Friday, May 17, 2013
One critic calls visual effects and stuntwork impressive, but exhausting for audience.
The premise, courtesy of the film's official website: When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis. With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew. Here's what critics are saying: "Star Trek Into Darkness" is rated PG-13 for PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and …
Friday, May 10, 2013
Frenetic adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel goes from mesmerizing to dizzying in under 30 minutes.
The premise, courtesy of the film's official website: “The Great Gatsby” follows Fitzgerald-like would-be writer Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super-rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible …
Friday, April 26, 2013
Movie critics pan 'The Big Wedding' despite cast of four Academy Award winners.
The premise, courtesy of the film's official website: With an all-star cast lead by Diane Keaton, Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Robin Williams, Katherine Heigl, Amanda Seyfried and Topher Grace, "The Big Wedding" is an uproarious romantic comedy about a charmingly modern family trying to survive a weekend wedding celebration that has the potential to become a full blown family fiasco. To the amusement of their adult children and friends, long divorced couple Don and Ellie Griffin (De Niro and Keaton) are once again forced to play the happy couple for the sake of their adopted son's wedding after his ultra conservative biological mother unexpectedly decides to fly halfway across the world to attend. With all of the wedding guests looking …
Friday, April 19, 2013
'Memories of earlier sci-fi dramas peek out of 'Oblivion' like bits of New York jutting out of the futuristic rubble.'
The year is 2077. Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) and Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) are work partners and lovers on an earth that was destroyed by invading alien Scavengers. Jack and Vicki are preparing to leave earth for Titan, a safe moon where the remaining humans have fled. Jack is plagued by nightmares and visions of his life before in New York. These nightmares hold the key to Jack's existence and the remainder of the plot.....but my lips are sealed. The cast also includes Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Melissa Leo and Zoë Bell. Here's what the critics are saying: The story probably doesn’t stand up to heavy scrutiny, and at times the effort by star and director shows....But at least the effort is there. The film …
Friday, April 5, 2013
Movie Critics review the 3D release celebrating the 20th anniversary of the film.
From the film's official website: With his remastering of the epic into a state-of-the-art 3D format, Spielberg introduces the three-time Academy Award-winning blockbuster to a new generation of moviegoers and allows longtime fans to experience the world he envisioned in a way that was unimaginable during the film’s original release. Starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Samuel L. Jackson and Richard Attenborough, the film based on the novel by Michael Crichton is produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Gerald R. Molen. The film's premise, courtesy of IMDb: During a preview tour, a theme park suffers a major power breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaur exhibits to run amok. Here's what critics are saying about the 3D release: "…
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson stars as Roadblock in the sequel to 'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.'
The premise, courtesy of the film's official website: A follow-up to the 2009 blockbuster "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra," which grossed over $300 million worldwide. In "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," the team is not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra, but they are forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence. Here's what critics are saying: "G.I. Joe: Retaliation" is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of combat violence and martial arts action throughout and for brief sensuality and language. The film runs 110 minutes. It is playing at the Studio Movie Grill in Duluth.
Friday, March 29, 2013
'The Host' is the next epic love story from Stephenie Meyer, creator of the 'Twilight Saga.'
The premise, courtesy of the film's official website: What if everything you love was taken from you in the blink of an eye? "The Host" is the next epic love story from the creator of the "Twilight Saga," worldwide bestselling author Stephenie Meyer. When an unseen enemy threatens mankind by taking over their bodies and erasing their memories, Melanie Stryder (Saoirse Ronan) will risk everything to protect the people she cares most about — Jared (Max Irons), Ian (Jake Abel), her brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and her Uncle Jeb (William Hurt), proving that love can conquer all in a dangerous new world. Here's what critics are saying: "The Host" is rated PG-13 and runs 125 minutes. It is playing at the Studio Movie Grill in Duluth. ~ …
Friday, March 8, 2013
According to one critic, it's not a great movie, but it's powerfully entertaining.
Ever wonder how that Man Behind the Curtain got to Oz in the first place? Director Sam Raimi's new movie fills in the back story of Oscar "Oz" Diggs, an unctous charlatan in a traveling side show. He flees from an unsympathetic crowd in a hot air balloon, gets caught up in a tornado -- what a cool idea! -- and lands in the magical land of Oz. There, he meets three witch sisters, Evanora (Rachel Weisz), Glinda (Michelle Williams) and Theodora (Mila Kunis). And a cute, flying monkey and a China doll, who may be the movie's best characters. The witches try to convince Oscar that he is the foretold Wizard who will restore order to Oz and put a very wicked witch in her place. Here's what the critics are saying: As a series of sights, which …
Friday, January 25, 2013
'Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters' picks up 15 years after fairytale ended.
The Hansel and Gretel story from the Brothers Grimm is familiar to American as well as German children. A poor woodcutter and his wife abandon the starving brother and sister in the woods, the children stumble upon a house made of sweets; the witch who lives there tries to eat them; they burn her alive in her own oven. Laden with the witch's treasure, they return home to their now-widowed father, with whom they live happily ever after. "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" picks up the story 15 years later, when the two children are 20-something witch bounty hunters. You find 'em, we grind 'em, could be their motto -- they use all kinds of witch-killing weapons the Brothers Grimm could never have imagined. When H & G arrive in Augsburg, they …
