ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES (2013) review
written by: Adam McKay and Will Ferrell
produced by: Judd Apatow, Adam McKay and Will Ferrell
directed by: Adam McKay
rating: PG-13 (for crude and sexual content, drug use, language and comic violence)
runtime: 119 min.
U.S. release date: December 18, 2013
Highly quotable and uniquely insane, 2004’s “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” was an infectious comedy that didn’t quite become a hit the summer it was released. I didn’t catch up with it until 2006 and when I did, I couldn’t get enough. It remains a hilarious and heavy-handed comedy that satirized a profession worth making fun of. Granted, many just didn’t find Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s brand of comedy all that funny, but I was busting a gut in the same way I had when I saw the first “Austin Powers” movie. Now, after almost a decade, everyone is back together for a sequel. Maybe too much time has passed or it’s just impossible to recapture the hilarity of the first one – (or is it me, maybe I’ve changed?) – either way, “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues” is an overall disappointment.
THE INTERNSHIP (2013) review
written by: Vince Vaughn and Jared Stern
produced by: Vince Vaughn and Shawn Levy
directed by: Shawn Levy
rating: PG-13 (for sexuality, some crude humor, partying and language)
runtime: 119 min.
U.S. release date: June 7, 2013
DVD/Blu-ray release date: December 23, 2013
With their 2005 hit Wedding Crashers, Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson made one of the best comedies of the 2000s. They charged the comedic genre with an R-rating vein, made a boatload of money and put its two stars right on the map, making them more than bankable. The weird thing? Both actors have struggled to find the right roles in the years since. The solution? Pair them up again for “The Internship”.
AMERICAN HUSTLE (2013) review
written by: David O. Russell and Eric Warren Singer
produced by: Charles Roven, Richard Suckle and Megan Ellison
directed by: David O. Russell
rating: R (for pervasive language, some sexual content and brief violence)
runtime: 138 min.
U.S. release date: December 13, 2013 (limited) and December 20, 2013 (wide)
“American Hustle” has one of the most memorable openings I’ve seen all year. I’m not going to tell you anything else about it, except to say that the movie definitely wins an award for Best Hair. It’s an attention-grabbing scene, that, when considering the film as a whole, is just the beginning – that initial climb – on a roller coaster ride full of cocaine, plunging necklines, scheming and deception. In his follow-up to last year’s “Silver Linings Playbook”, writer/director David O. Russell delivers another thoroughly absorbing picture that circles around and zooms in on brazen, flawed and often miserable characters.
THE BOOK THIEF (2013) review
written by: Michael Petroni
produced by: Ken Blancato and Karen Rosenfelt
directed by: Brian Percival
rating: PG-13 (for some violence and intense depiction of thematic material
runtime: 130 min.
U.S. release date: November 8, 2013
Reading it this fall, I loved Markus Zusak’s novel The Book Thief after some early struggles catching its rhythm. Once I did, I couldn’t put it down. My timing couldn’t have been better as a big-screen release was scheduled for late November, just a month or so after I finished Zusak’s novel. It took me a couple weeks to get out to theaters, but here we are with the film adaptation “The Book Thief”.
TRANCE (2013) review
written by: Joe Ahearn and John Hodge
produced by: Danny Boyle and Christian Colson
directed by: Danny Boyle
rating: R (for sexual content, graphic nudity, some grisly image and language)
runtime: 101 min.
U.S. release date: April 5, 2013
DVD/Blu-ray release date: July 23, 2013
Not many directors have the guts to do what Danny Boyle does. Check out the British director’s list of films. There’s a ridiculous variety of films there, and the scary part? With one exception I’m seeing, there isn’t a weak flick in the bunch. Even his less highly regarded movies are still pretty decent. How about hypnosis and amnesia though? Can Boyle even pull that one off? Let’s see with 2013’s “Trance”.
WELCOME TO THE PUNCH (2013) review
written by: Eran Creevy
produced by: Roy Aitken, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Ben Pugh
directed by: Eran Creevy
rating: R (for violence and sexuality)
runtime: 99 min.
U.S. release date: March 27, 2013
DVD/Blu-ray release date: July 23, 2013
You would recognize the face if not the name. Mark Strong has been working in film and television since the late 1980s, early 1990s, but over the last four years he’s become a far more recognizable face, a talented actor who’s finally getting his due. This year, he even starred in an AMC cop drama, “Low Winter Sun”. I’ve become a big fan of Strong, and it’s been more than cool to see him get some starring roles in film too, like “Welcome to the Punch”.
THE LONE RANGER (2013) review
written by: Justin Haythe, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio
produced by: Jerry Bruckheimer and Gore Verbinski
directed by: Gore Verbinski
rating: PG-13 (for sequences of intense action and violence, and some suggestive material)
runtime: 149 min.
U.S. release date: July 3, 2013
DVD/Blu-ray release date: December 17, 2013
I love The Lone Ranger.
When I say that, I mean the character. I’ve always been attracted to characters who are “superheroes” without super powers, and who work with a close partner. Batman, Captain America, even The Green Hornet (who’s actually the Ranger’s great-nephew, for the trivia-obsessed).
2013 CFCA Award Winners Announcement
The big winner on December 16th at the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) awards dinner was “12 Years a Slave”. The powerful film by director Steve McQueen earned five awards, which made it the evening’s big winner. Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity” received three wins in technical categories, while Spike Jonze’s “Her” was voted Best Original Screenplay and Best Original Score, which was provided by Arcade Fire. I voted for 9 of the 17 categories, which made for somewhat of a surprising evening.
SAVING MR. BANKS (2013) review
written by: Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith
produced by: Alison Owen, Ian Collie and Phillip Steuer
directed by: John Lee Hancock
rating: PG-13 (for thematic elements including some unsettling images)
runtime: 125 min.
U.S. release date: December 13, 2013
Just as every movie has a story to tell, there’s also a story behind every movie. “Saving Mr. Banks” sets out to tell the story of how the 1964 classic Disney movie, “Mary Poppins” was made. You’d never know that based on the title, which makes it either more intriguing or a little confusing. There has to be a reason though why such a story warrants a movie and, in this case, learning about Mr. Banks and his relationship to Mary Poppins creator P. L. Travers, tells a behind-the-scenes story that is appropriately sentimental and whimsical, with two lead characters who are both kind of unlikeable.
LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER (2013) review
written by: Danny Strong
produced by: Pamela Oas Williams, Laura Zisken, Lee Daniels, Buddy Patrick & Casian Ewes
directed by: Lee Daniels
rating: PG-13 (for some violent and disturbing images, language, sexual material, thematic elements and smoking)
runtime: 132 min.
U.S. release date: August 16, 2013
DVD/Blu-ray release: January 14, 2014
After the incendiary “Django Unchained” dropped at the end of last year, 2013 has been touted as the year of black filmmaking, with films such as “Fruitvale Station”, “12 Years a Slave“, “42” and “The Best Man Holiday“ all featuring African-Americans both in front of and behind the camera. Added to this list, and attempting to make a late season Oscar grab, is “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”, a film inspired by the true story of Cecil Gaines, a White House servant who worked for several Presidents over the decades.
