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Monday, May 31st, 2010'SHREK FOREVER AFTER' LIFELESS, EVEN IN 3-D
Given that "Shrek Forever After" is the first film in the franchise in 3-D, it's surprisingly flat — and we're not just talking about the look of it.
This fourth and allegedly final installment in the series is lifeless, joyless and woefully devoid of the upbeat energy that distinguished the earlier movies — well, at least the first two. If "Shrek the Third" from 2007 felt tired, "Shrek Forever After" is practically narcoleptic.
Brief bursts of manic energy give way to long, heavy stretches that drag. Most of the hackneyed pop culture references of its predecessors are gone, mercifully, but so is the fun. This time, the big, bad ogre is having a midlife crisis — not exactly a hoot for the kids in the audience, and their parents can suffer through that at home for free.
Source: www.kansas.com
Plenty of Robins in the forest
You say you want a little something to accompany today's big release of "Robin Hood"?
Consider one — or all — of these four classic swashbuckler tales out this week from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:
* " The Bandit of Sherwood Forest" (1946) stars Cornel Wilde as the son of Robin Hood, who joins his father (played by Russell Hicks) and a reunited band of Merry Men to save England from tyranny.
Source: www.kansas.com
'THE MESSENGER' WRENCHING, BEAUTIFULLY ACTED
"The Messenger," a studied, quietly wrenching portrait of two Army men tasked with delivering the worst possible news to the families of recently fallen soldiers, is a war picture that never sees any action. No bombs detonate. No chaotic firefights ensue.
In that way, this beautifully acted drama — released Tuesday on both DVD ($30) and in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack ($35) —serves as a more subtle counterpart to "The Hurt Locker," its brother in Iraq-movie arms that gained more buzz (and more Oscar wins) during the most recent awards season. Where that film was all about the tick-tick-boom tension (and adrenaline rush) of disarming potential explosives in the heart of Baghdad, "The Messenger" is all about the post-explosion, emotional loss felt by the unenlisted victims: the widows and suddenly childless parents who must press on, thousands of miles away from the conflict.
Woody Harrelson deservedly earned an Academy Award nomination for his role as Capt. Tony Stone, a hardened veteran who must mentor a young sergeant (Ben Foster) in the manners and methods of casualty notification. But Foster's performance — so committed that even the battle-earned scar above his left cheekbone conveys a mix of shame, despair and latent anger — should not be overlooked. As a war hero trying to process whether he deserves that title, his work here is just as strong and worthy of attention as the equally memorable turn by Jeremy Renner in the aforementioned "Hurt Locker."
Source: www.kansas.com
Robin Hood turns scruffy
The legend of Robin Hood, king of the rogues, is best summed up by Roger Miller, the guy who sang "King of the Road."
"There's been a heap of legends and tall tales about Robin Hood. All different, too," Miller says as the voice of the minstrel rooster who narrates Disney's 1973 animated "Robin Hood."
That version cast the thief of Sherwood Forest as a wily fox. The latest rendition, Ridley Scott's "Robin Hood," has Russell Crowe as a bit of a poser and huckster named Robin Longstride, a brooding, scruffy foot-soldier back from the Crusades and a siege in France. The movie opens Friday.
Source: www.kansas.com
