotting to kill him. Ironically, as this strange new person, Lance ultimately discovers his true self, falls in love with Suntee (Regina King in the original Julie Christy role) and improves his comedy act in the process. While it mirrors the original it manages its own merit due entirely to Chris Rock’s energy and spunk. The idea of a young black man in a white man’s body rapping in smoking jackets and golf knickers may not have the sensitivity and sophistication of the original love story. But, the idea of reincarnation and “even when you’re not you, you’re still you” (inside), works in setting its own pace for 88 minutes of comic enjoyment in a world where white bread boy meets ghetto, with a touch of Eddie Murphy’s “Trading Places”.
