06.4.2010 | By Jack Rico |
*Updated 2026
In 2026, when celebrity chaos is content and addiction stories land differently, Get Him to the Greek plays as a music-industry comedy with more bite than its party surface suggests.
06.3.2010 | By Jack Rico |
When I was a kid I used to watch ‘Marmaduke’ on Saturday morning cartoons. This film adaptation is not as entertaining as the former, but nevertheless kids should have a frolicking time with it. Marmaduke is not meant to entertain adults, it’s for children who are 7-10 years old or even tweens at 12-14. So any grown men and women who go to see this film need to understand that the gags and dance moves from these dogs are meant for infants. If you enjoy kids movies, more power to you.
The plot. A suburban family moves to a new neighborhood with their large yet lovable Great Dane, who has a tendency to wreak havoc in his own oblivious way.
This is one of those few cat and dog movies where humans take a back seat to them. I would say it is 80% animals 20% humans. There is hardly any acting from real people in this film, which is why you can’t really knock the acting because there barely is any. Most of the work comes from the voices of Owen Wilson, Emma Stone, George Lopez and Kiefer Sutherland. I thought Owen fit the personality of the star dog perfectly. Lopez I think is always hilarious with the stereotypical Mexican accent as Marmaduke’s cat friend.
The situational comedy in the movie is modestly fun and you can tell director Tom Dey (“Failure to Launch”) makes something of an effort to make it likable. Overall, Marmaduke is what it is – a project using a familiar American brand name to make some money from it. Did it work? Not enough for me to tell you to run to the theater to see it. This is definitely a DVD property.
06.2.2010 | By Namreta Kumar |
Raajneeti is a lengthy and problematic film. Although it tried to read like a modern Mahabharat, it ends up being a poor man’s version of The Great Indian Novel (by Shashi Tharoor).
Â
For starters if you have no interest in politics don’t watch the film for the hype of the star-studded performance. No one truly shines with a solid performance, anyway. For the solid list of character actors the film is predicated on, not one character elicits enough sympathy within the audience. This may be because of the base problem in the script itself: everyone seems to either be playing multiple characters from the Mahabharat or the principal motivations have all been skewed bordering on disbelief.
Â
Furthermore without a working knowledge of the Mahabharat it is rather difficult to follow the film. And if you have anything greater than a working knowledge you are sure to be disappointed by the bullet point version of the story. In trying to make a modern retelling Rajneeti lost both the original and the modern. Some of the language will definitely be lost on those who are not Hindi scholars and the rest to those who know little English.
Â
Don’t look towards the music to be of any help either. Traditionally Bollywood film length and drama has been broken by the musical song and dance, Rajneeti has one ill placed and rather short rendition. Unfortunately the background score doesn’t win this film any favors either, as it is over dramatic and reclaims the scene for itself.
Â
Stripped down to its core the film lacks proper development, however it does make the audience think. If it is true that you learn more from mistakes than success, this film forces everyone who watches it to think about story and character as by products of one another. The best thing about Rajneeti is its literary challenge and that isn’t saying much, considering the other films coming out of India today.
05.27.2010 | By Karen Posada |
*Updated December 2025
They werent kidding when they said sparkle. Sex and the City 2 was completely extravagant and exaggerated, which is what in a way made it fun. This movie does more justice to the series than the original movie did. Read More
05.25.2010 | By Jack Rico |
Movies based on videogames are usually not very successful in Hollywood as in the case of Max Payne, Street Fighter and Hitman recently. But ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time‘ is perhaps one of the best in the genre and that’s not necessarily a compliment.
The film starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Artenton and directed by Mike Newell (Love in the Time of Cholera), follows an adventurous prince who joins a rival princess to stop an evil ruler whose plan to unleash a sandstorm could destroy the world.
Although the film is visually stunning and at times entertaining, the film tends to be very childish and not absorbent enough to retain the interest of adults. However, the infantile humor and cheezy romance is perfect for teenage audiences.
05.25.2010 | By Jack Rico |
Updated December 2025
New images from Agora, Alejandro Amenábar’s follow-up to The Sea Inside, have revealed the first look at Rachel Weisz as the astronomer Hypatia. These early stills offer a glimpse into the massive scale of the production, which looks to be a significant departure from the director’s more intimate previous works. Read More
05.21.2010 | By Jack Rico |
*Updated 2026
In 2026, when global cinema moves across borders faster than ever, Kites reads like an earlier attempt to package Bollywood romance for a Hollywood-facing audience.
05.19.2010 | By Jack Rico |
The veteran actor Michael Douglas takes heads the indie route to star in one of my favorite films of 2010 – Solitary Man. The film reminds me of Ben Stiller’s ‘Greenberg‘, about a man who is trying to find meaning in life, except that Douglas is far better and much more appealing.
The plot, infused with comic moments tells the story of Ben Kalman (Douglas), a renown businessman who owns a chain of car dealerships, whose career and marriage are being ruined by his constant indiscretions both professionally and personally. Will he be able to rescue himself from the abyss into which it is located? The story also weaves questions about death and the fragility of the human psyche in a very entertaining way.
How many times have you heard of people being in situations where they have lost everything or about to lose everything, but refuse to see the gravity of the situation; a person who never learns from his mistakes, who prefers to apologize before asking permission first. This is one of Douglas’ best performances in years. It’s full of a rogue charisma that he has perfected throughout his career. One of the salient features of Douglas is his charm and outside of Gekko, he’s never played a role like this one.
Michael is accompanied by a cast of heavyweights such as Susan Sarandon, Mary Louise Parker, Danny Devito and Jesse Eisenberg. It is a pleasure to see this cast work together in this genuine, witty and heartfelt film about the ups and downs of a man. I think we all know people like Kalman – or maybe one might look in the mirror and see none other than… Ben Kalman himself.
05.15.2010 | By Jack Rico |
*Updated January 2026
The Bollywood film Kites, directed by Anurag Basu, is a film unlike any I’ve seen before. It is spoken in three languages, has a diverse cast, and does not come from Hollywood. It is a completely original experience. Read More
