Though he stole all audience attention away from every other actor in his brief scene as Dr. Kuni in “Knocked Up,” no one was ready for Ken Jeong’s intro in “The Hangover.” He leaped out of a car trunk, wearing only black socks, and proceeded to beat the tar out of Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis with a tire iron. That’s right, wearing only black socks. His Mr. Chow eventually became an important character in that film and its sequel. In “The Hangover Part III,” Chow, naked again, of course, is quite often the center of attention. The doctor-turned-actor, who is also a regular on the TV show “Community,” chatted recently in Las Vegas.
It was with the release of “Boogie Nights,” in 1997, that Heather Graham became everybody’s favorite porn star with a heart of old. No, not actually Graham, but her character in that film, Rollergirl.
J.J. Abrams doesn't seem to be clear on what he's doing with the new Trek movies.
Actress-director Sarah Polley makes a living telling stories, but none of them are as fascinating as her own story, which she rivetingly chronicles in a masterpiece of documentary filmmaking.
The story of mob hitman Richard Kuklinski, aka The Iceman, is pretty much all true.
British comedians Steve Oram and Alice Lowe are on a mission to rid the gorgeous English countryside of litterbugs and pompous prigs in the darkly comic “Sightseers.”
The first two “Hangover” films met with unexpected success, grossing more than a billion dollars at the box office. Part of the reason was that rarity in Hollywood: originality. No one had seen this story before. Part was the odd mix of outrageous comedy and a sense of danger. But the most important ingredient, the facet that led to “The Hangover, Part III,” the final entry in the series, was the camaraderie between the three unlucky main characters – Phil, Stu, and Alan – and the chemistry created by the actors playing them – Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis. All three gathered to chat about the series and its director, Todd Phillips, last week in Las Vegas.
A glance at the movies opening this week.
Despite its grim title, this sequel to J.J. Abrams’ really, really good, but not quite great reboot of the “Star Trek” franchise is going to be an absolute joyride for a lot of viewers. The writing has been knocked up a few notches; though Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) still remain at the film’s center, the rest of the crew has been given more to do this time; and most important, “Into Darkness” is truly a valentine to “Star Trek” fans, especially those who have been into it since the original TV show.
Even as much as I’ve loved Ebert’s work, I had no intention of writing a tribute to him -- plenty of other, better writers (and a few worse ones) did that soon after he passed. But as I’ve been reading his last collection of reviews of bad movies, it’s had me rethinking what’s drawn me to his writing over the years.
Hardcore F. Scott Fitzgerald fans have always written off the idea of a movie adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” as something impossible to get right. A look back at the four films that it’s been turned into so far reveals that their negative thoughts have been pretty accurate. Of the versions made in 1926, 1949, 1974, and 2000 (for television), only the ’74 film, with Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby and Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan, has come close to capturing the essence of the book, but even so, that film came across as a kind of flat and dull interpretation of Fitzgerald’s words.
Aside from the lead-pipe moralizing, Mara Nair’s timely and important “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” is an eye-opening parable about identity and how it relates to the War on Terror. The only question is: Are Americans ready to listen?
Craig Robinson proves he’s The Man among “Peeples.” I laughed myself silly, for the most part, and it had nothing to do with director Tina Gordon Chism’s garden-variety script.
Though he’d already been around for years on various British TV series, American audiences first got to know Simon Pegg from his performances in “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz,” though he also had memorable parts as Benji in the last two “Mission: Impossible” films, which brought him together with director-producer J.J. Abrams. Oddly when Abrams first approached him to play Scotty in “Star Trek,” Pegg couldn’t decide whether to do it. Of course, he did, and does it again in “Star Trek Into Darkness.” He spoke by phone from London about that indecision.
Hollywood doesn't shy away from making movies that highlight strong and resilient mothers, a trend that can be traced across several decades of Academy Awards nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.
Many movies treat female characters as little more than tools to advance male-dominated plots. See for yourself with a simple three-part test.
A look at the movies opening this week.
Everything about Baz Luhrmann’s glam and glitzy interpretation of “The Great Gatsby” is pretty – pretty actors; pretty homes; pretty scenery; pretty parties; and most of all, pretty boring.
Jay Gatsby is a strikingly handsome, incredibly wealthy man who’s shrouded in mystery, at least involving the source of his riches. He’s terribly lonely, and regularly throws wild parties in his opulent mansion, just so there are people around him. He’s hopelessly in love with a (married) woman from his past, and will do anything he can to win her. What actor wouldn’t want to play the lead in “The Great Gatsby?” Well, five have attempted it on film, to varying degrees of success. There was Warner Baxter in the long-lost 1926 silent version, a stiff Alan Ladd in 1949, a slightly long-in-the-tooth Robert Redford in 1974, and a close-to-sneering (rather than smiling) Toby Stephens in a 2000 TV version. Now Leonardo DiCaprio tries the role on for size in Baz Luhrmann’s new adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s celebrated novel, and he comes closest yet to capturing the character that was on the page. DiCaprio discussed the character and the movie in New York last week.
Director Mira Nair says her latest film, “The Reluctant Fundamentalist,” allows us to see the world through the eyes of what she calls “The Other,” the innocent who is assigned blame for the heinous acts of others, simply because they might be from the same country or share the same faith.
