Kristin Bell

Film Review: Dax Shepard, Kristin Bell Stall Out in ‘Hit & Run’

BrianTT — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 21:05:13 -0400

CHICAGO – Pardon the clichés for a minute. I can’t help myself. Dax Shepard’s “Hit & Run” doesn’t just lose the drag race. It doesn’t just blow a flat tire or run out of gas. Think of all the Shalit-esque puns you can about a disastrous experience in a car and apply them to this lurching mess of five or six movies that aspires to be Tarantino-esque but completely misses its mark. There are a number of likable people in “Hit & Run” and they’ll walk away clean from this accident but audiences will want to quickly forget they ever took the ride.

Rating: 1.5/5.0

Shepard wrote, co-directed, and stars as Charlie Bronson, a name his character chose for himself when he entered the witness protection program after testifying against a notorious criminal played by Bradley Cooper. Bronson has been living peacefully in a small town with his lovely girlfriend Annie (Kristen Bell) while occasionally meeting with his irritable WitSec Officer Randy (Tom Arnold). When Annie gets an amazing job opportunity in Los Angeles, Charlie decides to take the risk of traveling with her out of his protective bubble. When Annie’s ex Gil (Michael Rosenbaum) gets suspicious enough about Charlie to blow his cover online and get the bad guys back after him, a “True Romance”-esque journey across country ensues.

Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Hit & Run” in our reviews section.

“Hit & Run” has elements and moments that work. In fact, it opens strong with a tender dialogue scene between Shepard and Bell that feels reminiscent of Shepard’s recent indie film “The Freebie.” And then the film shifts gears and becomes something wacky and broad with Arnold. And then it switches again and becomes a car race movie with extended driving sequences a la “Death Proof.” And then it switches gears again and becomes a relationship dramedy with the arrival of Gil. By the time that Cooper was throwing a leash around a grown man and dragging him around, I had completely tired of keeping track of the references.

Continue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “Hit & Run” review.

“Hit & Run” stars Dax Shepard, Kristin Bell, Tom Arnold, Bradley Cooper, Joy Bryant, Kristin Chenoweth, Michael Rosenbaum, and Beau Bridges. It was written by Shepard and directed by David Palmer & Shepard. It was released on August 22, 2012.

Hit and Run
Photo credit: Open Road

Blu-Ray Review: Tepid ‘You Again’ Wastes Talented Cast

BrianTT — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 16:27:34 -0500

CHICAGO – It may be a sign of my age, but I get more joy out of seeing Sigourney Weaver and Jamie Lee Curtis acting again in the mediocre “You Again” than anything to do with the generation below them in the film (Kristin Bell, Odette Yustman), recently released on Blu-ray and DVD. The sitcomish movie in which they’re featured is well below their talents but just seeing Curtis and Weaver back in the spotlight provides enough joy to keep the proceedings from sliding too far down the scale.

Blu-Ray Rating: 2.5/5.0

Marnie (Bell of “Veronica Mars”) was an absolute mess in high school. She had acne issues, an awful haircut, and no style. Consequently, she was tormented by the popular girls in school, led by the uber-gorgeous Joanna (Odette Yustman of “The Unborn” and upcoming FOX sitcom “Breaking In”). Years later, Marnie has gotten her act together and become very successful but she finds the demons of her past reborn when her brother Will (Jimmy Wolk of “Lone Star”) brings home his new bride-to-be…Joanna.

You Again
Photo credit: Disney

As Marnie tries to deal with the fact that Joanna is pretending to not remember how much she tormented the poor girl, her mother (Curtis) discovers that Joanna’s aunt (Weaver) is her high school nemesis as well. The two women used to be friends but clearly had a competitive nature that got out of control and finds itself rekindled as their loved ones prepare to get married. Victor Garber, Kristin Chenoweth, and, of course, Betty White find a way to get sucked into the mediocrity.

Director Andy Fickman (“The Game Plan,” “Race to Witch Mountain”) just pushes “You Again” forward like a bad sitcom, never finding anything relatable or even all that interesting in its awkward set-up. The movie is surprisingly dull, feeling much longer than its running time. Having said that, there’s a difference between dull and awful. At least “You Again” never offends with the level of stupidity that could have greeted this material. The only reason for that is the remarkbly talented cast, one that’s too good for this material.

You know how great people like Weaver, Curtis, White, and Chenoweth are, but even the younger cast comes out of this mediocrity untarnished. Bell is actually more appealing than she has been recently (I’d watch this four times again before sitting through “Burlesque” or “When in Rome” again) and Yustman is the rare combination of model-caliber looks with comic timing. It’s too bad Fickman couldn’t find the energy in this piece because he had the cast.

Special Features:
o 11 Deleted Scenes
o Following Fickman: On Set With The Director
o Blooper Dance Party
o Ask The Cast
o Funny Or Die
o DVD Copy

“You Again” stars Kristin Bell, Odette Yustman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Jimmy Wolk, Victor Garber, Kristin Chenoweth, and Betty White. It was written by Moe Jelline and directed by Andy Fickman. It was released on Blu-ray and DVD by Disney on February 8th, 2011.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Film Review: Christina Aguilera, Cher Star in Horrible ‘Burlesque’

BrianTT — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:32:50 -0500

Rating: 0.5/5.0

CHICAGO – I worry that some impressionable youth will see Steve Antin’s horrendous “Burlesque” and be turned off musicals forever. This is not a musical. This is a music video; an ego piece for two fading stars that is one of the most creatively bankrupt pieces of cinema in years. Actually, most music videos are better.

By now, it’s become common for critics to sharpen their knives and take turns stabbing at vanity projects of pop stars like Mariah Carey’s “Glitter” and Britney Spears’ “Crossroads,” but don’t let the thinking that critics couldn’t possibly like Christina Aguilera’s “Burlesque” convince you that the onslaught of negative reviews sure to greet this junk is wrong. Just because “Burlesque” can join and perhaps even top all other pop starlet film projects in a film festival from hell doesn’t make the predictable response any less valid. Just because history taught us that “Burlesque” would probably suck doesn’t make it suck any less. In fact, it sucks even more than you expect it to.

Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Burlesque” in our reviews section.

Christina Aguilera, giving one of the worst performances of the year in a film that could run the Razzies, stars as Ali, a small-town girl from Iowa who moves to Los Angeles because, as she claims, she looked around and didn’t see anyone she wanted to be in the heartland. She finds inspiration in a burlesque club, where apparently she looked around and saw that she wanted to be mediocre drag queen.

The club owner Tess (Cher) may not be hiring, but Ali knows she can be the best burlesque dancer in the city of angels. When she first gets to the club, she meets the people who will serve the necessary plot devices for her rise to stage fame including Tess, bartender Jack (Cam Gigandet), host Alexis (Alan Cumming), stage manager Sean (Stanley Tucci), Tess’ ex-husband and co-owner Vince (Peter Gallagher), star dancer Nikki (Kristen Bell), and millionaire playboy Marcus (Eric Dane).

Continue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “Burlesque” review.

‘Burlesque’ stars Christina Aguilera, Cher, Stanley Tucci, Alan Cumming, Kristin Bell, Cam Gigandet, and Eric Dane. It was written and directed by Steve Antin. It opens on November 24th, 2010. It is rated PG-13.

Burlesque
Photo credit: Sony Pictures

Blu-Ray Review: Avoid Dull Trip to ‘Couples Retreat’

BrianTT — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 09:47:53 -0500

CHICAGO – It seems ironic that “Couples Retreat,” a film about a group of friends who think they’re going on a peaceful vacation but get hoodwinked into couples counseling, is itself a bait-and-switch, advertising a sexy comedy and delivering a dull trip. Avoid this awful excuse for a comedy.

Blu-Ray Rating: 2.0/5.0

Like a couple headed for divorce, “Couples Retreat” starts promisingly, goes through a few bumpy patches, and ends in a final act so unfunny, poorly made, and ill-conceived that it nearly approaches “so bad you should see it” categorization. The final act of “Couples Retreat” with its endless character revelations and awful resolutions is unbearably written, directed, and performed.

Couples Retreat was released on Blu-ray and DVD on February 9th, 2010.
Photo credit: Universal Home Video

The set-up isn’t bad and the cast is clearly talented (or at least displayed talent in the past, although one would never know it from recent career choices by Vince Vaughn). The overly analyzed and therapy crazy world of the modern couple seems like a ripe subject for satire.

Couples Retreat was released on Blu-ray and DVD on February 9th, 2010.
Photo credit: Universal Home Video

Picture the two guys from “Swingers” (Jon Favreau also stars) as potential divorcees years down the road. Most of us go from bar-hopping to child-rearing and if only Vaughn and Favreau had brought the same energy they did to that modern classic about getting together to their film about falling apart, it would have made a great bookend. The only way to look at this as a bookend is to note how far these two talented actors have fallen.

Jason Bateman and Kristin Bell play “the uptight couple,” a pair of Powerpoint-loving Yuppies who analyze every element of their lives to the point of exhaustion. They have been torn apart by their inability to conceive and it has pushed them on the road to divorce. In a last-ditch effort to save their marriage, they convince three couples to join them at Eden, a gorgeous resort designed to bring couples back together. The easily-pitched three couples that join the Yuppies are the “average couple” (Vince Vaughn & Malin Akerman), “cheating couple” (Kristin Davis & Jon Favreau), and “new couple” (Faizon Love & Kali Hawk).

None of the relationships in “Couples Retreat” feel genuine and I don’t just mean just romantically. None of these people even seem like actual friends much less lovers or characters worth caring about. Bluntly, “Couples Retreat” isn’t funny. Bateman and Bell make out the best because they feel slightly genuine and Favreau and Vaughn have a scene or two together where one can see a bit of the spark that once made them a very funny comedy duo. And the whole thing starts promisingly with a few decent scenes and a couple of laughs, but they’re distant memories by the time screenwriters Vaughn, Favreau, and Dana Fox actually try to get emotional in the final act and the film simply becomes unbearable.

How many comedy disasters does one movie star get before he stops getting steady work? After “Fred Claus,” “Four Christmases,” and “Couples Retreat,” Vince Vaughn seems to be pushing his quota. Maybe he needs a vacation.

The Blu-ray release of “Couples Retreat” includes Universal’s excellent U-Control, which allows the viewer picture in picture video commentary with Vaughn and director Peter Billingsley. The technology is better-used for behind-the-scenes featurettes than video commentaries (I’ve never understood why anyone wants to watch someone watch a movie) but U-Control should be on every disc in some form, so we’ll take what we can get.

Other special features include 2 Blu-ray exclusive deleted scenes, alternate ending & extended scenes (with Vaughn and Billingsley commentary), gag reel, “Therapy’s Greatest Hits,” “Paradise Found: Filming in Bora Bora,” and “Behind the Yoga”.

‘Couples Retreat’ is released by Universal Home Video and stars Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman, Faizon Love, Kristin Bell, Malin Akerman, Kristin Davis, Kali Hawk, and Jean Reno. It was written by Vaughn, Favreau, & Dana Universal and directed by Peter Billingsley. It was released on Blu-ray and DVD on February 9th, 2010. It is rated PG-13.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Slideshow: Chicago Premiere of ‘Couples Retreat’ With Vince Vaughn, Malin Akerman

BrianTT — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:45:13 -0400

CHICAGO – This 3-image slideshow contains our ace photographer Joe Arce’s shots from the red carpet for the Chicago premiere of “Couples Retreat” on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009. Stars Vince Vaughn and Malin Akerman and director Peter Billingsley walked the red carpet for the film that also stars Jason Bateman, Kristin Bell, Kristin Davis, Kali Hawk, Faizon Love, Jon Favreau, and Jean Reno. It opens on Friday, October 9th, 2009.

You can click “Next” and “Previous” to scan through this slideshow or jump directly to individual photos with the captioned links below. All photos are credited to Joe Arce and HollywoodChicago.com. All Rights Reserved.

couplesretreat: Director Peter Billingsley, Actress Malin Akerman, and Vince Vaughn pose together on the red carpet at the Chicago Premiere of their film Couples Retreat on Tuesday, Oct. 6th, 2009.
malinakerman: Actress Malin Akerman strikes an up close and glamorous red carpet pose for the HollywoodChicago.com camera at the Chicago premiere of Couples Retreat on Tuesday, Oct. 6th, 2009.
vincevaughn: Hometown Actor Vince Vaughn is all smiles for the HollywoodChicago.com lens as he begins his walk down the red carpet at the Chicago premiere of Couples Retreat on Tuesday, Oct. 6th, 2009.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Interview: Cancer, Cameos, Cuts With ‘Fanboys’ Director Kyle Newman

BrianTT — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:55:15 -0500

CHICAGO – Kyle Newman’s “Fanboys” has had one of the most legendary post-productions in the history of film. The director opened up to HollywoodChicago.com about the six-year journey of his labor of love on the eve of his world premiere: a day that Newman admits he once thought he would never see.

Jay Baruchel (Windows), Dan Fogler (Hutch), Chris Marquette (Linus), Sam Huntington (Eric) and Kristen Bell (Zoe) star in Kyle Newman’s Fanboys.
Photo credit: John Estes

The definition of a “fanboy,” courtesy of “Fanboys” director Kyle Newman - “It’s a term for a group of people, no matter what age, who are really into sci-fi, fandom, comic books, a certain genre of film. And they are unafraid to wear that on their sleeves. I don’t think fanboys are closet nerds. They are people who embrace it, sometimes flaunt it, and are proud of who they are.

They are heavily represented in the online community. They’re tech-savvy. They’re cutting edge for what they’re into. They’re people unafraid to talk about what they’re into. Even at a nice dinner, they’ll talk about Star Wars, Go-Bots, whatever.”

Kyle Newman
Photo credit: Linda L.Crispien

Newman was going to make it to Chicago for an in-person interview but rumors of snow the following day forced him to stay in L.A. and do a phone interview. As he said, “Tomorrow is the premiere and I’ve been working on it for six years. If there was anything that delayed my trip, I’d regret it forever.”

And what a long, strange trip it’s been.

When “Fanboys” wrapped in the spring of 2006, it was a tender comedy about a quartet of friends who travelled cross-country to break into Skywalker Ranch and see an early cut of “Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace”. They weren’t merely criminals. One of them, Linus (Chris Marquette), was dying of cancer and he had been waiting his entire life to see George Lucas’ prequel. His friends were committed to making that dying wish come true.

The film co-starred Jay Baruchel, Dan Fogler, Sam Huntington, and Kristin Bell, and featured cameos by Seth Rogen, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Ray Park, Kevin Smith, and William Shatner.

Test audiences adored the movie. The Weinstein Company did not. As Newman says, “Here, I’ve made a movie that I’m really proud of. I screened it in London to 1400 fans at Star Wars Celebration to three standing ovations and I videotaped it and I showed everybody, but I guess nobody ever showed Harvey [Weinstein].”

“Fanboys” was originally scheduled to be released in the fall of 2006. The first delay was to February of ‘07, then August of that year. Then the floor fell out as rumors of reshoots and massive changes surfaced online, pushing the film back until at least 2008.

Newman himself was baffled. “I’m getting all this support online and they’re talking about changing it and it just didn’t all add up. I was afraid. I knew I had made a great movie. The actors, producers, writers - we were all happy with what we had pulled off. We were smart about how we cast the movie. We had tremendous foresight considering the people we cast who took off. We were on the right track.”

Jay Baruchel, Kristen Bell, Dan Fogler and Chris Marquette star in Kyle Newman’s Fanboys.
Photo credit: John Estes

It turned out that a year-and-a-half after the first shoot, director Stephen Brill came in to do massive reshoots. The cancer plotline was eliminated entirely and the film was turned into a generic road movie. And it was not pretty.

Newman pulls no punches, saying that “There was a lot of negative stuff and the people they brought in to work on the film were, in a very low class way, criticizing the actors and the casting and the directing and kind of demeaning Star Wars fandom. Here we’d done all this grassroots awareness and built support and, suddenly, there are polls on StarWars.com debating “How worried are you about the fate of Fanboys?””

“It was very disheartening to watch everything that you’ve done positive be undermined in a week by a bunch of idiots, this team that was brought in to do this. Mainly just the director who they brought in to re-shape it who was opening his mouth online and really offending our core audience. So, I was shocked. I was like, “Oh my God.” It was just getting out of control and here we are on the sidelines and I’m watching the movie fall apart. I’m watching our fanbase dissipate.”

Chris Marquette, Dan Fogler and Sam Huntington star in Kyle Newman’s Fanboys.
Photo credit: John Estes

The internet community that adores “Star Wars” and supported “Fanboys” went to work. An online campaign called “Stop Dark Weinstein (From Ruining Fanboys)” popped up and thousands of fans e-mailed the Weinstein Company.

It led to more delays but also started to build buzz around the movie. The Weinstein Company brought Newman back on board and let him and the original creative team back in the editing room. The cancer subplot came back.

The idea that one of these young men was dying was always essential to Newman. “It was a rallying call for these guys. While the trip, in conceit, was very zany, it had this emotional core to it because it was coming from a grounded place. I thought the movie was unhinged without it.

You couldn’t get behind these guys. To me, it became soulless. There was no heart and little purpose. And there was no ticking clock. Ultimately, where did it end up? It ended with them watching the movie on a laptop and then throwing it out the window and saying “That sucked” and driving off. It didn’t culminate in anything. There was no substance. It was hard to watch.”

Kyle Newman has been a Star Wars fan his entire life. In fact, he claims that his first memory is of Star Wars when he was under two years old. It wasn’t the movie itself, but the energy that the film created. “I remember my brothers and sisters, my cousins, everyone had gone to see it. There was this electric energy.”

Newman felt that energy again when “Phantom Menace” was coming out and that inspired “Fanboys”.

Of course, a lot of the anticipation leading up to “Phantom Menace” disappeared when fans saw the movie. But Newman is still a fan. “When you’re a kid or a teen and you’re seeing these movies and you’re hearing the idea of prequels, you’re imagining what they’re going to be in your head. I think, invariably, it will never live up to the expectations of your own imagination tailored to what you want it to be. I probably like them more than most people it wasn’t really the medium in which it was presented. I was more interested in what the story was. Star Wars could be oral tradition, they’re such good stories.

So, I went and found out all the spoilers. I eased into it. It wasn’t like a big culture shock. “Whoa, that wasn’t what I imagined.” So, I think that was a factor. I think people who did that - eased in after 20 years of anticipation…if you don’t do that, you’re bound to be let down.”

Fanboys Poster
Photo credit: The Weinstein Company

“Star Wars” isn’t Newman’s only love. He also admits excitement for the upcoming “Star Trek” movie, saying, “The cast is incredibly exciting. I like that new trailer. A good buddy of ours, Zachary Quinto, is playing Spock. I’m incredibly excited for him. I think it’s a perfect role for him. I think the cast is great. There’s a lot of life left in Star Trek. I think they’re gonna kick off something good.”

And Newman loves “Close Encounters, Blade Runner, 2001, Alien, Aliens, and all those type of films, Goonies, Gremlins - but Star Wars holds a unique place. It exists in different mediums. I think the reason that Star Wars has such longevity is the fan community. The people have responded to it and taken it on themselves to keep it alive.

George Lucas was smart in recognizing that there are a lot of people who want to play in the world he created. So, let them write books and comic books and design toys and video games and expand the series into television. I think he knows the universe has gotten bigger than anything he can control.”

It seems like everything about “Fanboys” has been about anticipation, that of the characters for “Phantom Menace” and now for the film itself. The anticipation will finally pay off when “Fanboys” is released on Friday, February 6th, 2009. But that may not be the last version you see. Newman admits that there are some changes in the current version that he’s not thrilled with and there may be a director’s cut on DVD some day.

“It was give-and-takes. I got to put the story in but I had to give up on little nuance beats which I think make the story richer. If I was ever to do a master cut, it’s all waiting there.”

“Fanboys” may finally be coming out, but the end of this story may yet be unwritten.

‘Fanboys’ stars Jay Baruchel, Dan Fogler, Chris Marquette, Sam Huntington, Kristin Bell, and Seth Rogen. ‘Fanboys,’ which was written by Ernest Cline and Adam F. Goldberg and directed by Kyle Newman, opens on February 6th, 2009.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com