New Reviews

Knight and Day

Starring: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Paul Dano, Viola Davis
Director: James Mangold (Walk the Line, Girl, Interrupted)
Running Time: 1 hr 50 min
Release Date: June 25, 2010
Budget: $117 million
Critics’ Thumbs Up: 54%

“…the summer flick you’ve been waiting for.” Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

“…smug and callous…” Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York

It’s fun, clever, action-packed, romantic, and one of the summer’s best movies so far. Cruise and Diaz are perfectly cast in this action comedy as a mismatched duo inadvertently thrown together on a dangerous mission to keep a powerful device out of the wrong hands. Meanwhile, Diaz’s plucky but strong June must decide if she trusts Cruise’s lethal but charmingly protective secret agent. With its witty one-liners, the likability and chemistry between Cruise and Diaz, the beautiful international locales, and the exciting action sequences, Knight and Day is a welcome respite from the season’s stale sequels and vapid action flicks.

Grown Ups

 

 

 

Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Schneider, Salma Hayek, Mario Bello, Maya Rudolph

Director: Dennis Dugan (You Don’s Mess with the Zohan, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry)

Running Time: 1 hr 42 min

Release Date: June 25, 2010

Budget: $80 million

Critics’ Thumbs Up: 22%

 

 

“…pleasant, genial, good-hearted…” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-TimesBlake

 

 

“Dumb, lazy, obvious and largely pointless.” Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

 

Though its got some laugh-out-loud funny moments, this comedy pales in comparison to Sandler staples like Big Daddy and Happy Gilmore. In Grown Ups, Sandler is one of five middle-aged guys coming to terms with their lives in the wake of their childhood basketball coach’s death (Blake Clark). The movie’s problem is that it hinges itself onto the stereotypical premise of living life to the fullest and it doesn’t bother fleshing out an actual story. Instead, Grown Ups is a series of vignettes that consist so much of pratfalls and lame one-liners that it just seems like a platform for these prominent comedians to indulgently perform their stand-up acts.