Past the Popcorn film roundup—About What You’d Expect This Time of Year
Each week, Past the Popcorn offers a thorough look at the latest round of films opening on big screens.
In what is ordinarily a pretty disappointing movie month, probably the most satisfying of this week’s releases is the fairly decent romantic comedy 27 Dresses. It’s “something of a formulaic chick flick,” says Michael Brunk, “but the smart writing and outstanding acting broaden its appeal and produce a film that’s a cut above the normal fare in this genre.” Still, he concedes the film is far from perfect while pointing out that, compared to some of the rude, crude entries in this genre last year,” it might be worth giving a shot.
A bit more disappointing, says Michael, is the much-anticipated monster movie Cloverfield. “I just didn’t find Cloverfield all that scary,” he says. “The tension never ramps up high enough to generate those audible gasps in the theater when the unexpected happens. The action is too predictable; you always see it coming and thus are never surprised.” But the special effects (hand-held camera p.o.v. aside) are pretty keen.
In other releases, Greg Wright finds Woody Allen’s Cassandra’s Dream “little more than a boat adrift on the water—one missing any kind of moral or dramatic anchor,” and thinks that the small film Day Zero “so much of a downer that I’m not sure a great many people will seek it out.” Finally, Jeff Walls finds Mad Money to be far-fetched and pretty routine.
