Author: AJ

High Seas, High Stakes

Posted May 13, 2011

The worst thing for any pirate is feeling rudderless. The first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies grossed more than $2.6 billion worldwide. But even Johnny Depp admits to being ambivalent about the sequels: “To be perfectly honest, I didn’t see them. I did see the first one. I have not seen the second one or the third one.’ To be fair, he tends not to watch his own movies, but even while making 2006’s Dead Man’s Chest and 2007’s At World’s End, he sensed something was off. “They had to invent a trilogy out of nowhere.’ says Depp, 47. […]

Thor

Thor

Posted May 9, 2011

Thor is pretty and big and fun which is good for a summer movie.

There’s some attempt at depth and you’ve definitely got great actors who are capable of it. But it doesn’t really resonate powerfully.

the peril of poor marketing

the peril of poor marketing

Posted May 8, 2011

Thor opened to $65M and even though that might seem like a very decent summer opening (ETA: especially compared with how Green Lantern [$53M] and X-Men First Class

The barefoot-running, hill-attacking life of Jake Gyllenhaal

The barefoot-running, hill-attacking life of Jake Gyllenhaal

Posted April 24, 2011

With the new thriller Source Code in theaters now, Jake Gyllenhaal sheds his wide-eyed wonder years and casts himself as the next leading man. Jake Gyllenhaal proves to be a man of his word, unfortunately. Yesterday he promised me a “really f**ing hard climb,” and that’s what he’s engineering now. Jake Gyllenhaal is something of a cardio monster. You might not guess this at first glance. At 6 feet and about 180 pounds, the 30-year-old is visibly in shape, but he doesn’t sport the typical road-biker, my-body-fat-is-lower-than-your-mortgage-rate frame. For his past two action roles, as the title character in Prince […]

Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants

Posted April 21, 2011

I’d read the book, and I don’t particularly like Robert Pattinson, and I both loved and hated the elephant. So my curiosity of this movie had me kind of excited to see it.

Source Code

Source Code

Posted April 9, 2011

I’ve never been a huge Jake Gyllenhaal fan, but I like him a lot more after seeing Source Code.

The basics were all there for a sci fi/action movie: decent effects, unique concept, dashing leading man. And most of it worked.

Escape from the Twilight Zone

Escape from the Twilight Zone

Posted April 1, 2011

Robert Pattinson has fallen hard for a pachyderm named Tai, one of his co-stars in this month’s Water for Elephants. That movie gave him a professional break from the supernatural stylization of the Twilight saga, but even on a remote Tennessee set he was besieged daily by crowds of his Twihard fans. Nancy Jo Sales finds the 24-year-old actor torn between gratitude for and despair about the fame that has engulfed him. Robert Pattinson doesn’t like to fly anymore, because flying means airports, and airports mean encountering people who might go bananas when they see him, screaming and crying and […]

Neverwas

Neverwas

Posted March 21, 2011

This movie has a colossal fatal flaw that I can’t discuss without spoiling everything.

The Invisible

The Invisible

Posted March 21, 2011

For starters, this movie is not what it was marketed as. At all.

Oddly, after the big lie that was the trailer, the movie was more emotional than I expected.

The Lookout

The Lookout

Posted March 21, 2011

I was admittedly sort of impressed with this movie. I don’t like gritty films. I don’t like the sort of characters that populate this story. I didn’t really care for the story much.