Godzilla apparently lost the fight for screen time

When you remake a classic like “Godzilla,” you’re going to give the scaly beast plenty of star power, right? That’s what I thought, even though the monster mash didn’t make my review list this summer. Then I caught the Cinema Blend story by Mike Bracken writing of the Honest Trailers clip that picks on the…

‘The Identical’ isn’t an Elvis impersonator, really

Everything in “The Identical” screams Elvis Presley. The South. The 1950s, teen growing up with faith wanting to sing rock and soul and R ‘n’ B. But it’s not supposed to be, is it? Except they casted as the main character(s) Ryan Wade/Dexter Hemsley one Blake Rayne, who looks like a cherubic young Elvis and…

‘The Jungle Book’ gets selfies, courtesy of Favreau

Jon Favreau put a selfie on his Facebook page a trio shot, with he, Bill Murray and a 10-year-old, all grinning like best buds. They’re on location shooting a live-action version of “The Jungle Book” for Disney, which will be release in October 2015. Favreau will direct, and newcomer 10-year-old New Yorker Neel Sethi, will…

Picture Steve Carell in an Acme Factory

Wasn’t Steve Carell born to be in a Looney Tunes plot? It’s going to happen, reports The Hollywood Reporter and Cinema Blend. And “Acme” is going to be pivotal, manufacturing gadgets and more, for the plot. The former boss of “The Office” should be perfect for this sort of cartoon line that ran amok so…

A stomach turner at the food court

After eating Chinese takeout in the food court of Destiny USA the other day before taking in the movie for my weekly film review blog for the Syracuse New Times site, an odd new addition to the space caught my eye. What might be that big ball over there, wondered I? I had to take…

The offspring of Depp, Smith get juicy roles

Kevin Smith wrote it. Johnny Depp stars in it. “Yoga Hosers” sounds pretty cool right off the bat, does it not? I saw the name of the film and thought: What the … It’s the story of two 15-year-old yoga lovers, both named Colleen, who work at a Manitoba convenience story. They’re played by the…

‘Let’s Be Cops’ is fun, unfortunately

Some movies are so bad so fast. In “Let’s Be Cops,” I immediately blamed the character Ryan. Played by Jake Johnson, the smirky guy was too smug, too dopey, too … too much for me to take. Then I blamed the plot. Pretend that you are policemen in Los Angeles? How dangerous is that? Please…