Tag: Jon Favreau

Film Review: Solo: A Star Wars Story

Joonas Suotamo is Chewbacca, Woody Harrelson is Beckett, Emilia Clarke is Qira and Alden Ehrenreich is Han Solo in SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY.

Solo: A Star Wars Story, which opens today in just about every Bay Area theater, is a big-screen comic-book origin story, with an accomplished and sometimes first rate cast in front of the camera, and some seriously seasoned talent behind it. Unfortunately, in the year-and-a-half since principal shooting began, issues real and manufactured have given the internet too much time to speculate, postulate, pontificate, and generally expectorate on any number of meaningless side stories. Thankfully, at the center of this mostly worthless dead zone of internet fodder lies a straightforward, entertaining film that should service, if not delight, Star Wars fans and casual viewers. Continue reading “Film Review: Solo: A Star Wars Story“

Film Review: Spider-Man: Homecoming

The ultimate movie-by-committee goes for spectacular, but is less than amazing

Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) gives fatherly advice to young Peter Parker (Tom Holland) in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Sometimes a movie has a story to tell, and sometimes it doesn’t. This movie doesn’t. It has a purpose, for sure. It has a goal in mind and it competently makes every effort to get there, and objectively, it does. Unfortunately, the goal was not to make a meaningful movie; it was simply to check all the boxes on what makes an “entertaining” one. This is a bland, corporate product that goes down easy, but is forgettable from beginning to end.

Continue reading “Film Review: Spider-Man: Homecoming“

Also in Theaters — 5/16/2014 — Chef / God’s Pocket / The Double

Film Review: Chef

Review by Gordon Elgart

This is one food truck you don't want to miss.
This is one food truck you don’t want to miss.

Jon Favreau writes, directs and stars in Chef, which is clearly a passion project about the passions of others. HIs main character, Chef Carl Casper, is a genius chef who’s been working for ten years in the restaurant of a man who does not appreciate genius chefs. One big night, a reviewer is coming to the restaurant to see what Chef Carl is making these days, and writes a scathing review which starts the events of the movie in motion. Chef Carl needs to put his life back together while balancing the relationship he has with his son, a child of his divorce.

Continue reading “Also in Theaters — 5/16/2014 — Chef / God’s Pocket / The Double”

Film Review: Identity Thief

Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman in IDENTITY THIEF
Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman in IDENTITY THIEF

starring: Melissa McCarthy, Jason Bateman, Amanda Peet, Jon Favreau, T.I., Genesis Rodriguez, John Cho, Robert Patrick, Eric Stonestreet

screenplay: Craig Mazin

directed by: Seth Gordon

MPAA: Rated R for sexual content and language

Continue reading “Film Review: Identity Thief“

Film Review: “Cowboys & Aliens”

 

Daniel Craig in COWBOYS & ALIENS

starring: Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Paul Dano, Adam Beach, Sam Rockwell, Keith Carradine

written by: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby

directed by: Jon Favreau

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of western and sci-fi action and violence, some partial nudity and a brief crude reference

Continue reading “Film Review: “Cowboys & Aliens””

Wondercon: The 2011 Film Panels

 

Geoff Johns (love his Flash stuff with Kolins) asks Ryan Reynolds why he's so awesome. (Photo from Nicole Abalde on Flickr. Thanks for sharing!)

The 2011 Wondercon film panel lineup was the worst in recent memory. It was more notable for what was missing (Captain America, Thor, Super 8, Pirates of the Caribbean) than what was there (Immortals, Priest, The Three Musketeers). Jon Favreau noticed that movies weren’t prioritizing Wondercon for their promotion, and I can’t say I understand why. Was it the relative commercial failure of such ComicCon-loved properties such as Kick Ass and Scott Pilgrim? Or was it really all just about scheduling? But we did have film panels on Saturday (and one on Friday), so I was there. And this is what I saw. Continue reading “Wondercon: The 2011 Film Panels”