01.21.2010 | By Jack Rico |
*Updated December 2025
I was invited by DreamWorks Studios this week to watch never before seen footage from three of their upcoming animated releases for 2010: 10 minutes of the superhero spoof comedy Megamind starring Brad Pitt and Tina Fey, 30 minutes of Shrek Forever After with the old cast, and a full screening of How to Train Your Dragon 3D with America Ferrera, Gerard Butler and Jay Baruchel.
01.21.2010 | By Karen Posada |
*Updated December 2025
ShowBizCafe.com got a chance to talk to actor, screenwriter, and director Mel Gibson about his film Edge of Darkness. He excitedly gave us the backstory of the movie and also spoke to us about his upcoming projects. Read More
01.14.2010 | By Ted Faraone |
If Jackie Chan did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him. His latest vehicle, “The Spy Next Door,” fits neatly into his array of comic action films suitable for children and their parents. The 92 minute, PG-rated effort from helmer Brian Levant and screenwriters Jonathan Bernstein, James Greer, and Gregory Poirier, offers a little something for everyone. That’s not to say that it is flawless. It sticks pretty closely to the unassuming geek as martial arts master formula which Chan has perfected. Add to the recipe a little “fish-out-of-water” and season with elements from the “Get Smart” series and you have a tasty frittata that should satisfy all but the most finicky.
Chan stars as Bob Ho, a Chinese intelligence officer on loan to the CIA. That preposterous premise sets the tone for rest of pic’s hijinx. His cover is a geeky, suburban pen salesman. The “Next Door” part of the story involves Amber Valetta as Gillian, single mother of three impossible kids, and Chan’s love interest. Plot centers on Ho’s desire to retire from spying and marry Gillian. Her kids’ opinion of him is the first hitch. He’s just not cool enough. The second hitch is a sort of comic version of Al Pacino’s famous line, “Every time I try to get out they drag me back in.”
In this case, the drag back is a Russian plot to unleash a bacterium on all the world’s oil supply — Russia’s excepted — which consume anything made of petroleum and then vanish as quickly as they appear.
Pic is played over-the-top to excellent comic effect. Magnús Scheving’s Poldark, Ho’s arch enemy, is a marvelous caricature of a bad guy. Another standout on the Russian team is Katherine Boecher as Creel, a slinky blond sporting tight black outfits, Jimmy Choos and a mean kick.
What brings all the elements together and creates pic’s best action sequences — as well as most of its jokes — is a sort of contrived plot point in which Gillian leaves town to look after her injured dad and puts Bob in charge of her three unruly brats. To Bob, this is his chance to make the kids like him. It’s also his fish-out-of-water moment. Spies have some learning to do where raising kids is at issue. Of course, Bob has to win the kids over — and he does so in part by accident. Gillian’s 11-year-old, Ian (Will Shadley) is as much a geek as Bob appears to be, a would be rocket scientist, who downloads the Russian’s secret bacterium formula from Bob’s home computer thinking it is a video game. This puts the Russians on Bob’s tail and consequently on the kids’ tails. The sight of Bob kickboxing Russian spies is just too cool for words. Ian is won over. So is four-year-old Nora (Alina Foley). Farren (Madeline Carroll), Gillian’s 13-year-old stepdaughter, is the toughest nut, but even she cracks. The kids join the fight against the Russians with undisguised glee in scenes reminiscent of the “Home Alone” series. Thus far, the formula works.
Gillian is another story. Furious at the revelation that Bob is a spy and that her brood has been endangered, she gives him the shove — permanently. Since this is a comedy, however, the final reel offers a slapstick climax, which includes a Russian spy wearing a television as a hat.
Special mention goes to recording artist Billy Ray Cyrus as CIA good guy Colton James and comic George Lopez as the Russian’s mole in the CIA. Choreography is as good as one has come to expect from Chan, and lensing by Dean Cundey frames it all to good effect. Soundtrack includes familiar “Secret Agent Man” and Blondie’s “One Way Or Another”. One nit to pick is Chan’s accent. He can be a tad tough to understand at times, but since editor Lawrence Jordan leaves no loose ends, a lost line or two can be imputed from the context.
01.14.2010 | By Jack Rico |
I remember seeing Four Brothers and laughing so hard. I know it wasn’t a comedy, but there are some lines in that movies that are just LMAO funny! That’s when I knew that Mark Wahlberg was one of my favorite actors (see my 1:1 interview with him here).
So now I get word that he might involved in doing a sequel to it. Here’s the article we got from THR.com.
Paramount is developing a sequel to its 2005 thriller “Four Brothers,” bringing back many of the creative team for “Five Brothers.”
Mark Wahlberg, the star of “Four Brothers,” hatched the sequel idea with that film’s writers, David Elliot and Paul Lovett.
The original movie, directed by John Singleton, revolved around four adopted brothers (Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin and Garret Hedlund) who come together to avenge their mother’s death in what at first appears to be a random robbery. Although not a massive hit, it still grossed a tidy $74 million at the domestic box office.
Plot details are being kept under wraps, and it is not clear which of the other actors, if any, would return. Hedlund would appear to be out, as his character was killed in the first movie. Wahlberg stars in Peter Jackson’s “The Lovely Bones,” which opens nationally on Friday, and appears in the upcoming “Date Night” with Steve Carell and Tina Fey.
01.9.2010 | By Namreta Kumar |
Unfortunately Wonderful World feels too much like a tired film to represent the revival at the end. It is made memorable only by the concept of cynicism and its witty remarks. Josh Goldin’s Ben Singer (Matthew Broderick) has a thin layer of charm, however his actual cynicism begins to border on pathological at points. Read More
01.6.2010 | By Jack Rico |
*Updated November 2025
Nick Twisp (Michael Cera) is a bookish teen who falls hard for Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday) and, at her urging, invents a rebellious alter ego, François. His “refined” tastes collide with terrible decisions, leading to mayhem, property damage, and a brush with the law, all in the name of love. Read More
01.5.2010 | By Mack Chico |
Rated: R for strong violent/gruesome accidents, language and a scene of sexuality.
Release Date: 2009-08-28
Starring: Eric Bress, Jeffrey Reddick
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country:USA
Official Website: http://www.thefinaldestinationmovie.com/
12.28.2009 | By Pau Brunet |
The estimated $278 million in weekend box-office revenue broke the previous record of roughly $253 million set in July 2008, the weekend “The Dark Knight” was released.
A diverse group of films drew throngs to the multiplexes: James Cameron’s “Avatar” pushed strongly into its second week while “Sherlock Holmes,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” and “It’s Complicated” all opened.
“Avatar,” the 3-D epic, topped them all, earning $75 million for 20th Century Fox, according to studio estimates Sunday. Remarkably, that was only a 3 percent drop from its opening weekend total of $77.4 million. (Blockbusters typically drop 30-50 percent in the second weekend.) In its 10 days of release, “Avatar” has made $212 million domestically — and could be on its way to a worldwide gross of over $1 billion.
“This thing is going to be playing and playing, I can tell you that,” said Bert Livingston, 20th Century Fox distribution executive. “There’s a lot of business out there. Everybody’s got good movies out.”
In second was “Sherlock Holmes,” Guy Ritchie’s reboot of the franchise with Robert Downey Jr. starring as Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective. The Warner Bros. film opened with a weekend total of $65.4 million, including a record Christmas Day debut of $24.9 million.
It was a start that seemed sure to pave the way for sequels. Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., called the result “sensational.”
“Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel,” which opened Wednesday, took in $50.2 million on the weekend and $77.1 million in its five days of release. The film, also from Fox, earned an impressive $18.8 on Wednesday alone. The strong start suggested that “Squeakquel” was likely to surpass its 2007 original, which made $217 million.
Also opening was Nancy Meyer’s “It’s Complicated,” the romantic comedy from starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. With an audience 72 percent female, the Universal film took in $22.1 million, a solid debut.
The buffo Christmas weekend results spelled good things for all the films in release in the coming week — one of the most lucrative of the year.
“We all know what next week means to the industry. This is a huge,” said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal. “Christmas is past us. No more shopping, no more returning. College kids are home. … I’m so optimistic about what the next weekend holds for us.”
Said Livingston: “Starting this Monday, every day is a Saturday.”
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. “Avatar,” $75 million.
2. “Sherlock Holmes,” $65.4 million.
3. “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel,” $50.2 million.
4. “It’s Complicated,” $22.1 million.
5. “Up in the Air,” $11.8 million.
6. “The Blind Side,” $11.7 million.
7. “The Princess and the Frog,” $8.7 million.
8. “Nine,” $5.5 million.
9. “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” $5 million.
10. “Invictus,” $4.4 million.
12.23.2009 | By Mirna Lopez |
If you enjoyed the adventures of Alvin and the Chipmunks in 2007, be sure to feel the same with Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. It contains the same main characteristics from the first movie. Once again, these cute and fuzzy chipmunks will entertain you with their music. Basically, The Squekquel continues the adventures of the pop sensations Alvin and the Chipmunks.
The chipmunks are attending school, and it is up to them to save their school’s music program by winning $25,000 in a battle of bands. Nevertheless, now the chipmunks have competition, The Chipettes: Brittany, Eleanor and Jeanette. Adjusting to this new life style involving peer pressure, girls, and sports has become pretty difficult for Alvin, Simon and Theodore.
We do not hear Dave (Jason Lee) yelling “Alvin!” every few minutes, like in the first movie. His nephew Toby takes care of the chipmunks in The Squeakquel, and treats them slightly different as Dave.
The way everyone seems to ignore the fact that famous chipmunks are attending school, makes us wonder “why?” However, we easily make them fit into the environment, especially when another three female chipmunks arrive. Something we will have in mind throughout the entire movie is that the chipmunks are adorably cute. Being adorable is what makes the chipmunks unique and gives the special touch that both movies have.
Prepare yourself to see these sweet and clever chipmunks live as if they were humans. You will only enjoy “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” if you already think they look adorable. Otherwise, you will not receive the same effect as everyone else, who also liked the first movie.
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