 UGC Distribution/Music Box Films, 2011. 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Comedy, Romance, Foreign
Opens locally Friday, August 26th, 2011 Run Time: 1 hour, 24 minutes, Rated R Starring: Jacques Gamblin, Sara Forestier Co-written & Directed by Michel Leclerc (J'invente rien) "The Names of Love" is a film out of France, with English subtitles, and opens in limited release this weekend. It was an official selection at this year's Cannes Film Festival. From the opening scene, this light comedy establishes itself also as a smart, thinly-veiled political satire, with a quirky, odd-ball tone that keeps things loose...perhaps a bit too loose, as far as the plot goes.
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 Rating: 2 out of 5 starsGenre: Comedy
Opens locally Friday, August 26th, 2011 Run Time: 1 hour, 36 minutes, Rated R Starring: Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, Steve Coogan, Rashida Jones Directed by Jesse Peretz (The Ex) "Our Idiot Brother" is the latest example of wasted on-screen talent. As a huge fan of Paul Rudd, and the surrounding ensemble of talented actors and actresses, it's was hard not to have high hopes. But sadly "Our Idiot Brother" fails at almost everything, including the key ingredient of a so-called comedy...generating laughter.  Rating: 2 out of 5 starsGenre: Drama, Romance
Opens locally Friday, August 19th, 2011 Starring: Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess, Patricia Clarkson Directed by Lone Scherfig (Just Like Home, An Education) Another popular book has been translated to the big screen, this time without Oprah’s help. In David Nicholls 2009 novel “One Day,” we peek in on a romance for one day a year, over the course of several years, and the film (adapted by Nicholls as well) follows the same structure. It’s a day of some significance...the anniversary of the day they met...but it's just a seemingly random day that allows us to look into the lives of our two lovers through the ebb and flow of a lasting relationship. Sometimes they are together, sometimes they are apart, but all of the time they lack any real chemistry or connection, making “One Day” seem about that long.  Rating: 1 out of 5 starsGenre: Action/Adventure, Fantasy
Opens locally Friday, August 19th, 2011 Starring: Jason Momoa, Stephen Lang, Rachel Nichols, Rose McGowan, Ron Perlman Directed by Marcus Nispel (the remakes of Friday the 13th & The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) This weekend, 2 classic movies from the 80s find their way to the big screen by way of the re-make (Conan, along with “Fright Night.”) Has there ever been a quality re-make? I can’t think of a good one. In fact, I can’t really think of any at all especially at this moment, when my mind is clogged with images of this recent version of “Conan the Barbarian.” It’s loud, messy, awful, and somehow finds a way to dumb down the original. For that, it should be applauded as an achievement. But in every other way, “Conan the Barbarian” represents everything I hate in movies.  Rating: 4 out of 5 starsGenre: Horror
Opens locally, Friday, August 19th, 2011 Run Time: 1 hour 41 minutes, Rated R Starring: Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Toni Collette, David Tennant, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Imogen Poots Directed by Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl) I have a soft spot in my heart for the original "Fright Night," the 1985 horror film starring Chris Sarandon, Roddy McDowall, and William Ragsdale. As a kid, I would sneak out way past my bedtime into the living room, flipping on HBO, the only premium channel we ever had. "Fright Night" must have been in heavy rotation, and it always stuck with me. It was altogether creepy, yet light and funny. It also scared the bejeezus out of me, making me get chills whenever I would see Chris Sarandon in anything after that (he is perhaps best known as Prince Humperdinck in "The Princess Bride.") The original "Fright Night" wasn't an altogether good movie, and although it has a cult following it isn't really considered horrificly scary. Still, to this kid, it was haunting. Also relatable: Many vampire movies prior to "Fright Night" to me, were set in the past, or in some kind of fantasy realm. But here was a vampire...gasp!...living next door!  Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Science Fiction, Drama
Opens locally Friday, August 12th, 2011 Run Time: 1 hour 32 minutes, Rated PG-13 Starring: Brit Marling, William Mapother Directed by Mike Cahill (documentary film, “Boxers and Ballerinas”) “Another Earth” is pure science fiction fantasy…minus the aliens, action sequences, and computer-generated craziness we are used to in recent films of the genre. It plays like an elongated episode of “The Twilight Zone,” and has the spirit and imagination of something Steven Spielberg might put his name on. If only it didn’t take itself so seriously.  Rating: 5 out of 5 starsGenre: Drama, Book Adaptation
Opens locally Wednesday, August 10th, 2011 Run Time: 2 hours 26 minutes, Rated PG-13 Starring: Viola Davis, Emma Stone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, Allison Janney, Sissy Spacek Based on a novel by Kathryn Stockett Written & Directed by Tate Taylor (Pretty Ugly People) It's no secret that Oprah runs the universe, and "The Help" is the latest example of her powerful influence. When the novel "The Help" was recommended by Oprah to her book club, it was almost immediately greenlit to be turned into a motion picture. The book by first-time author Kathryn Stockett was a best seller with over 5 million copies sold, and now the film version of "The Help" is here. So what's all the fuss about?  20th Century Fox, 2011. Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi
Opens locally Friday, August 5th, 2011 Run Time: 1 hour 45 minutes, Rated PG-13 Starring: James Franco, Andy Serkis, Brian Cox, John Lithgow, Tom Felton Directed by Rupert Wyatt (Subterrain, The Escapist) Those damn dirty apes are back on screen again, in this action-driven re-boot of "The Planet of the Apes" franchise. Is there much more to say than that? Not really. But let's give it a shot.  Rating: 5 out of 5 starsGenre: Drama, Independent
Opens locally Friday, August 5th, 2011 Run time: 1 hour 33 minutes, Not Rated Starring: Claire Sloma, Marlon Morton, Amanda Bauer, Brett Jacobsen Written & Directed by David Robert Mitchell (feature-film debut) Once every so often a movie comes along that changes things. In the small, new film The Myth of the American Sleepover - a film shot entirely in Michigan - the teen coming-of-age story is given the grown-up treatment, and the result is nothing short of refreshing cinematic wonder.  Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Comedy
Opens locally Friday, August 5th, 2011 Run Time: 1 hour 52 minutes, Rated R Starring: Jason Bateman, Ryan Reynolds, Leslie Mann, Olivia Wilde Directed by David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers, Fred Clause) The new comedy "The Change-Up" takes the whole "Vice Versa" body-switch plotline we've all seen 100 times and infuses it with some heavy R-Rated raunch. A responsible married guy (Bateman) and a wild & crazy single guy (Reynolds) switch bodies after they both pee into a magic fountain at the same time. It's a tongue-in-cheek "who cares why" premise that get's us to the real fun stuff a bit quicker than setting up a more complex premise. It works as a laugh-out-loud gross-out comedy probably a bit more than it even should. |
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tom santilli movie reviews
Tom Santilli is a professional film critic, TV personality, host and
the Executive Producer of Movie Show Plus.
He also is the featured film critic appearing on WXYZ Channel 7 Action News in Detroit,
and appeared weekly on FOX-2 in Detroit from 2016-2020.
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