MOVIE REVIEW
Red Riding Hood (2011)
Kimberly French/Warner Bros. Pictures
Movies are often sold to studios on the promise of combining flick A and flick B to produce, well, flick A-plus-B or something. For example, “ ‘Dumb & Deader’ will totally be similar to ‘Dumb & Dumber’-meets-‘Sudden Death’.” It’s the age-old explanation for why Hollywood plagiarizes itself with such fervor.
In formulating “Red Riding Hood,” her ridiculous teenybopper-geared retooling of the fairy tale, director Catherine Hardwicke (“Twilight”) clearly couldn’t be bothered to restrict the formula to two movies, or TV shows, or popular trends. Instead, the medieval village-set picture is “Gossip Girl”-meets-“Spring Awakening”-and-a-Renaissance Faire with a dash of “Twilight,” a sprinkling of MTV, a touch of Baz Luhrmann-style anachronisms and all the sweeping helicopter shots you’ll ever need.
Continue reading “Can’t Fight the Twilight” »
MOVIE REVIEW
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010)
Kimberley French/Summit Entertainment
David Slade takes over “The Twilight Saga” directorial reigns for “Eclipse,” the third installment; and the “Hard Candy” filmmaker gives it his directorial all. Sprucing things up with an indie-rock infused soundtrack, grittier bone-crunching violence and several moody, naturalistic visual compositions, Mr. Slade demonstrates a firm belief in the narrative’s potential to rise above its simplistic, potboiler origins. Such faith must be commended, no matter how blind.
Continue reading “Lying in a Pool of Bad Blood” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Remember Me (2010)
Nicole Rivelli/Summit Entertainment
For the most part, “Remember Me” retreads the tiresome story of boy meets girl; they fall in love; girl’s daddy interferes; some lame misunderstanding involving girl’s daddy threatens to wreck the romance; boy eventually wins girl back, etc. In other words, the film is for the most part indistinguishable from all the Nicholas Sparks movie adaptations, save for the fact that Robert Pattinson is in it.
Continue reading “Entering the Twilight Zone” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Twilight (2008)
Deana Newcomb/Summit Entertainment
For those knowing close to nothing about the “Twilight” phenomenon, it's tempting to approach this heavily promoted adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s novel with extreme trepidation. Oft-circulated clips of thousands of teenage girls descending upon star Robert Pattinson in a possessed frenzy further reinforced the notion that this is probably not something made for another demographic. Indeed, the film lives up to your expectation – for better or worse.
Continue reading “Let the Right One Bite” »