Roger Qbert Reviews “MacGruber”
Saturday Night Live’s contribution to cinema is a spotty one. After the goldmine of the first Wayne’s World, Lorne Michaels seemingly began rushing every character that ever appeared twice into pre-production. (It’s long been rumored that Mike Myers, after seeing how much money Wayne’s World made, deliberately kept Austin Powers to himself since creating him […]
Roger Qbert Reviews “Robin Hood” starring Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe and director Ridley Scott reteam for their fifth film together, Robin Hood. Crowe plays the titular hero in Hollywood’s umpteenth retelling of the tale. This time out the story is a prequel of sorts, taking place before Robin Longstride makes the transition to “Robin Hood.” As the film opens, Robin is an archer […]
Roger Qbert Reviews “Iron Man 2”
As the Iron Man 2 opens, Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) has been called to testify before Congress. Since having shed his secret identity at the end of the previous film, his Iron Man suit has inadvertently begun an “arms race” as other countries attempt to duplicate the nascent technology. His testimony takes the sort […]
Roger Qbert Reviews “A Nightmare on Elm Street” Remake
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve never actually seen any of the original Nightmare on Elm Street films. I’ve never been much of a horror fan and I typically prefer moody (The Blair Witch Project) to hack-n-slash (Friday the 13th). But even if you’ve never seen any of the originals, you know the drill: […]
Furry Vengeance
Was there really a time when Brendan Fraser was on track to be this generation’s Harrison Ford? As the star of The Mummy franchise it would seem so. However, a closer look at his resume reveals The Mummy films to be something of anomaly. In fact, when you notice a plethora of films like Dudley […]
The Back-up Plan
Jennifer Lopez stars as Zoe, owner of a successful upscale boutique pet store in the new film The Back-up Plan. While her professional life is flourishing, her personal life is floundering. You can only imagine how hard it must be for a woman who looks like Jennifer Lopez to meet that special someone. As the […]
Roger Qbert Reviews “Death at a Funeral” starring Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence
Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence head up an all-star cast in Death at a Funeral. Rock and Lawrence play Aaron and Ryan, squabbling brothers whose father has just died. Aaron has spent the days since his father’s passing planning (and bankrolling) the elaborate funeral and he is frustrated with his brother, a celebrity author, popping […]
Roger Qbert Reviews “Kick-Ass”
A movie with a title like Kick-Ass is to be judged by one criterion and one criterion alone: the degree to which “ass” was “kicked”. Acting, writing, effects, cinematography? All these are secondary, merely members of a mosaic, weapons in arsenal…an arsenal that’s only purpose is to, in fact, “kick” your “ass”. So let’s just […]
Roger Qbert Reviews “The Runaways” Starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning
You know you’re in for a tale of female empowerment when the first frame of the film features menstrual blood. Such is the case with The Runaways, the story of the world’s first all girl rock band [not true, there were several in the 60s]. Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning star as Joan Jett and […]
Roger Qbert Reviews “Date Night” starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey
Steve Carell and Tina Fey team up to play Phil and Claire Foster in the new movie Date Night. The Fosters are a typical (“typical” for the movies anyway) married, middle-class couple. They have two children and both have successful careers (the parents that is, not the children). However, as is often the case, the […]