film criticism by maryann johanson | celebrating 25 years: 1997–2022
A movie to turn you off Going To The Movies, just as we are allowed to again, with its unlikeable characters, muddled action, and incomprehensible plot, all of which are magnified on the big screen.
Reluctant-buddy action comedy feels like unfunny, warmed-over ’90s leftovers. Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson look like they’d rather be elsewhere.
As pure comedy goes, I might pick Midnight Run as my favorite. It never ceases to be hilarious even upon the 100th re-viewing, and it’s endlessly quotable, with applications for all sorts of real-life situations…
I’m thankful for movies that make me laugh over and over again, that are always funny no matter how often I watch them. Because there’s not that many of them…
Of course it’s almost impossible to narrow it down to one scene in one movie, so feel free to pick a couple…
To most Americans, “April 15” has a ring of terror to it. So is it any wonder that in American movies and TV it’s almost impossible to find positive depictions of people who deal with high finance, or — heaven forfend — of an IRS auditor…
In Due Date, odd couple Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis try to drive from Atlanta to Los Angeles without killing each other. This flick sprang from (among other films)…
Due Date made me think of Midnight Run, which is one of my most very favorite movies ever, which made me think about what a babe Robert DeNiro is.
It’s like someone said, ‘Midnight Run wasn’t stupid enough, but if we mash it up with The Hangover
In *Middle Men,* Luke Wilson invents porn on the Internet and then thinks it’s a bad idea, but no backsies, he’s stuck with the Russian mobsters who want his money and him dead… This flick sprang from (among other films)…
