Tag: Johnny Depp

Film Review: Into the Woods

The cast is great/The film is good/Into the woods/To go to the movies!

The Baker (James Corden) and his Wife (Emily Blunt) venture Into the Woods.
The Baker (James Corden) and his Wife (Emily Blunt) venture Into the Woods.

Director Rob Marshall, who was nominated for an Oscar for his film version of the musical “Chicago” back in 2003, returns this holiday season with another big screen adaptation of a Broadway hit musical. This time he takes on Steven Sondheim’s storied (pun intended) 1987 mega-hit Into the Woods, an extraordinarily entertaining mishmash of several of the Grimm Brothers classic fairy tales. Produced by Disney, the film had been the subject of widespread speculation that the darker edges of the Sondheim/James Lapine fantasy might be smoothed too much. Purists need not worry, however; Marshall’s version retains the mature themes and disquieting tone of the original, and has the added benefit of a terrific cast.

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Film Review: The Lone Ranger

Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer strut their hero stuff in The Lone Ranger
Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer strut their hero stuff in The Lone Ranger

“Hi-Ho, Silver! Away!”…meh.  When Hans Zimmer’s rehashed Sherlock Holmes score kicks into “William Tell Overture” mode, Disney’s new re-imagining of The Lone Ranger is at its best.  Unfortunately, this only happens twice.  What could have been (and should have been) a fun adventure ends up being an odd concoction of conflicting tones and a bloated story.  This “messiness” worked well in director Gore Verbinski’s last effort, Rango, but that film was about an eccentric chameleon in the midst of an identity crisis who ends up tangled in a Chinatown-esque conflict in a wild west animal town.  So, it was obviously poised to extend the limits of the bizarre.  The Lone Ranger, on the other hand, is about fun adventures.  Bad guys vs. good guys.  The film is 150 minutes long and easily could’ve been 90 minutes.  The few action set pieces are fun and well choreographed, but they lose their effect when they are bookended by a plodding story involving genocide, power struggles, and weird spiritual visions.

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Film Review: “Dark Shadows”

Johnny Depp and Eva Green in DARK SHADOWS

starring: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley, Jonny Lee Miller, Chloe Grace Moretz, Bella Heathcote

written by: Seth Grahame-Smith

directed by: Tim Burton

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for comic horror violence, sexual content, some drug use, language and smoking

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Film Review: “21 Jump Street”

Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill in 21 JUMP STREET

starring: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Ice Cube, Rob Riggle, Nick Offerman, Ellie Kemper, Jake M. Johnson, Chris Parnell

written by: Michael Bacall and Jonah Hill

directed by: Phil Lord and Chris Miller

MPAA: Rated R for crude and sexual content, pervasive language, drug material, teen drinking and some violence

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Film Review: “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”

Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES

starring: Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane, Kevin McNally, Sam Claflin, Astrid Berges-Frisbey, Stephen Graham, Keith Richards, Richard Griffiths

written by: Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio

directed by: Rob Marshall

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action/adventure violence, some frightening images, sensuality and innuendo

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