Hope Springs (Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carell) in Theatres on August 22, 2012

Hope Springs (2012)

Audience
Rating: 3.6/5
Liked the Movie: 69% (n=11,235)

Critics
Rating: 3.4/5
Reviews Counted: 75% (n=110)


Reviews

"Led by a pair of mesmerizing performances from Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones, Hope Springs offers filmgoers some grown-up laughs -- and a thoughtful look at mature relationships." - rottentomatoes.com

"Director to Jones: "Just be yourself." Works for me. Master class in acting from the two leads." - Richard Roeper, richardroeper.com

"A surprise that sneaks up and moves you, "Hope Springs" has the courage of its awkwardness, and this is said admiringly in the spirit of the film, which is irony-free and unfashionably earnest." - Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal

"Yes, this is the fascinating stuff, a rare (in pop culture) look at the complex nature of the love-sex equation -- when it's too direct, when it's too vague, when it breaks down completely." - Rick Groen, Globe and Mail

"If the film doesn't really explore the pain and bitterness of this marriage, it's still leagues ahead of most such attempts." - Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

"It's gratifying to see a movie that doesn't have anything to do with superheroics or the end of the world, merely ordinary heroics of the human heart." - Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

"It will make you want to go home and have sex with your spouse afterward. Or at least share a longer hug or a more passionate kiss." - Christy Lemire, Associated Press


Movie Info

Kay (Meryl Streep) and Arnold (Tommy Lee Jones) are a devoted couple, but decades of marriage have left Kay wanting to spice things up and reconnect with her husband. When she hears of a renowned couple's specialist (Steve Carell) in the small town of Great Hope Springs, she attempts to persuade her skeptical husband, a steadfast man of routine, to get on a plane for a week of marriage therapy. Just convincing the stubborn Arnold to go on the retreat is hard enough - the real challenge for both of them comes as they shed their bedroom hang-ups and try to re-ignite the spark that caused them to fall for each other in the first place. -- (C) Sony

Rated: PG-13

Running Time: 1 hr. 40 min.

Genre: Drama, Comedy

Directed By: David Frankel

Written By: Vanessa Taylor

Distributed By: Sony Pictures

Cast
Meryl Streep (Kay)
Tommy Lee Jones (Arnold)
Steve Carell (Doctor Feld)
Ben Rappaport (Brad their son)
Jean Smart (Eileen Kay's friend)
Elisabeth Shue (Karen the bartender)
Mimi Rogers (Carol the neighbor)

Source: rottentomatoes.com

Brave (Kelly Macdonald, Emma Thompson) in Theatres on August 1, 2012

Brave (2012)

Audience
Average Rating: 4/5
Liked the Movie: 82% (n=114,380)

Critics
Rating: 3.5/5
Liked the Movie: 77% (n=183)


Reviews

"I really hope that people will give this imaginative little fairy tale a chance, and I can't wait to show it to my 6-year-old daughter." - Dana Stevens, Slate

"In addition to being fast, funny, and unpretentious, Brave is a happy antidote to all the recent films in which women triumph by besting men at their own macho games..." - David Edelstein, New York Magazine

"Brave offers young audiences and fairy tale fans a rousing, funny fantasy adventure with a distaff twist and surprising depth." = rottentomatoes.com

"The tone is uneven and more often morose than joyful. The pacing is slow and at times almost tedious. The end result is something that feels like it was put together from a jumble of Disney clichés tacked onto the skeleton of Beauty and the Beast." - James Berardinelli, ReelViews

"It's a subpar story that seems to exist mainly to sell a new Disney Princess in the form of wild-haired Merida." - Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News

"While co-directors Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman and Steve Purcell have successfully made a family action fantasy featuring a girl hero - a long-overdue revolution - the story is not as special as the princess inside it." - Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News

"We would expect this kind of overstuffed joyride from Dreamworks Animation or the folks at Fox or even Disney itself. But it's terribly ordinary for Pixar, and ordinary is no longer enough." - Ty Burr, Boston Globe

"Brave" isn't a bull's-eye, but it's close enough. - Tom Long, Detroit News


Movie Info

Merida is a skilled archer and impetuous daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane). Merida's actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric old Witch (Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it's too late. -- (C) Disney

Rated: PG

Running Time: 1 hr. 33 min.

Genre: Animation, Kids & Family, Comedy

Directed By: Brenda Chapman, Mark Andrews

Distributed By: Walt Disney Pictures

Cast
Kelly Macdonald (Merida)
Billy Connolly (King Fergus)
Emma Thompson (Queen Elinor)
Julie Walters (Wise Woman)
Kevin Mckidd (Lord MacGuffin)
Craig Ferguson (Lord Macintosh)
Robbie Coltrane (Lord Dingwall)

Source: rottentomatoes.com

The Dictator (Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kingsley, Anna Faris) in Theatres on July 25, 2012

The Dictator (2012)

Audience
Rating: 3.3/5
Liked the Movie: 53% (n=130,686)

Critics
Rating: 3/5
Liked the Movie: 58% (n=194)


Reviews

"For once, Baron Cohen has a real script and a supporting cast as skilled at improv as he is. And those complementary elements make a difference." - Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

"On the laughmeter The Dictator is closer to Borat than to the misfired Bruno, which is to say it's funny for about half of its brisk 83 minutes." - Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

"Most of The Dictator had me neither laughing nor shocked, but just staring at the screen in anxious is-that-all-there-is? silence." - Dana Stevens, Slate

"Of course it's offensive and tasteless. That's the point. Sometimes the jokes are excruciatingly funny." - Richard Roeper, richardroeper.com

"Clearly, Baron Cohen is a smart, gifted and versatile actor; it's time for him to stretch his abilities and dictate to himself a new kind of challenge." - Christy Lemire, Associated Press


Movie Info

The heroic story of a North African dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed. -- (C) Paramount

Rated: R

Running Time: 1 hr. 23 min.

Genre: Comedy

Directed By: Larry Charles

Distributed By: Paramount Pictures

Cast
Sacha Baron Cohen (Aladeen / Efawadh)
Anna Faris (Zoey)
Ben Kingsley (Tamir)
Megan Fox as Herself

Source: rottentomatoes.com