Written by James M. Tate / 11/19/2014 / No comments / 2014
LEFTOVER REVIEWS: BIG HERO 6, BEYOND THE LIGHTS & ROSEWATER
![]() |
year: 2014 rating: *** |
The setup is extremely intelligent, perhaps too much for the target audience… A young reluctant genius has created a magnet style substance that attracts a lot of smaller pieces building into the host within seconds... or something.
Unlike many animated features, the main villain isn’t predictable. During a convention of teen scientists you might have another culprit in mind. By the time the real heavy rears his formidable and downright spooky head – a demonic looking kabuki masked monstrosity that grows from the kid’s invention – it’s time for the real hero, an inflatable medical robot with morals and an endearing inclination against violence, to take the reigns, where, sadly, BH6 winds up a standard ensemble with a gang of souped-up hipsters… including the aforementioned Miller… dumbing down an epic INCREDIBLES potential: had there been more structure and way less distractions, this Pretty Good could have been Really Great.
![]() |
year: 2014 rating: ** |
Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Noni is a music star yet we only see proof during an awards ceremony – she’s part of a lusty video that seems more of a parody than the real thing…
And later that night, on the drunken verge of leaping from a hotel patio, she's protected by a muscular cop… Like Leo to Kate in TITANIC, Nate Parker's Kaz, with an even duller persona than our melancholy starlet, saves the day. In Tom Hanks’ LARRY CROWNE, supporting actress Mbatha-Raw had more spirited energy than anyone else on board. Now, in a leading role, she's merely sleepwalking.
The romance between famous singer and down-to-earth cop, with Obama inspired dreams on becoming a politician with fatherly advice from Danny Glover, lacks genuine passion. And Noni and her pushy stage mom's bickering means little compared to the love story mainline – yet even a “chick flick” audience might be disappointed since neither character has very much to lose.
![]() |
2014 rating: *** |
THE DAILY SHOW host is also the writer, adapting a true story of journalist Maziar Bahari, a Canadian/Iranian visiting his mother in Iran while covering the election.
Half the movie, as Bahari records the turbulent fallout, is fitfully edgy and suspenseful. Then Bahari, accused of being a spy and thrown into prison, is inflicted with strange mental torture from an antagonistic captor who winds up the supporting role: morphing from pseudo documentary to murky stage play.
Between hectic interrogations, Bahari hallucinates his dead father and sister, two revolutionaries jailed in the past, providing more flesh to a somewhat bland lead role. Ironically enough, it’s when Stewart injects his signature dry wit that most of the tension is lost, blunting sporadic scenes of harsh physical torture. Yet for the most part, Jon makes solitary confinement an interesting place… for a little while.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
All Time Popular
-
Robyn Hilton enters into an eclectic exploitation comedy career in Wonder Women circa 1973 As mentioned a few posts ago, ROBYN HILTON, b...
-
year: 1978 cast: Allen Garfield, Leif Garrett, Kathleen Lloyd, Tony Alva, Pam Kenneally rating: ***1/2 Although promoted as a Leif Garr...
-
Mary-Louise Weller in NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE ANIMAL HOUSE, directed by John Landis and produced by Ivan Reitman, stars John Be...
-
Kari Michaelsen in Saturday the 14th year: 1982 In LOVE AT FIRST BITE, a popular comedy that took the vampire genre by satire, Richard ...
-
Robyn Hilton on STARSKY AND HUTCH Model/Actress ROBYN HILTON played Mel Brook's secretary in BLAZING SADDLES and turns up in an epis...
-
Cornelia Sharpe in BUSTING Year: 1974 Rating: **** Starring Elliott Gould and Robert Blake as determined vice cops BUSTING hookers, makin...
-
Kerri Green and John Candy in SUMMER RENTAL Year: 1985 John Candy, in his first leading role, plays a burnt-out air traffic controller ...
-
WILLIAM SMITH AS FALCONETTI ON RICH MAN POOR MAN The baddest of all TV bad guys… Matt Dillon’s character in BEAUTIFUL GIRLS calls Antho...
-
Robyn Hilton in Video Vixens the same year as Blazing Saddles: 1974 The Anthology of Comedic Parodies, already done in several Woody All...
-
Susan Dey in Skyjacked YEAR: 1972 Some of the best elements of hijacking, plane crashing, ship sinking, building burning or any other di...
Featured Post
STEVE MCQUEEN & DUSTIN HOFFMAN IN THE ORIGINAL 'PAPILLON'
Title: PAPILLON Year: 1973 Rating: ***1/2 Director Francis J. Schaffner and scriptwriter Dalton Trumbo convert Henri Charrière's riveti...

No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.