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Leonard Maltin
21 Jump Street—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- March 16, 2012 1:00 AM
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- 3 Comments
Following in the hallowed footsteps of 'The Brady Bunch Movie', '21 Jump Street' revives a vintage TV series and subverts it at the same time. Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who have written and directed TV and theatrical animation such as 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs', resist the temptation to turn this into a live-action cartoon, which is all to the good. Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum are well cast as former high school rivals who meet up again as police academy students and become friends.
From Renoir To Ellington: Scanning Recent DVDs
- By Leonard Maltin
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- March 12, 2012 1:07 AM
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- 1 Comment
I haven’t been able to keep up with Twilight Time’s limited-edition DVD and Blu-ray releases since the company launched last year, so it’s ironic that the first disc I’ve spent real time with—Jean Renoir’s 'Swamp Water' (1941)—benefits least from the label’s innovative offering of isolated music tracks. That feature is much more valuable in other Twilight Time releases with scores by Bernard Herrmann, Franz Waxman, Hugo Friedhofer, et al., as well as 'Picnic', which I’ll discuss in a moment.
Project X—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- March 2, 2012 8:50 PM
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- 43 Comments
So, is this merely an extreme teenage version of The Hangover, or is it another sign of the end of civilization as we know it? How you feel about Project X will have a lot to do with your age and gender. If I were a hormonally charged 16-year-old boy, I might think it was...
Wanderlust—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- February 24, 2012 2:42 PM
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- 3 Comments
If you’re a fan of the comedy generated by The State and 'Stella’s' David Wain, Ken Marino, and their performer pals, you’ll either be the perfect audience for 'Wanderlust' or you may find the humor overly familiar. I am not a diehard fan, and I found the film mildly amusing.
The Secret World Of Arrietty—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- February 17, 2012 12:55 AM
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- 4 Comments
We’ve come to expect so much from Japan’s Studio Ghibli—especially the films directed by Hayao Miyazaki like 'Spirited Away' and 'Howl’s Moving Castle'—
Bullhead—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- February 17, 2012 12:50 AM
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- 3 Comments
If I were to sum up my feelings about this film in two words, they would be “grimly fascinating.” Bullhead is the dark horse in this year’s Oscar race for Best Foreign Language Film, a sleeper from Belgium that has won acclaim around the world. Part of the response comes from the excitement of discovery: an unknown writer-director making his feature debut, and creating a gritty crime story (with strong emotional currents) set against an unlikely backdrop.
Wartime Britain – Three Complete Dramas on DVD
- By Alice Maltin
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- February 6, 2012 1:00 AM
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- 1 Comment
Stories inspired by real-life events of World War Two continue to inspire dramatists and filmmakers, especially in the UK…and I never tire of watching them. Here are three solid examples recently released as a boxed DVD set by Acorn Media.
‘Wings’ Takes Flight—On DVD
- By Leonard Maltin
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- January 25, 2012 2:51 PM
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- 22 Comments
While it’s fitting that Paramount Pictures should unveil its masterful restoration of Wings on the studio’s 100th birthday, it’s a shame we had to wait this long. It is, in fact, the last Academy Award-winning Best Picture to be released on DVD and Blu-ray—an unintended irony, since it was the first film to receive that honor. (Fox’s Cavalcade was the other longtime holdout, and even now it can only be obtained as part of a big, expensive Fox tribute package.)
Haywire—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- January 20, 2012 1:00 AM
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- 12 Comments
In the old days a film like this would have been called a “programmer” and fulfilled its modest ambitions as the second feature on a double bill. Alas, we don’t have double features or programmers anymore; every movie carries weight, and expectations, with it. Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire has all the trappings of an “A” movie, including a big-name cast and impressive international locations, but it never rises above the level of a “B.”
War Horse—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- December 23, 2011 6:17 AM
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- 22 Comments
I don’t like pigeonholing films, and I’ve never been fond of the term “chick flick,” but I’d be less than candid if I didn’t tell you that several women I know and respect (including my wife) were moved to tears by 'War Horse', while I was lukewarm about it. Normally, I’m a sucker for this kind of picture, which has a great deal of sentiment built into it—but I found its execution too blatant and—if I’m not making a pun—on-the-nose.
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