Quantcast
Channel: Movie Fanatic
Viewing all 7494 articles
Browse latest View live

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Eight Minute Trailer Has Arrived!

0
0

Earlier this year, Movie Fanatic saw an astounding eight-minute trailer for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo before a screening and told our readers all about it. We have been clamoring for the trailer to hit the world so we could share, and finally the Dragon Tattoo gods have answered and we have it! Enjoy the brilliance that is this eight-minute insight into director David Fincher’s vision of Stieg Larsson’s blockbuster book. And stay with Movie Fanatic as we bring you interviews with the entire cast of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in the coming weeks from New York City!


Top 10 Comedies of 2011: Is Bridesmaids Number One?

0
0

The comedies of 2011 have been an eclectic bunch. From Bridesmaids and Bad Teacher to Hangover 2 and Harold and Kumar 3, it was a banner year for making audiences LOL. Movie Fanatic takes a look back at the year that was and delivers our top 10 comedies of 2011.

Battle of the Bridesmaids
10. The Hangover Part II
Sure, it was in many ways the same story as The Hangover. But, with the Wolfpack in Bangkok, the stakes were so much higher -- therefore the comedy came at a much more virile pace. Plus, the monkey makes the picture. Also, the fact that Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong) is in the film in a much bigger role, adds layers upon layers to the funny factor.


9. Tower Heist
Tower Heist featured Eddie Murphy at his 1980s and 1990s comic best. Wisecracking, aggressive and aloof, his character of Slide is the heart of the comedy in the flick. But, he isn’t the only comic foil in Tower Heist, and that is what makes it one of the ten best of the year. Ben Stiller has always been a great straight man, and there is something magical about his playing that role opposite Murphy. If the film reminds audiences of 48 Hours and Trading Places, that is another indication that Tower Heist scores.


8. Bad Teacher
Cameron Diaz does for teachers in Bad Teacher what Billy Bob Thornton did for Santas in Bad Santa. We cannot imagine anyone else nailing the role of the alcoholic teacher who is only teaching until she can find a rich husband. Bawdy and brilliant, Bad Teacher is a laugh-a-minute comedy that even featured Jason Segel in a part that allowed the comic actor to be more astute than his usual roles. But, in the end, Bad Teacher is the Diaz show and boy does she deliver.


7. Cedar Rapids
Cedar Rapids is one of the smartest comedies of the year, period. Ed Helms, Anne Heche and John C. Reilly star as a group of insurance salesmen who gather for a yearly conference in the titular Iowa city. Helms is astounding in channeling a man who has never left his small town and is on a mission to save his company. If he doesn’t win the conference’s big award, dozens of his co-workers may be out of a job. Cedar Rapids is a fish-out-of-water story, where the pond is very small and the fish are even smaller.


8. A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas
Flat-out, fall-off-your-chair funny, A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas scores on a multitude of levels. It is the rare film that uses 3D technology for laughs. There is something so naturally silly about the pairing of Kal Penn and John Cho, and in Harold and Kumar Christmas, they scrap the onscreen friendship and reboot it for laughs. Plus one can count the solid Christmas movie comedies on one hand and Harold and Kumar instantly shoots into that rare group.

5. Paul
Paul is a sci-fi film, yes, but as it stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost it is most certainly a comedy of the highest order. What happens when two geeks leave Comic-Con and embark on a journey of alien-sighting hotspots as they have a real extra terrestrial encounter is pure original hilarity. When the voice of Paul (the alien) is Seth Rogen, comic craziness increases exponentially.


4. Attack the Block
Sure, Attack the Block makes it two alien comedies in a row on our best of 2011 list. But, Attack the Block is leagues different than Paul. For starters, it’s an alien invasion movie and second, its humor is blink-and-you-miss-it sharp. The film went under many people’s radars this year, but for home video audiences, it is a must see.


3. Horrible Bosses
Horrible does not even begin to describe the bosses in Horrible Bosses. And that is what makes it so irreverently uproarious. Jennifer Aniston plays against type as a sex-crazed dentist abusing her assistant (Charlie Day). Kevin Spacey does his best evil boss who makes life miserable for Jason Bateman. And never has a comb-over been as funny as it is on Colin Farrell, who spends his time terrorizing Jason Sudeikis. When the trio of underlings enlist the help of Jamie Foxx to kill their bosses, hilarity ensues is too tame of a description for where Horrible Bosses heads.


2. Crazy, Stupid, Love
Arguably the best romantic comedy of 2011, Crazy, Stupid, Love is also one of its best flat-out comedies. A sign of a great comedy is hilarious quotes. And Crazy, Stupid, Love quotes are aplenty. Plus any movie that features a tortured Steve Carell innately will be one of the year's best.


1. Bridesmaids
Bridesmaids is not simply one of 2011's best comedies, it is one of the best in recent memory. Kristen Wiig became a movie star with Bridesmaids, but she was simply one part of an ensemble cast that hit all the right comic notes -- including Melissa McCarthy, Ellie Kemper and Maya Rudolph. Bridesmaids simultaneously rocks smart humor, physical comedy and delivered-with-panache jokes. Also a sign of a comedy that is worth its weight in gold: Viewers can see it again and again and it never loses one ounce of laugh-so-hard-you’ll-cry power.

What Are Your Favorite Superstar Cast Movies?

0
0

With New Year’s Eve hitting theaters December 9 with a cast that includes three Oscar winners and 15 other names that could open a movie on their own, we wanted to ask the Movie Fanatic readership, what are your favorite superstar ensemble films?

Halle Berry and Robert De Niro in New Year's Eve
Love, Actually may have set the standard in effective storytelling utilizing a huge cast recently, but the history of Hollywood is filled with fantastic films that employ superstar casts while scoring a huge affinity with audiences.

Which superstar film cast is your favorite?

Top Gun 2 to Take Flight? If Tom Cruise Has His Way!

0
0

While out promoting the upcoming Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Tom Cruise has admitted that he could see himself back in action in Top Gun 2. “I hope we can figure this out and do it again,” Cruise said to MTV.

Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis in Top Gun
Top Gun arrived in 1986 and rumors of a Top Gun 2 have swirled for years. But, it appears that director Tony Scott and Cruise are ready to fly again. The impetus is first, to satisfy the Top Gun fan base that has remained loyal to the original and quietly clamored for a sequel for 25 years. The second reason is simple: Cruise wants to work with Scott again. “I want to make another movie with him,” Cruise said. “He and I haven’t made a film since Days of Thunder.”

What could fans expect from a Top Gun 2? “We all want to make a film that is in the same kind of tone as the other one and shoot it in the same way as we shot Top Gun,” Cruise added. “If we can find a story that we all want to do.”

Famous last words or hope for a sequel? Let us know!

Stars of New Year's Eve Let Loose with Movie Fanatic

0
0

Hilary Swank, Lea Michele, Michelle Pfeiffer, Zac Efron and Josh Duhamel recently sat down for a chat with Movie Fanatic about their new film: The superstar-laden New Year’s Eve.

The film also stars Robert De Niro, Jessica Biel, Halle Berry, Ashton Kutcher, Katherine Heigl, Seth Meyers, Carla Gugino, Jon Bon Jovi, Sofia Vergara, Abigail Breslin, Ludacris and Hector Elizondo in one of the hugest and most widely known casts of the year.

Zac Efron and Michelle Pfeiffer in New Year's Eve
Garry Marshall (Valentine’s Day) directs and five of his New Year’s Eve players had lots to say about the biggest and last night of the year and gave us some insight into the romantic comedy that promises to set corks a-popping.

We started by asking the cast how they handle the high expectation that is maximizing the fun factor on New Year’s Eve. “When I stopped wanting my New Year’s Eve to be perfect, to bring in the New Year right, is when it started working out right,” Swank said. 

“You have to keep expectations low,” Duhamel added.

In New Year’s Eve, Michele was paired with Kutcher, Pfeiffer with Efron and Swank got to achieve a dream of working with De Niro. “For me, working with him was on my bucket list,” Swank said.

Hilary Swank in New Year's Eve
Swank’s character is visiting De Niro’s, who is in a hospital, slowly dying. But, when Swank first got on set to work across the screen legend, the Oscar-winning actress found herself channeling the same approach to acting as the famous method actor, or so she thought:

“I walked in and was just trying to get a sense of the vibe. I walked in and Robert was in the bed and laying there. You hear all this stuff about Robert De Niro, and he’s method. This is a comedy, but he’s dying. So, he was laying there and he saw me, and then he shut his eyes, and I was thinking, ‘Wow, he’s giving it to me. We’re connected here. We are connected. Me and De Niro are method.’ I started getting a little emotional. The camera was not on me, but we were just getting into the mood of the father-daughter relationship as the father was dying. I was feeling it, and I was going deep with De Niro! The next thing I know, he’s like, ‘Anyone got that coffee?’ I was like, ‘Oh, my God, he was sleeping!’”
 
Lea Michele did not hide her affinity for Kutcher as their characters spend much of New Year's Eve trapped together. “Being stuck in an elevator with him for two weeks… was awesome,” she said and laughed. “He’s hilarious.”

For the Glee star, although being with Kutcher for hours on end was fabulous, her highlight in fact, should not surprise. “I got to be a back-up singer for Bon Jovi!”

Jon Bon Jovi and Lea Michele in New Year's Eve
Pfeiffer got right to the point of the appeal of working across Efron, and when you think about it, she mirrors Michele’s feelings on Kutcher. “I’m the envy of every girl across the planet. I got a kiss in there with Zac Efron, which was pretty clever of me, at the ripe old age of 53,” Pfeiffer said.

When Efron talks about his co-star, it is immediately clear the young star has quite the affinity for Pfeiffer as well. “I met Michelle a few years ago, during Hairspray, and had a huge crush on her, always, from day one. Back then, I was very, very young and very bashful around her, I tended to put my foot in my mouth a lot,” he said and laughed. “But then, I got to talk on the phone with her, about this part. She said, ‘I think we should take this to the next level. Let’s get a kiss in there.’ I was like, ‘I am in!’ Every single second with her was amazing.”

As our final moments with the New Year’s Eve stars came upon us, we asked their favorite ways to spend New Year’s Eve.
 

“I do the same thing every year and I’ve done it for the past seven years now. I’m from New York. I did the Times Square thing once, and I’ll never do it again,” Michele said and laughed. “New Yorkers have this special spot in Central Park, where they do this 5K run, the minute the clock strikes twelve. I ran once, and I’ll never do that again, either. But, it’s awesome to watch those people run. That’s where I’ll be!”

As for Swank and Pfeiffer, their plans are a bit more homebound. “I’ll be eating pie and drinking champagne,” Swank said. “I have realized the perfect place is with your loved ones and your closest friends, around the dinner table over a good meal, talking about the past year and the year to come and things that you want to change in your life. I never make it to midnight, ever.”

Pfeiffer concurred. “I also never make it to midnight. I celebrate New Year’s at 9 p.m., West Coast time,” Pfeiffer said with a chuckle. “I watch the ball drop in my jammies with some champagne. I stopped setting those unrealistic expectations for New Year’s Eve many years ago.”

Who Are Hollywood's Most Bankable Movie Stars?

0
0

Each year, Forbes crunches the numbers for us and provides a window for producers to get to the bottom line: Which actors give them the most bang for the buck? The answer would surprise you. For every dollar that Kristen Stewart is paid, her films take in $55.83. Yes, the star of Breaking Dawn is number one.

Kristen Stewart Premiere Pic
Right behind the Twilight ingénue is Anne Hathaway, whose return is $10 less than Stewart’s! Hathaway brings in $45.67 for every buck she’s paid.

Stewart’s Breaking Dawn co-star, Robert Pattinson, comes in third place. Each dollar he earns produces $39.43 and yes, much of these two’s bankability has to do with the enormous franchise they are with -- but the numbers do not lie.

Another franchise stalwart, Harry Potter's Daniel Radcliffe, pays off in droves as well. Radcliffe comes in fourth with $34.24 coming into the studio’s pockets for each dollar he is paid. Closing out the list is Shia LaBeouf. The Transformers star banks $29.40 for studios for every 100 pennies he takes home.

Final Destination 5 Poster Banned in Britain

0
0

Where in the U.S. movies can get into hot water for having too much sex (hello Shame’s NC-17 rating), it appears in the U.K. violence gets the ire of censors as the British government has banned a poster from Final Destination 5. Yes, the movie has been out for over five months.

But, that hasn’t stopped the nation’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) from saying that the poster of a skull with nails flying through it was too much for them and it no longer can be displayed.

Final Destination 5 Poster #2
The ASA felt that the image "was likely to cause fear and undue distress to children."

Apparently a flood of complaints hit the agency, forcing them into action. Well, a flood is too generous of a word. There were thirteen complaints.

The studio behind Final Destination 5 responded by saying that the poster “accurately reflected the content of the film in an appropriate manner without causing excessive fear or distress. It’s unlikely to engage the attention of young children.”

What do you think? The poster seems to have not stopped the film from scoring with audiences -- it has earned over $157 million so far in worldwide box office.

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted Trailer Teases

0
0

The trailer for the third Madagascar film has arrived and it finds our favorite escaped zoo animals being among Europe’s Most Wanted. Madagascar 3 arrives in theaters June 8 and features the return of the original film’s entire cast including Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith and Sacha Baron Cohen. And yes, it appears from the following trailer, that they are ready to Move It!


The Lucky One Trailer: Zac Efron in Nicholas Sparks' Latest Romance

0
0

First Movie Fanatic took you inside The Lucky One with Zac Efron and Nicholas Sparks, now we’ve got the film’s first trailer. The latest page-to-screen effort for the wildly popular romance author follows the story of a young soldier (Efron) who is saved in battle by a photo he sees and moves from his location to retrieve.

In The Lucky One, an explosion immediately follows after he leaves his post to get the photo. Had he stayed, he surely would have died. Determined to find the woman in the photo and to discover how it ended up in the Arabian desert, Efron comes home on a mission that may result -- heck, who are we kidding? -- will result in love.

Ghost Protocol: Tom Cruise Asks Simon Pegg to "Open the Door"

0
0

As the days dwindle to the December 16 IMAX release date and December 21 wide release date, the fever pitch is reaching deafening levels for the arrival of Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Paramount has released a new clip from the film where Cruise’s Ethan Hunt is compelling his cohort, played by Simon Pegg, to “open the door.” We have to say that everything we’ve seen from the film, from behind-the-scenes featurettes to Ghost Protocol trailers, has us eagerly anticipating the film’s arrival.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Movie Review: We Spy Brilliance

0
0

It’s hard to know where to start when composing a review of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The film is perfect on a multitude of levels.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Stars Gary Oldman
When you have a book as thrilling and powerful as John le Carre’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy inherently the story will be top notch and firing on all cylinders. Inject a cast of some of the U.K.’s finest led by Oscar winner Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, John Hurt and Mark Strong, and therein lies another spoke in the wheel that is the excellence of this film. Then add a director in Tomas Alfredson who keenly knows how to not cater to an audience and instead lead them on a journey that requires your full attention and it results in a perfect picture.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy takes place in the icy days of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West. The film, and book, center on the work of “The Circus,” aka the British Secret Intelligence Agency. As the action commences, Hurt’s head of the agency is sending Strong’s agent into Budapest on a mission that will not end well. That sets off a series of red flags that indicates that there is a Soviet mole at the highest levels of British intelligence.

Oldman turns in the performance of his career, and that is saying quite a lot. He is equally subtle as he is subversive and sublime. The actor portrays George Smiley, an iconic character in the le Carre universe. Smiley has been pushed out by Hurt and is only being brought back into the intelligence agency because of his connection to a Soviet spy he attempted to turn years ago. The tete-a-tete between Oldman and every other actor he encounters is astounding. There is a reason he is a front-runner for the Best Actor Oscar. Oldman’s performance is spellbinding.

Firth’s Bill Haydon is unlike any character he’s tackled on his extensive resume. The audience can never truly put a finger on his motives, his backstory and frankly, even his sexuality. All will play out over the film until the searing conclusion of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy that puts Firth firmly in the action. Firth delivers a turn in the film that is quite supportive in nature and not leading man. That role is easily Oldman’s Smiley. Yet, ever the giving actor, Firth takes the challenge and leaves us breathless with the man’s limitless gifts.


Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Trailer

What is so compelling in a broader sense about Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is it does not hold the audience’s hand. The film jumps between time periods and locales and never clues us in as to where it is, much less where it’s been. This is definitely a “you must pay attention to every frame” type of picture. It’s almost as if when the film begins it is a half mile ahead of you on its race to the finish, only to look back at its audience and say, “You coming?”

Movie Fanatic was right there with it, and cannot think of a more thrilling time at the movies this year.

Jonah Hill is The Sitter: Star Talks the Silliness of Sitting

0
0

Jonah Hill stars in The Sitter, an R-Rated romp that takes all the babysitting films of the past (we’re talking to you Adventures in Babysitting!) and puts them to shame. Hill sat down to talk about The Sitter and his experiences filming the outrageous comedy. The actor plays Noah, a twenty-something guy who’s a little more lost than found. “He just got kicked out of college. His girlfriend treats him awfully. He’s kind of in a rut,” Hill said.

The Sitter Star Jonah Hill
But, Noah has a heart and takes the babysitting gig to help his mom meet the man of her dreams. “His mom hasn’t had a date in a long time, so he agrees to babysit these kids so she can go out on this date. Then, all hell breaks loose,” Hill said and smiled wryly.

Hill also reported that he, producers and The Sitter director David Gordon Green wanted to set their film apart from the other babysitting movie kin in Hollywood’s past. “There are all these movies that were made where it comes down to: You don’t want this guy watching your kids. Those can be kind of cheesy movies. The point of us making this movie is you really, really don’t want this guy watching your kids. They might die or worse,” Hill said with a laugh.

The Sitter doesn’t work without a stellar group of child actors working alongside Hill -- after all, they spend the entire movie together. “Max (Records), Kevin (Hernandez) and Landry (Bender) were so cool and fun to work with. I like improvising a lot, and kids are unexpected in their choices and comments. So the director kind of let them run loose and I would just react. It adds a whole nother level of spontaneity because their brains are so ADD and crazy. They go to strange places that are cool for me to act with them,” Hill said. “I would work with kids again if they were like Max, Kevin and Landry. They would come up with fresh and new things for their characters that none of us expected.”

So, is Hill happy with his final result? “I think we made the punk rock, crazy insane version of the babysitter movie,” Hill said. “It’s me with a bunch of kids. It’s as hardcore as you would want, and expect that to be.”

Sam Rockwell also stars in The Sitter and the traditionally trained actor brought his A-game to the comedy. In fact, one could argue that Rockwell steals the movie from his more trained comedy co-stars. “Sam Rockwell is legitimately one of our generation’s great actors. He’s really well regarded,” Hill said. “Obviously it’s a silly comedy and not Shakespeare or anything, but Sam really got into it and made it a real guy. It’s so funny and it adds so much to the film.”

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Exclusive: Mark Strong Speaks with Movie Fanatic

0
0

Mark Strong has had quite a run of late. He has starred in Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood, Green Lantern and Kick-Ass and now he rivets in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Based on John le Carre’s classic spy novel, the film allowed Strong to appear in a film based on a book he adored as a boy while achieving a dream of working with two of his acting heroes: John Hurt and Gary Oldman. Those are the types of dreams that come true when you have the talent and good fortune that Strong has enjoyed of late at the cinema. He first came to American audiences' notice when he starred opposite Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio in Body of Lies and has been lighting up the screen ever since. Strong sat down with Movie Fanatic for an exclusive video interview for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and we hope a little of his magic rubbed off on us!

VIDEO

CAP

New Year's Eve Movie Review: Party Like It's 2012?

0
0

Since director Garry Marshall’s Valentine’s Day earned over $100 million domestically, it seemed natural to choose another holiday where the pressure to find someone to kiss was ever present -- enter New Year’s Eve.

Ashton Kutcher in New Year's Eve
New Year’s Eve is an even bigger collection of stars than Valentine’s Day. But, is that a good thing? Too many cooks is the phrase that comes to mind, but New Year’s Eve will certainly touch the hearts of romantics and those who enjoy giant ensemble romantic comedies with easy on the eyes stars.

The cast is astounding and easily the best of the year. New Year’s Eve touts three Oscar winners in Robert De Niro, Hilary Swank and Halle Berry -- who are joined by Ashton Kutcher, Lea Michele, Michelle Pfeifer, Zac Efron, Katherine Heigl, Jessica Biel, Jon Bon Jovi, Josh Duhamel, Sarah Jessica Parker, Abigail Breslin… you get the picture. And don't miss our interview with Michele, Efron, Pfeifer, Duhamel and Swank!

Their interweaving stories chronicle the hours leading up to the big ball drop in Times Square on the last evening of 2011. Marshall even got the new Mr. New Year’s Eve, Ryan Seacrest, to participate. There are no less than eight different tales that Marshall weaves over the course of his film and maybe that is inherently a problem. With the movie coming in at 117 minutes, that is approximately 15 minutes per storyline. Is that enough time to generate character arcs and build emotional connection between an audience and a film? Probably not, but that is not what New Year Eve is truly all about.

New Year’s Eve is like that delicious beverage many partake of on the big night, champagne. It’s sparkly, tastes delicious and is quite pristine. Yet, too much of it over time and the evening can leave you with one massive headache.

There are solid moments, such as hearing Michel and Bon Jovi singing together. Their vocals are brilliant together. De Niro could read the dictionary and it would be riveting. He plays a regretful father who knows this is not only his last New Year’s Eve, but most likely his last night on earth. Watching De Niro and Berry, who plays his nurse, share scenes is an utter delight.

But overall, New Year’s Eve feels a tad on the lazy side. There are enormous plot holes, but then again, that is not why audiences went to see Valentine’s Day and it won’t be why they line up for New Year’s Eve. It is romantic, has funny moments, but mostly: It is the superstar movie of the year.

What to Expect When You're Expecting Trailer: When Superstars Expect

0
0

The first trailer for What to Expect When You’re Expecting has debuted and for those who wondered how they would make a movie out of an informational book, the evidence of movie joy is on full display. What to Expect is another superstar cast film (What’s your favorite movie superstar cast?) featuring Jennifer Lopez, Cameron Diaz, Elizabeth Banks, Anna Kendrick, Brooklyn Decker, Matthew Morrison, Dennis Quaid and Chase Crawford. The film based on Heidi Murkoff arrives May 11, 2012.


The Sitter Review: Jonah Hill's Hilarious and Heartwarming

0
0

In The Sitter, Jonah Hill and company have taken the babysitting movie and brought it to another level.

The Sitter Stars Jonah Hill
Hill plays Noah, a slacker who is having trouble finding his way. He has been kicked out college and is living at home with his single mother. When she has the opportunity to go on her first date in years, Noah reluctantly agrees to babysit her friend’s kids so the double date can happen. Then, as Hill told us in our interview, “all hell breaks loose.”

Some may think the film sounds a bit like Adventures in Babysitting, but there could not be more difference between the films other than their premise.

Hill has more than perfected his comic timing over the years, but it is a joy watching him interact with the three children who play his charges over this fateful night. He is at the top of his game in The Sitter and it is largely why the film works. The actor brings both a silliness and sensitivity to the role that permeates the film.

The child actors who play the kids he’s sitting, Max Records (Where the Wild Things Are), Landry Bender and Kevin Hernandez, match Hill note for note and their casting could not have been more perfect. If the child actors in a babysitting movie miss a note, the whole thing goes awry. Sure, that’s a heavy burden for actors whose combined age is less than 20, but in The Sitter, Bender, Records and Hernandez are up for the task.

Babysitter movie history is a limited genre, but for fans of films such as Adventures in Babysitting -- they could be quick to cry foul for essentially remaking a classic in their minds. The Sitter is R-Rated, which immediately sets it apart. Plus, none of those films possess the combination that director David Gordon Green has brought to The Sitter. It is hilarious and heartfelt. The pacing is as even as you could ask of a film. There are as many hold your hands over your eyes “I can’t believe it” moments as there is almost-tear producing compassionate scenes that fill The Sitter with a boisterous spirit.

Sam Rockwell steals the show as a drug dealer that Hill encounters on his night with the kids. Hill’s girlfriend has made a request and it is so compelling that he puts the kids in the minivan and heads into New York City on a quest that is totally self-serving. Rockwell is known for his drama, but his comic chops are on full display. He is much more emotionally sappy than any drug dealer ever portrayed on film to hilarious results.

Director Green (Pineapple Express) takes what could have been a one note comedy and gives it so much more. It may not be one of the top 10 comedies of 2011, but it just misses the cut.

Should you hire The Sitter? When in need of chuckles and from the heart smiles, hire Hill and The Sitter.

New Year's Eve Cast: TV Stars Graduate to Big Screen

0
0

With New Year’s Eve's superstar cast being comprised of a slew of TV veterans who hit it big on the big screen, we wanted to ask our readers: Who's your favorite TV star turned movie star?

Katherine Heigl and Sofia Vergara in New Year's Eve
New Year’s Eve is about as loaded with superstars as any film this year (check out our New Year’s Eve review). A slew of them got their start on TV and now light up the silver screen after toiling for years on the small screen. Such as:

Hilary Swank: Hilary Swank is a two-time Oscar winner, but her early days were much more humble. She had a recurring role on the original 90210. You’ve come a long way, baby!

Josh Duhamel: Mr. Movie Leading Man got his start on the soap All My Children and continued his TV run with the hit show Las Vegas

Lea Michele: Lea Michele is currently still on her hit show, Glee, and with New Year’s Eve she is making the jump to big screen starlet.

Sofia Vergara: Like Michele, Sofia Vergara is on a current TV show hit, Modern Family. New Year’s Eve is only one of the films she’s made this year, including The Smurfs.

Katherine Heigl: After famously leaving Grey’s Anatomy, Heigl has had mixed success on screen, most notably Knocked-Up. Some also forget, she was in the show Roswell before jumping to Seattle Grace on Grey’s Anatomy.

Ashton Kutcher: First there was That 70’s Show, and now Ashton Kutcher has famously taken Charlie Sheen’s place on Two and Half Men. Like Heigl, Kutcher’s film career has been mostly hit or miss and frankly, mostly misses.

Jessica Biel: Imagine the sugary sweet Seventh Heaven without Jessica Biel. Hardly!

So, this got Movie Fanatic wondering...

Who is your favorite TV star turned movie star:

Battleship Trailer Previews a Summer Smash

0
0

As Universal Pictures so eloquently says in its tagline for Battleship, “The battle for Earth begins at sea.” Thus is the premise of Battleship and the film’s second trailer illustrates more of what we can expect from director Peter Berg’s vision for bringing the board game to the big screen. Battleship stars Liam Neeson, Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker, Alexander Skarsgard and has the film debut of Rihanna. Look for Battleship to land May 18, 2012.

The Dark Knight Rises Unleashes Operation Early Bird

0
0

After Movie Fanatic featured some The Dark Knight Rises viral news yesterday, today finds the highly anticipated Batman film releasing what it’s calling “Operation Early Bird.” The outreach allows fans to get their way into an early screening of The Dark Knight Rises IMAX prologue before anyone else.

Official Dark Night Rises Teaser Poster
When you visit www.operationearlybird.com, what once was blank now features a map where fans can check out the early screening at the 10 p.m. shows on December 13. The Dark Knight Rises prologue will play before IMAX screenings of Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol when it premieres December 16.

Nice of Warner Bros. and director Christopher Nolan to give Dark Knight fans a glimpse into his final Batman picture before the film premieres July 20, 2012.

Young Adult Movie Review: Charlize Theron's Triumph

0
0

Charlize Theron achieves the impossible in Young Adult. Theron paints a picture with her characterization of Mavis Gary that does not have one shred of compassion, yet the audience is with her all the way.

Patrick Wilson and Charlize Theron in Young Adult
Theron is an author who composes novels in the titular genre. She is highly successful, but miles away from happiness. Gary is a thirty-something alcoholic, elitist divorcee, who gets an email announcement that her high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson) has welcomed a new baby. Married with children? Gary can’t let that continue as she suddenly awakes to the idea that she and Wilson’s Buddy Slade were meant to be, but life and her authoring triumphs have gotten in the way.

So, what’s a girl to do? She hops in her Mini and drives from her Minneapolis home to the small town where she grew up, determined to steal back the man she feels is rightfully hers.

The first night in town, she runs into an old high school classmate played by Patton Oswalt. The Oswalt-Theron chemistry is what really beats the heart of Young Adult. Both actors score on their own brilliantly in the film, but when they act together, the fireworks pop. And, we don’t mean romantically. There is something that is raw and so real about the performances of both actors when they share scenes.

But overall, Young Adult is Theron’s triumph. It is uncanny how the actress manages to cull sympathy from the audience when none exists for her character. Her performance is still haunting me, weeks after witnessing the film. She is transfixing and hasn’t been this unattractive onscreen since she won an Oscar for Monster. And we’re not necessarily talking about her looks. Sure she lets herself get quite disheveled as a full-on alcoholic, but her inner beauty is nonexistent as she spouts her wrath on her small town and its inhabitants, including the only one who “cares” for her, Oswalt’s Matt Freehauf.

Most characters that are less than savory, unless of course they are villains, have some sort of moment of redemption. Don’t count on it in Young Adult for Theron, and we would not have it any other way.

Young Adult is from screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno) and reteams her with Juno director Jason Reitman (who most recently directed Up in the Air). The pair have done it again. Cody’s script is sharp and warrants serious consideration for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards. And Reitman knows how to take an audience on a Cody story ride, complete with effortless ebb and flow that adds up to one surprisingly salacious -- in a good way -- time at the movies.

Viewing all 7494 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images