As part of an exclusive virtual event, I got a chance to watch the first 11 minutes of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Introducing the footage was director Michael Chaves, who takes over from James Wan. Wan created and directed the first two films in the franchise and produced this one.
Annabelle Comes Home isn’t the film it’s being marketed as, and that’s actually a good thing.
As visually dazzling and inspired as it is refreshingly offbeat and silly, Aquaman effortlessly entertains if you’re able to get on board with its particular blend of genteel corniness and old school blockbuster swagger.
While the idea of aging Liam Neeson as an action star has become something of a punchline recently, his latest genre effort and collaboration with filmmaker Jaume Collet-Serra, The Commuter, does a fine job of illustrating why he keeps getting these roles. Grounding an admittedly silly, implausible, but entertaining story of an everyman pulled into a deadly situation, Neeson and Serra’s familiarity with such material and each other’s particular set of skills makes for a delightful, well crafted B-movie confection.
New on DVD and Blu-ray this week: Johnny Depp gets animated for the hilarious comedy, Rango; Matthew McConaughey stars in the thriller, The Lincoln Lawyer; and prepare for the creepy horror film, Insidious.
Opening in a theatre near you this weekend: Jake Gyllenhaal relives the past as he looks for answers in the thriller Source Code; James Marsden gets in the Easter (candy) spirit in Hop; and horror comes home in the film Insidious.
New releases on DVD and Blu-ray this week include: Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter, starring Matt Damon and Cécile De France; The Fighter, starring Mark Wahlberg and Academy Award winners Christian Bale and Melissa Leo; and The Switch, with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman.
Opening this weekend in theatres: Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman star in the romantic comedy, The Switch; a swarm of hungry prehistoric critters dominate the horror-comedy, Piranha 3D; Omid Djalili plays a Muslim man who discovers he might actually be Jewish in The Infidel; plus a look at the children’s comedy, Nanny McPhee Returns.
Opening at a theatre near you, franchise dreams are riding high with the remakes of The A-Team, starring Bradley Cooper and Liam Neeson, and The Karate Kid, with Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan.
When The Alamo is good, it is very good. The battle scenes are terrifically and terrifyingly stages. The characters are well drawn and memorable, and the storytelling is smart and interesting (for a change we have a film that doesn’t venture to insult the intelligence of the average twelve year). When it isn’t quite so good, it is still okay, it just feels a bit slow and uneven.
