It’s Eddie Murphy Inside Eddie Murphy in Made-For-Children Sci-Fi Comedy ‘Meet Dave’

HollywoodChicago.com — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:42:56 -0700

CHICAGO – The longtime career of Eddie Murphy has lately taken an interesting turn.

After a meteoric career with huge box-office comedies, Murphy has steered toward more family oriented fare (“Daddy Day Care,” the “Shrek” movies, etc.) before his Oscar-nominated performance in “Dreamgirls”. After the stumble of 2007’s “Norbit,” Murphy has again returned this summer in kid-friendly mode with “Meet Dave”.

Rating: 2.5/5.0

This high-concept, science-fiction comedy involves a giant robotic spaceship that plunges to New York City and is shaped like – well, Eddie Murphy. It’s designed that way to walk among earthlings unobtrusively. It’s controlled by a tiny crew inside the body led by ship captain Eddie Murphy.

Read Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Meet Dave” in our reviews section.

View our full, high-resolution “Meet Dave” image gallery.

The mission is to retrieve a meteoric orb that their home planet, Nil, sent to Earth to suck up the oceans. As in what usually happens in the movie universe, the orb ends up mistakenly in the hand of a scrappy but sensitive boy (Austin Myers) who naturally lives with his widowed mother (Elizabeth Banks).

Meanwhile, the crew has to assimilate within the strange customs of New York City while keeping their outer space alien composure within the seductive world. They steer the “Dave” spaceship to hook up with the boy’s mother. The race is on to find the orb before the police (or at least the “X-Files” agents) can catch up with them.

“Meet Dave,” which opened everywhere on July 11, 2008, stars Eddie Murphy, Elizabeth Banks, Gabrielle Union, Ed Helms, Austin Myers and Judah Friedlander.

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full “Meet Dave” review.

Dave (Eddie Murphy) is shocked by some unexpected micro-boogying happening atop his shoulder in “Meet Dave”.
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox

Micro-sized humanoids the Captain (Eddie Murphy) and #3 (Gabrielle Union) are pursued by a rubbery object previously unknown to them in “Meet Dave”.
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox

Continue reading for Patrick McDonald’s full “Meet Dave” review.

‘Sex and the City: The Movie’ a Frilly University For Understanding the Human Condition

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 29 May 2008 23:46:14 -0700

CHICAGO – To its voracious universe of cult-following fans, it feels like a television marathon that spans an entire season. To everyone else who bats an indifferent eye at the religion that is “Sex and the City,” it may surprise you to find that all the glam and glitz has something even for you to learn, too.

The thorniest proposition for “Sex and the City: The Movie,” though, is opening the minds of all the anti-fashionistas (such as yours truly) and those who habitually bottle up their emotions for safekeeping.

After all, “Sex and the City” is often about a word that hurls the masses off in a scurry: feeling. For those who embrace all that is “love and labels,” though, the film begins by succinctly flashing back on plotlines avid followers know all too well.

Season watchers are nearly forced and relatively brainwashed into securing a theater seat, and unfortunately, followers and non-followers alike arrive to the theater with having already been told much too much from the trailer.

Read Adam Fendelman’s full review of “Sex and the City: The Movie” in our reviews section.

View our huge, high-resolution “Sex and the City: The Movie” image gallery.

Will Carrie marry Big? Will Charlotte – who’s thought to be infertile – have her own baby? What will become of Miranda and the cheating Steve? Will the scurrilous Samantha actually settle down with Smith? Will the predominantly white cast finally paint some color into the picture?

To the last question, Chicago’s Jennifer Hudson (who on the film’s “pink carpet” said she gets bronzed by rubbing on her “Dreamgirls” Oscar) says yes. As for the other questions, the film would have injected even more “what’ll happen next?” revelation by not giving such an initial peek up its own dress.

After initially cursing the all-too-telling trailer, I planted myself in my theater seat prepared for a 142-minute commitment. Not so. At our press screening, we were treated to another 30 minutes of a live satellite feed that counted down to the Chicago screening with the pink-carpet coverage.

Sarah Jessica Parker stars as Carrie Bradshaw in New Line Cinema’s “Sex and the City: The Movie”.
Photo credit: Craig Blankenhorn, New Line Cinema

Chris Noth is featured as Mr. Big in New Line Cinema’s “Sex and the City: The Movie”.
Photo credit: Craig Blankenhorn, New Line Cinema

Read Adam Fendelman’s full “Sex and the City: The Movie” review.