What to Expect When You're Expecting: Movie Review

Twenty floating heads can’t make you laugh but a couple of actors can grab your heart.

I was expecting to come away with a sassy name for this new genre, the Hollywood-ensemble rom-com, but there was nothing clever to provide any inspiration in “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”. The best line that I have heard to describe this comes from a fellow IMDb user, gregeichelberger, “It’s “New Year’s Eve” in the neo-natal unit; “Valentine’s Day” with a uterus; “Knocked Up” times five.” That sums up the whole thing perfectly.		2012 Directed by: Kirk Jones Screenplay by: Shauna Cross and Heather Hach Starring: Cameron Diaz, Elizabeth Banks, Jennifer Lopez, Anna Kendrick

Hick: Movie Review

Loses the characters, the point and our interest long before the end.

I thought I was going to like “Hick”. Not because of Derick Martini’s “Lymelife” but because of the very under-appreciated “Jolene” and “Dirty Girl”. Where teenage girls make bad decisions (because they choose to or because they have to) and set out on a road trip. “Hick” should have been a dark comedy version of that and even with the 0% positive reviews on RottenTomatoes, I still thought I was going like it.		2011 Directed by: Derick Martini Screenplay by: Andrea Portes Starring: Chloe Grace Moretz, Eddie Redmayne, Alec Baldwin, Blake Lively

Dark Shadows: Movie Review

 

A beautiful but boring production of vampires and witches and love and other nonsense.

I’m assuming it’s the recent obsession with vampires, including teenage vampire love and nonsensical vampire lore, that has made it okay to make movies based on bad 1960s horror- drama soap operas. I had also assumed that Tim Burton’s remake of “Dark Shadows” would be a comedy. In that case, at least, I was wrong. Unfortunately, the film stayed faithful to the original and was more soap opera-like than comedic.		2012 Directed by: Tim Burton Screenplay by: Seth Grahame-Smith Starring: Johnny Depp, Eva Green, Bella Heathcote and Michelle Pfeiffer