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Free tickets to see ‘Our Family Wedding’
Jack Rico
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2010/03/05 at 12:00am

Movies

Free tickets to see ‘Our Family Wedding’

03.5.2010 | By |

Free tickets to see 'Our Family Wedding'

ShowBizCafe.com invites you to see an advanced screening of the romantic comedy ‘Our Family Wedding’ starring America Ferrera on Monday, March 8th at an undisclosed theater in Manhattan, NY. 200 winners will be picked.

Synopsis: “Our marriage, their wedding.” It’s lesson number one for any newly engaged couple, and Lucia (America Ferrera) and Marcus (Lance Gross) are no exception. In Fox Searchlight Pictures’ OUR FAMILY WEDDING, they learn the hard way that the path to saying “I do” can be rife with familial strife. When they return from college and too suddenly announce their marriage plans, they soon discover that their fathers – two highly competitive over-the-top egos – can wreak a major amount of havoc on their special day.

With insults flying and tempers running high, it’s anyone’s guess if the alpha dads (Forest Whitaker and Carlos Mencia) will survive to make it down the aisle in one piece. Lucia’s mother (Diana Maria Riva) is busy planning the wedding of “her” dreams and the only levelheaded one in the bunch is Angela (Regina King), the groom’s father’s best friend and lawyer, who manages to keep her cool when the madness reaches a crescendo. With only weeks to plan their wedding, Lucia and Marcus soon discover the true meaning of love and find there is truth to the saying – that when you marry someone, you marry their entire family.

Send us your name and email to our COMMENTS section below and we will then proceed to send you the electronic ticket to attend the screening.

Good luck!

Poster of Our Family Wedding

Tickets are limited and are allocated to a random sampling of respondents. Limit one (Admit-One) pass per person. Seating is first come, first served. No purchase necessary. While supplies last.

Rated PG-13.

The theatrical release will be Friday, March 12th, 2010. All winners will be notified by e-mail.

http://www.ourfamilyweddingmovie.com/

Passes are not for sale.

Movie Review: ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’
Jack Rico
0

By

2010/03/05 at 12:00am

Movies

Movie Review: ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’

03.5.2010 | By |

Movie Review: 'Brooklyn's Finest'

‘Brooklyn’s Finest’ is a very good film that brings together some wonderfully gritty acting, an engrossing storyline and a riveting ending. There are some twists that you’ll enjoy and overall it’ll remind you of films such as ‘Crash’ and ‘Serpico’.

The plot goes like this – three Brooklyn cops who work at the same precinct wind up at the same deadly location after their personal problems converge them there.

Kudos to the comeback kid Ethan Hawke, who continues to deliver powerful, intense and captivating performances. One of my favorites from him is ‘Before The Devil Know’s You’re Dead’ from legendary director Sydney Lumet. Just a wonderful small film that didn’t get much play in 2007. He now reunites with helmer Antoine Fuqua from their days in ‘Training Day’ to deliver an impressive and fervent interpretation of a cop doing anything to provide for his family.

The rest of the cast, Don Cheadle, Wesley Snipes and Ellen Barkin also delivered magnificent performances as well. Wesley Snipes, who hasn’t been in much of note in nearly a decade, settles into this role as if he was born for it. And Ellen Barkin is unforgettable as the foul-mouthed, tough-as-nails FBI agent who makes life hell for Tango. I don’t mention Richard Gere because I thought he was the weakest link. His range is limited in these fiery films and what’s worse, he plays the same guy in every movie. Romantic dramas like his ‘Nights in Rodanthe’ or ‘An Officer and A Gentleman’ are a better fit.

Outside of the great acting the film does dribble into some typical police cliches, such as  the dirty cop attending confession or undercover officers agonizing over turning against a friend they’ve made in the hood. These scenes are here, but they don’t distract you or make you say, ‘WTF, again!?’. It fits well with their characters and it didn’t bother me at all, I doubt it will for you.

Ultimately, it’s all about being entertained and taken to a world you submerge for two hours to then came back satisfied. ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’ does that and in a fine way.

Other films like this:

We Own The Night

Pride and Glory

Where the Wild Things Are
Alex Florez
0

By

2010/03/03 at 12:00am

DVD ReviewsReviews

Where the Wild Things Are

03.3.2010 | By |

Rating: 2.5

Rated: PG for mild thematic elements, some adventure action and brief language.
Release Date: 2009-10-16
Starring: Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers, Maurice Sendak (book)
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country:USA
Official Website: http://wherethewildthingsare.warnerbros.com/

 Go to our film page

The night that ‘Max put on a wolf suit and started doing one shenanigan after another’ marked the moment in my childhood when I let my imagination run wild. I’m referring to the boy in that fantasy book written by Maurice Sendak, who later finds himself in a forest ‘Where The Wild Things Are.’
 
When I found out that the filmmaker Spike Jonze (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich) had the intention of adapting a classic of children’s literature to the big screen, I was easily excited. However, the great expectations that came along with the making of the film were enough to worry me. How loyal would the film be to the book? And most importantly, how would they stretch out a story of just a few pages so that it would work as a movie?
 
For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, the book is about a boy named Max who gets sent to bed early for his bad behavior. But he ends up escaping to a forest where he is accompanied by a family of wild creatures. As is traditional in children’s books, ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ has a moral to its story, but I remember it mostly for it’s surrealist world. Something Jonze’s film also succeeds at, but regrettably as a movie ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ falls short.
 
Here’s the problem: the film doesn’t have enough plot to push the story forward. Since the book is short, Jonze has no choice but to come up with something to further develop the movie. However, the filmmaker doesn’t risk quite enough to make things interesting. Instead he opts to show us filler – like extended sequences of Max playing with his monsters. And that’s just not filmmaking. Although the costuming, the special effects and the wonderful soundtrack do an amazing job of bringing the book to life, the captivating moments are rare. Simply put, the book would have been better served as an exceptional short-film.
 
‘Where The Wild Things Are’ is one of the all time classic bedtime stories, but when it also puts you to sleep in the movie theater, that’s not a good sign.

Gentlemen Broncos
Jack Rico
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By

2010/03/03 at 12:00am

DVD ReviewsReviews

Gentlemen Broncos

03.3.2010 | By |

Rating: 1.0

Rated: PG-13 for some crude humor.
Release Date: 2009-10-30
Starring: Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country:USA
Official Website: No disponible.

 Go to our film page

One of the worst movies of 2009 is Gentlemen Broncos.

 

Directed by Jared Hess, the creator of ‘Napoleon Dynamite’, the film revolves around a young writer whose novel is plagiarized by his favorite author.

 

The comedy is some of the more corniest I’ve seen in my life and the dialogue is ridiculous.

 

It is amazing that such horrific films as this continue to be created for the public consumption.

Alice in Wonderland
Jack Rico
0

By

2010/03/03 at 12:00am

Reviews

Alice in Wonderland

03.3.2010 | By |

Alice in Wonderland

It’s finally here! Tim Burton’s new phantasmagorical Real-3D remake of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ is shockingly a bore. All that eye-popping colorful imagery was just eye candy to sidetrack us from focusing on the anemic script adaptation. Even though it is one of Burton’s most beautiful films, it is not his best. This goes to show you that story is everything. The acting performances were vacuous and the entertainment value was surprisingly subpar. Will kids like it? Yeah sure, kids like almost anything that looks like a video game.

Burton’s adaptation centers around Alice (Mia Wasikowska), a young british teenager who falls down a tree hole and rediscovers all the marvels of a surreal place called Wonderland.

There is something to be said about the director’s need to create a movie that has been filmed so many times by so many people in so many countries. Does he think his version will be the definitive one? Disney might argue that. Burton is a remake master and there is a major flaw with that method of filmmaking – you are always going against the original, therefore your version will most likely always be weaker.

Alice in Wonderland is not funny or charming but a bit fatuous and insipid. It drags in various places especially in the beginning. Much of this tediousness is due to the bad acting of the female protagonist Mia Wasikowska. Talk about needing some acting classes. She was neither convincing nor surprised at anything, but rather seemed arrogant and spoiled. Mr. Eccentric himself, Johnny Depp, couldn’t hit the magical and funny strides of his predecessor Captain Jack Sparrow from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’ The rest of the cast was mediocre at best, so was the whole movie.

On some high notes, the cinematography is outstanding, kudos to Dariusz Wolski for hitting a home run. The 3D experience was very fun, but any 3D film that comes out after Avatar is going to pale in comparison. Nevertheless, for those of you that rarely see three dimensional movies, it’s a trip and a half. The great moments are few and the yawning moments are plenty. If you think that the 3D scenes and the colorful visuals will be enough to amuse you, think again. The special glasses will start to weigh on you and the english accent will begin to annoy you. That’s what happens when a movie you think is going to be great turns out be a dud!

Movie Review: Alice in Wonderland’
Jack Rico
0

By

2010/03/03 at 12:00am

Movies

Movie Review: Alice in Wonderland’

03.3.2010 | By |

Movie Review: Alice in Wonderland'

It’s finally here! Tim Burton’s new phantasmagorical Real-3D remake of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ is a bore. All that eye-popping colorful imagery was just eye candy to sidetrack us from focusing on the anemic script adaptation. Even though it is one of Burton’s most beautiful films, it is not his best. This goes to show you that story is everything. The acting performances were vacuous and the entertainment value was surprisingly subpar. Will kids like it? Yeah sure, kids like almost anything that looks like a video game.

Burton’s adaptation centers around Alice (Mia Wasikowska), a young british teenager who falls down a tree hole and rediscovers all the marvels of a surreal place called Wonderland.

There is something to be said about the director’s need to create a movie that has been filmed so many times by so many people in so many countries. Does he think his will be the definitive one? Disney might argue that. Burton is a remake master and there is a major flaw with that method of filmmaking – you are always going against the original, therefore your version will most likely always be weaker.

Alice in Wonderland is not funny or charming but a bit fatuous and insipid. It drags in various places especially in the beginning. Much of this tediousness is due to the bad acting of the female protagonist Mia Wasikowska. Talk about needing some acting classes. She was neither convincing nor surprised at anything, but rather seemed arrogant and spoiled. Mr. Eccentric himself, Johnny Depp, couldn’t hit the magical and funny strides of his predecessor Captain Jack Sparrow from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’ The rest of the cast was mediocre at best, so was the whole movie.

On some high notes, the cinematography is outstanding, kudos to Dariusz Wolski for hitting a home run. The 3D experience was very fun, but any 3D film that comes out after Avatar is going to pale in comparison. Nevertheless, for those of you that rarely see three dimensional movies, it’s a trip and a half. The great moments are few and the yawning moments are plenty. If you think that the 3D scenes and the colorful visuals will be enough to amuse you, think again. The glasses will start to weigh on you and the english accent will begin to annoy you. That’s what happens when a movie you think is going to be great turns out be a dud!

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
Karen Posada
0

By

2010/03/02 at 12:00am

DVD ReviewsReviews

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

03.2.2010 | By |

Rating: 3.5

Rated: R for sexual content, brief nudity, some drug material and language.
Release Date: 2009-11-27
Starring: Rebecca Miller
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country:USA
Official Website: www.pippalee.com

 Go to our film page

This is definitely a chick flick for smart viewers; the drama which drags most chick flicks is taken lightly and sprinkled with unsuspected moments of hilarity. I didn’t know exactly what to expect of it but I came out glad to have gone through Pippa’s journeys along with her.
 
The film by director Rebecca Miller explores the life of Pippa Lee (Robin Wright Penn) a suburban housewife who seems to have it all together and be leading the perfect life. Her husband (Alan Arkin) an accomplished publisher who is 30 years older than her decides to move them out of NYC to a retirement community in Connecticut. Pippa as the perfect wife follows willingly, although we get a sense there’s something stirring within her that’s about to explode. She begins the narration of the life she has led up to the point where she met her current husband. We start seeing Pippa’s troubled past and wonder how she is so together in her present, but a series of weird occurrences take place which make everything fall in place. As her retired husband decides he can’t live in complete retirement she fills her time with activities and meets a younger man (Keanu Reeves), they begin to help each other through their paths of self-discovery.
 
Blake Lively from ‘Gossip Girl’ plays the younger version of Pippa Lee, her character’s fun, sensual personality combined with her innocence makes us want to help her out of the hole she digs herself into. Younger Pippa loves her mother (Maria Bello) but as she grows up she realizes her household is not what she thought it was, her mother’s addiction to drugs and her father’s (a priest) indifference takes her life for a spin.  
 
These great actors are part of a puzzle that forms a beautifully imperfect picture. All the funny moments make the dramatic plot easy to watch without feeling overwhelmed or sad. Seeing how Pippa’s life turns out despite the complicated “lives” she’s led is delightful, seeing her come in to her own and finally realizing that there was no need to make a perfect persona but that accepting herself and the fact that life is full of surprises was the answer, gives us an uplifting conclusion.

Un Prophète
Namreta Kumar
0

By

2010/02/25 at 12:00am

Reviews

Un Prophète

02.25.2010 | By |

Un Prophète

“A Prophet,” is a remarkable fictional film about some of the hard facts of life. Everything from the screenplay to execution is etched out to near perfection. Jacques Audiard brings to life the compelling voice of an “Arab” man in a French prison.

Malik El Djebena (Tahir Rahim) is a young petty criminal who is tried as an adult, for the first time, and sent to prison. He quickly learns that he cannot live out his sentence in silence and must adapt to the two communities, he does not belong to, within. Audiard lends his strong sense of direction and voice to the reality of the duality of Malik’s world.

Tahar Rahim, Malik, guides the audience through this rather confusing world. Rahim’s awkward presence resonates well with his character and audience. As fact after fact of the world around him becomes present to him Rahim’s awkward presence soon becomes his strength. He becomes a rather unlikely hero in a world where he is often depicted as an observer.

Unfortunately that is also where the flaw of the film presents itself. As much as I may have enjoyed the refreshing storytelling, it was also a little too much work. As a removed audience member it is sometimes difficult to keep pace with the extensive amount of information packed into the final chapters of the film. Audiard created Malik’s world with precision and pace, however the turnover is rapid, hard to follow, and overall rushed.

Nonetheless what resonates is the rather telling story of a prophet in prison. “A Prophet,” is one academy award nominated film that is truly worth the hype.

The Crazies
Ted Faraone
0

By

2010/02/25 at 12:00am

Reviews

The Crazies

02.25.2010 | By |

The Crazies

In the 37 years since helmer George A. Romero foisted on us the $275,000 sci-fi/horror flick, “Crazies,” not much has changed except the value of the Dollar.  The remake, billed as “The Crazies,” by helmer Breck Eisner, cost an estimated $12 million to make.  It’s still pretty cheesy.  And Romero gets executive producer credit.
 
Pic climaxes with an atomic bomb blast leveling an Iowa town.  Too bad that its negative was not at ground zero.  “The Crazies” is that awful.  It gets half a star for some unintentionally funny scenes.  It loses stars for telegraphing plot moves in advance, failing to build compelling characterizations, totally expected “Deus Ex Machina” resolutions when writers Scott Kosar and Ray Wright painted themselves into corners, crummy continuity, stilted dialogue, and blurry lensing.  “The Crazies” uses every cheap trick to create suspense… and fails miserably.
 
Plot adheres fairly closely to the Romero original.  Folks in a small town start going crazy, becoming homicidal maniacs.  Source of the problem is quickly traced by Sherriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant, whom we last saw in the atrocious “Perfect Getaway”) to a downed jet in the town’s watershed.  How a jet goes down in a small town without apparent damage and without an immediate response is beyond even the suspension of disbelief.  This jet went down a week before pic’s action takes place.  And no one save the town blowhard noticed.

We must mention pic’s funniest scene:  The local undertaker has been infected.  He goes after Sherriff Dutton with a high speed bone saw.  Dutton subdues the mad mortuarian but the saw is still running.  Propelled across the mortuary floor by its own motor, It heads straight for Dutton’s crotch until his deputy (Joe Anderson VI) steps on the power cord in one of those Deus Ex Machina moments.  One wonders why the Army didn’t also cut off the electricity.

The purpose of a pic such as “The Crazies” is to create suspense, instill fear in audiences, and have them hanging on the edge of their seats for the ending.  Fernando Meirelles did a far better job with similar subject matter in the 2008 “Blindness.”

Pic’s ending has sequel written all over it.  Ultimately it will depend on the box office that this piece of trash does.  “The Crazies,” which feels a good deal longer than its 101 minute run time, is rated “R” thanks to violence and repeated use of a four letter word for intercourse.

The Box
Jack Rico
0

By

2010/02/23 at 12:00am

DVD ReviewsReviews

The Box

02.23.2010 | By |

Rating: 3.0

Rated: PG-13 for thematic elements, some violence and disturbing images.
Release Date: 2009-11-06
Starring: Richard Kelly
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country:USA
Official Website: http://www.thebox-movie.com/

 Go to our film page

 

With such a simple title, how can ‘The Box’ end up being so convoluted? Thank director/writer Richard Kelly (the mastermind behind Southland Tales, one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen) for that costly gaffe. This film had the promise to be exceptional, marked by its beginning and ending, but the middle wrapped itself in tangled conundrums and it never managed to fully correct itself.

Norma and Arthur Lewis (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden), a suburban couple with a young child, receive a simple wooden box as a gift, which bears fatal and irrevocable consequences. A mysterious stranger (Frank Langella), delivers the message that the box promises to bestow upon its owner $1 million with the press of a button. But, pressing this button will simultaneously cause the death of another human being somewhere in the world; someone they don’t know. With just 24 hours to have the box in their possession, Norma and Arthur find themselves in the cross-hairs of a startling moral dilemma and must face the true nature of their humanity.

The message at its core is the avarice of men and how its implications will set off the cataclysmic genocide of mankind. This deep philosophical notion was not told well by Kelly. I don’t mind a mental challenge while at the movies, but at least provide me with some clarirty while you tell it. His adapted script is based on the short story ‘Button, Button’ from legendary fantasy writer Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, What Dreams May Come) and it is quite seductive and full of intrigue. Kelly’s version had the chance to be just as good if it weren’t for the occasional hiccups.

On the other hand, Ms. Diaz, of cuban ancestors, and Mr. Marsden (Enchanted, 27 Dresses) did a wonderful job of deciphering the jumbled script to give, in my opinion, strong and compelling performances. Marsden, in particular, is good every time out. Even in family fare such as ‘Enchanted’ (he was hilarious in it), Marsden can be proud of his work. Unfortunately, Langella just didn’t have enough to work from here.

Was it suspenseful? Yes. Was it interesting and compelling? Yes. Did it get so incoherent that it irrevocably lost me? Yes to that! Enjoy the film if you so choose, but remember, you’re also paying more than you should for it. It is not a bad film, but wait, wait, wait for it on DVD.

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