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Labels: Bill Cobbs, Bill Murray, film, Lucas Black, movie trailer, Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek

Wes Anderson is one of the most over-rated directors of the last twenty years.

Now his quirky, self-aware style has been meshed with cheap looking animation.

Geez, pinch me. I must be dreaming.



Screenwriters: Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale) and Wes Anderson (Rushmore)
Director: Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket)
Actors: George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada), Jason Schwartzman (I Heart Huckabees), Bill Murray (Caddyshack), Michael Gambon (The Good Shepherd), Willem Dafoe (To Live and Die in L.A.), Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers), Brian Cox (Supertroopers), Adrien Brody (Cadillac Records) and Karen Duffy (Dumb & Dumber)

Labels: Adrien Brody, Bill Murray, Brian Cox, film, George Clooney, Jason Schwartzman, Karen Duffy, Meryl Streep, Michael Gambon, movie trailer, Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe

When the marketing first hit for this film last year I thought it looked interesting. The images were compelling and the plot seemed interesting.

I was wrong.

Yes, the design work for the film is fully realized. It has a distinct look and feel and it's memorable. Unfortunately, that’s the only successful element in the production. The story never rises above its conceits, the dialog is uninspired and the acting is stilted because the characters are written so thinly. Even Bill Murray, who I like, fails to bring anything to the film. His scenes look like he flew in for a few days, quickly wrapped his scenes and headed on out. He pops in every once in a while, smirks and then disappears leaving no significant impact.

The film tells the tale of the City of Ember, a subterranean city that is lit by lamps. Humans have been forced underground for two hundred years and now the generator is failing. Two teens stumble upon the secrets behind their dimming town and rush to figure out the clues to the secret before everyone is sent into darkness. This is a very good concept. This had the potential to be a great family movie, but in the end it is just another sloppy adaptation. The production as a whole isn’t awful, but it doesn’t shine either. It all just sits there, a cinematic lump with nothing to do. There’s no real point it seems and given that the whole endeavor fails to justify its existence the audience is left watching scene after lumbering scene without any momentum. When the final act comes in I couldn’t have been less interested, and couldn’t have been more bored.




Related Reviews:
Adaptations
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)


Other Critic’s Reviews:
Guest Reviewer: Jeff Burton
Roger Ebert

Labels: adaptation, Bill Murray, film, movie review

I'm not a big Jarmusch fan. He's too self-aware and tends to keep his audience at an arm's length. The man can build good scenes and has his moments to be sure but I've gotten into one of his films. It's like quickly looking at displays in a gallery. You see one thing, move to the next, hmmm, that's interesting, next... When you're done all you've managed to do is be distracted while going for a short walk.




Screenwriters: Jim Jarmusch
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Actors: Tilda Swinton (Orlando), Bill Murray (Caddyshack), Gael Garcia Bernal (The Science of Sleep) and John Hurt (Alien)

Labels: Bill Murray, film, Gael Garcia Bernal, John Hurt, movie trailer, Tilda Swinton

Thanks to Jeff Burton of BURTONIA for this quick review.

Short Review: This story has more leaks than a 200 year old pipe.


City of Ember is a weak adaptation of Jean DuPrau's children's novel of the same title. Set in an underground city built to escape some unnamed apocalypse, two children attempt to escape Ember's inevitable collapse into darkness as the main generator begins to fail. The story is plagued with ridiculous contrivance and numerous loose ends. Its primary failing, however, is a missing connection between the villain and the main conflict. Bill Murray's performance as the machinating mayor is too laid back to menace, and too serious to amuse. The two lead performances are adequate, but I think the delightfully elfin Saoirse Ronan would be better cast as a genuine elf.

In spite of its shortcomings, this production succeeds spectacularly in the visual department. The set design perfectly convinces that Ember has seen two centuries of decay. There is enough detail and visual interest to make us want the camera to slowdown so we can take in more of it.

But then the silliness reasserts itself and we are treated to a tacked-on monster sub-plot, a father-son conflict that goes nowhere, and the final escape sequence, whose geometry much like an Escher drawing in its logic. In sum, it's a mediocrity unworthy of popular kid fiction.




Related Reviews:
Other Adaptations
Five People You Meet in Heaven (2004)
Because of Winn-Dixie (2005)


Other Critic's Reviews:
SpoutBlog
Roger Ebert

Labels: adaptation, Bill Murray, guest review, movie review, Tim Robbins

While not the funniest film Bill Murray has ever made, it may be the most meaningful. Deceptively simple, this movie promotes an insightful message for finding meaning out of life. While the core of the concepts of the film are Buddhist (or “Buddhish” as director Harold Ramis might say) the lessons taught here speaks to all faiths. An enjoyable film.


Related Reviews:
Bill Murray films
Scrooged (1988)
The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Christian Spotlight on the Movies
DVD Verdict

Labels: Andie MacDowell, Bill Murray, comedy, film, Harold Ramnis, movie review

Screenwriter: Caroline Thompson (Edward Scissorhands)
Director: Gil Kenan (Monster House)
Actors: Bill Murray (Caddyshack), Tim Robbins (Code 46), Martin Landau (Ed Wood), Saoirse Ronan (Atonement), and Mackenzie Cook (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End)

Labels: adaptation, Bill Murray, film, Martin Landau, movie trailer, Saoirse Ronan, Tim Robbins

There is no greater recycler in the universe than Hollywood. Get Smart, which was popular thirty years ago, is getting a big screen update starring Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway. The comedic novelty item from Buck Henry and Mel Brooks had some charm way back when, will the modern day version be as likable? Well, its written by the guys who wrote Failure to Launch and directed by the guy who's responsible for The Longest Yard, 50 First Dates and My Fellow Americans. - If you're wanting to get to this one in the theater, I'd go see this one on opening weekend, there may not be a second.

Me thinks it'll stink. How about you?




Screenwriters: Tom J. Astle (Failure to Launch), and Matt Ember (Failure to Launch)
Director: Peter Segal (The Longest Yard)
Actors: Steve Carell (Evan Almighty), Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada), Dwayne Johnson (Walking Tall), Alan Arkin (Catch-22), and Bill Murray (Caddyshack)

Labels: Alan Arkin, Anne Hathaway, Bill Murray, comedy, Dwayne Johnson, movie trailer, Steve Carell