Movie Mom | ‘Epic,’ ‘Hangover III,’ ‘Fast & Furious 6’
Information for parents deciding which movies are best for kids ages 2 to 18,
Movie Reviews
‘The Hangover Part III’: Still hanging in there | 2½ stars
“The Hangover Part III” brings a little mystery back to the franchise by reinventing the formula. There’s no wedding nor missing groomsman this time. No actual hangover from which to recover. Instead, the film is more a caper than a comedy.
‘In the House’: Obsession fuels a page-turner | 3 stars
French director Francois (“Potiche”) Ozon’s latest is an adaptation of a play, a satire of talent presented to those who don’t have it but recognize it, a spoof of mores and the writer’s craft, and a “bildungsroman” (coming-of-age tale) with hints of a creepy stalker-thriller about it.
Jewelry stolen a 2nd time during Cannes festival
A second jewelry theft has been reported in the French Riviera during the Cannes Film Festival, this time an expensive necklace.
Even stone-cold criminals have moms
Kang-do (Lee Jung-jin), the blank-faced protagonist of "Pieta," is a collector for a loan shark who charges outrageous interest: Borrow $3,000, say, and you'll have to pay back $30,000 in three months. Since most of the clients, who live in an industrial slum in Cheonggyecheon, South Korea, can rarely afford to settle their debts, Kang-do uses heavy machinery to cripple them in some way - taking a foot or a hand or an arm, just enough for their work insurance policies to cover the injury, so they can pay what they owe.
'Epic' doesn't quite live up to its title
Derivative as all get out and plainly concocted by a committee, "Epic" is a children's animated film that is more entertaining and emotional than it has any right to be.
Debbie Reynolds: We all knew Liberace was gay
In the new film "Behind the Candelabra," veteran entertainer Debbie Reynolds has just three major scenes to flesh out one of the most complicated figures in piano-playing showman Liberace's life: his loving but sometimes manipulative mother Frances.
A black-and-white film about a heart of gold
Noah Baumbach's playful, effervescent comedy "Frances Ha" is the story of a young woman's quest to find an apartment in New York. That's an arduous task for most ordinary, gainfully employed people. But Frances (Greta Gerwig) is neither ordinary nor employed. She's a relentless optimist who always believes success is just around the corner, even though she's an apprentice for a dance company that refuses to hire her full time and her longtime roommate Sophie (Mickey Sumner, daughter of musician Sting) announces she's moving out of their Brooklyn apartment to live with her boyfriend.
This 'Hangover' is easy to sleep off
Slow, sentimental and somewhat sedated, the third "Hangover" movie isn't so much exhausted of outrageous "Oh no, they DIDN'T!" ideas as it is spent of energy. And they knew it, too. The only raunchy moment is stuffed into the closing credits, a "we forgot to do that" afterthought.
The Hollywood Reporter's best stories of the week
The Hollywood Reporter's list of its 10 best stories of the week:
Seen and heard at the Cannes Film Festival
Associated Press journalists open their notebooks at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.
Sorrentino serves up a cinema banquet at Cannes
Paolo Sorrentino has a thing about food - appropriately enough, for the director of a sumptuous feast of a film, "The Great Beauty."
There's no cure for this miserable 'Hangover'
There is a certain amount of raunchiness, absurdity and juvenile humor expected from the "Hangover" films. The title itself makes it clear this isn't a Mensa tea party.
West Bank and romance prominent in 'Omar'
One of the more buzzed-about films at the Cannes Film Festival, "Omar," is set in the West Bank, and the Palestinian conflict is a key part of the plot.
'Furious 6': Dumb fun in the summer time
Bad movies are rarely as much fun as these "Fast and the Furious" pictures. And make no mistake about it - they're bad.
Commentary: Sequel summer steams on
The summer movie season has already brought moviegoers "Iron Man 3" and "Star Trek Into Darkness," the 12th film in that series. Still to come are second installments of "Grown Ups," "Despicable Me," "The Smurfs," "RED," "Kick-Ass," "300" and "Percy Jackson." There's also "Wolverine," a continuation of the Hugh Jackman "X-Men" / "Wolverine" movies; the animated prequel "Monsters University" and the art-film threepeat "After Midnight." Then there are the reconsiderations of pop-culture icons in the latest "Great Gatsby," "Lone Ranger" and Superman film "Man of Steel,"
'Hangover III': It's time to sober up
Guys get blotto ... wake up and can't remember what happened the night before ... madness ensues.
Talk of lies, pride as Trump case goes to jury
The lawyer for an 87-year-old woman who accuses Donald Trump of cheating her in a skyscraper condo deal told jurors in Chicago on Wednesday that he was personally repulsed because he felt the "Apprentice" star conned his client and lied about it on the witness stand.
Cars crashed, smashed and trashed in 'Fast & Furious 6'
LOS ANGELES - It didn't have to be like this. In the age of green screens and VFX houses, filmmakers responsible for the sixth installment of the "Fast & Furious" franchise didn't have to actually destroy hundreds of cars.
