Ivan Reitman

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Baywatch Review

OK

Clearly, it's a risky proposition adapting a cheesy vintage TV series for the big screen: this is the second one that's gone awry this year, after CHiPs. But it doesn't have to be like this. Lively movie versions of Charlie's Angels and 21 Jump Street proved that with inventive writing, snarky performances and deranged energy, the result can be thoroughly entertaining. Sadly, this movie falls back on cheap jokes that simply aren't that funny. Fans of Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron will still have a good time - they're both unstoppably engaging - but the truth is that this simply isn't good enough.

We're back in Emerald Bay, where the beefy hotshot Mitch (Johnson) heads up the lifeguard crew with babes Stephanie and CJ (Ildenesh Hadera and Kelly Rohrbach). And now they're training up three new recruits: fallen Olympic swimming champ Matt (Efron), feisty hottie Summer (Alexandra Daddario) and pudgy geek Ronnie (Jon Bass). Meanwhile, as various crimes and calamities strike the beach, Mitch decides to investigate everything himself without the help of the local police. And as he becomes convinced that resort owner Victoria (Priyanka Chopra) is involved in bribery, extortion, drug running and murder, he sends his lifeguards undercover to catch her. Which of course is just a bit beyond what they were trained to do.

The Rock and Zac Efron on the Baywatch set

Continue reading: Baywatch Review

Ghostbusters Review

Excellent

It's been more than 30 years since the Ghostbusters first hit the big screen with a then-original mix of comedy and supernatural action. Intriguingly, this new film is neither a sequel nor a remake; it's a reboot of the franchise, which loosely adapts the original 1984 premise to all-new characters. Thankfully, the screenplay is smart and funny, and the cast is flat-out hilarious.

It opens as university professor Erin (Kristen Wiig) sees her hopes for tenure evaporate when a book she wrote years ago with her childhood pal Abby (Melissa McCarthy) resurfaces, affirming their belief in ghosts. So Erin seeks out Abby, and discovers that she's still researching the supernatural, now with the sharp-witted gadget maker Jillian (Kate McKinnon). With spirit sightings on the rise in New York, the three decide to launch a ghost-busting business, joined by city expert Patty (Leslie Jones) and bimbo receptionist Kevin (Chris Hemsworth). But the apparitions popping up around the city are getting increasingly malevolent, and it's clear that an apocalypse is brewing.

The basic plot is lifted from the original movie, which is referenced in virtually every scene. Most of this is rather distracting, because a more original storyline would have been a lot more involving and the in-jokes will be lost on younger audiences. But it's fun to see the original cast members turn up here and there in random cameos.

Continue reading: Ghostbusters Review

Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story Of National Lampoon Trailer


In the 1970s came the most controversial and accessible comedy ever seen. The National Lampoon was a magazine featuring some of the most socially terrifying taboos and became a groundbreaking publication in the world of American humour. Unafraid were the editors to approach subjects regarding politics, war, sex, drugs and culture, and nothing was allowed to stay censored; it was, indeed, best known for the highly outrageous cover art that ranged from parodic images of Van Gogh and Hitler to a gun threat against a dog. From pages full of laughs came a multimedia comedic world with radio shows, music and television all spawning from that one paper. The most memorable incarnations of the Lampoon were the 'Animal House', 'Class Reunion' and 'Vacation' movies which took the whole franchise to a new level of fame.

Continue: Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story Of National Lampoon Trailer

Zac Efron Reportedly In Talks To Star In ‘Baywatch’ Movie With Dwayne Johnson


Zac Efron Dwayne Johnson Pamela Anderson Seth Gordon Damian Shannon Mark Swift Beau Flynn Ivan Reitman Baywatch Robert De Niro

Zac Efron is reportedly in talks to star in a big screen version of Baywatch. The former High School Musical star is in negotiations with producers for the upcoming Paramount Pictures film. Dwayne Johnson is also reportedly on board and the pair will be directed by Horrible Bosses director Seth Gordon.

Zac EfronZac Efron at the L.A. premiere of Neighbors in April 2014.

Read More: Seth Rogen And Zac Efron Set For Neighbors 2 In 2016.

Continue reading: Zac Efron Reportedly In Talks To Star In ‘Baywatch’ Movie With Dwayne Johnson

Draft Day Review


OK

Essentially this year's Moneyball, but set in American football rather than baseball, this fast-paced drama is brightly made with an especially strong cast. But only die-hard fans will be able to drum up much interest in the plot, which is played as if it's the most important thing on earth. This insular approach is seriously alienating for audience members with even the slightest sense of perspective about life. Thankfully, the actors are likeable and entertaining.

It's set over the 12 hours leading up to the NFL draft, when teams select the top players from university teams. In Cleveland, manager Sonny (Kevin Costner) is struggling to hang on to his job, arguing with Coach Penn (Denis Leary) about who should be the first pick. And when he swaps with another team for the top selection, the team owner (Frank Langella) pressures Sonny to take the most highly desired player in the field (Josh Pence). But Sonny has his doubts, and amid backroom dealings and frantic last-minute swaps, he also looks at another promising player (Chadwick Boseman) while making sure the team's current quarterback (Tom Welling) is up to his job. Meanwhile, Sonny and the team's financial manager Ali (Jennifer Garner) are in a secret relationship and have just found out that they're pregnant.

Most of this takes place during phone calls, but director Ivan Reitman manages to make this visually intriguing using whizzy split-screen trickery. And while Garner's character feels utterly irrelevant, like a distraction to the main football plot , she adds the badly needed human interest element, as do two other actresses in smaller roles: Ellen Burstyn and Rosanna Arquette as Sonny's mother and ex-wife, respectively. There are also strong cameos from the likes of Sean Combs as a high-powered agent and Sam Elliot as a sporting veteran. And it's all anchored effortlessly by Costner's affable charm, providing resonance in Sonny's attempt to play a long game while being pushed to make the flashier decisions.

Continue reading: Draft Day Review

Ivan Reitman and Geneviève Robert - "Draft Day" Los Angeles Premiere At Regency Village Theatre - Westwood, California, United States - Monday 7th April 2014

Ivan Reitman and Geneviève Robert

With Ivan Reitman Gone: Who Could Direct 'Ghostbusters 3'?


Ivan Reitman Harold Ramis

The long awaited ‘Ghostbusters 3’ is scheduled to begin filming next year, but there’s a major problem, they don’t have a director. Original director Ivan Reitman announced his discussion to step down yesterday following the death of his friend Harold Ramis, leaving a major hole in the production. So the question is, just who are they going to call?

ivan Reitman GhostbustersOringal 'Ghostbusters', director Ivan Reitman has stepped down from the third movie

Right now the rumour mill is looking towards Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the duo behind box office smash ‘The Lego Movie’. These two are undoubtedly Hollywood’s hot young directing team. ‘The Lego Movie’ grossed nearly $380 million at the box office and critics queued up to praise it, earning it a very respectable 96% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Continue reading: With Ivan Reitman Gone: Who Could Direct 'Ghostbusters 3'?

Draft Day Trailer


Sonny Weaver, Jr. is the general manager of National Football League team the Cleveland Browns who is faced with immediate dismissal if he does not put together an unbeatable draft pick for his team. With pressure from his associates and from Browns fans, he wants to make a spectacular impact on the football world on draft day but, with his ideas being very different from everyone else's, he's in for a big struggle to bring everyone round to his way of thinking and after making what seems like a professionally suicidal trade, even his mother starts to lose faith in him. Excitement builds as draft day nears, with everyone baffled by what could possibly be in store for the Cleveland Browns; but will Sonny pull through with the number one pick of the year?

Continue: Draft Day Trailer

Hitchcock Review


Good

What could have been an intriguing look at how Alfred Hitchcock created one of his most iconic masterpieces is instead turned into a gently entertaining romp. We may enjoy watching the twists and turns as this troubled project takes shape, but the script simply never breaks the surface or gives its stars any real depth to play with. So in the end, the most engaging thing about the film ends up being the portrayal of Hitchcock's marriage.

The story starts with the 1959 premiere of North by Northwest, a hit that critics dismissed as more of the same from a master resting on his laurels. So Hitchcock (Hopkins) decides to give them something unexpected, and takes his first foray into horror based on the little-known novel Psycho, a fictionalised story about a real serial killer. Working closely with his wife Alma (Mirren) on every aspect of the film, he is in constant conflict with the studio chief (Portnow) and the chief censor (Smith), who both believe the material is too strong. Meanwhile, Alma is tired of him flirting with his leading ladies (Johansson and Biel), so she takes a side job with a writer (Huston) who wants to be more than friends.

Oddly, neither director Gervasi (Anvil) nor writer McLaughlin (Black Swan) seems interested in getting beneath the surface of their central character, so Hitchcock is little more than the jovial caricature we saw in his TV anthology series. Hiding under layers of prosthetic face and body fat, Hopkins is good but never seems to break a sweat in the role. Which leaves Mirren to steal the film as Alma, mainly by departing from reality to create a more intriguing movie character instead. And Collette adds some spice as Hitchcock's assistant. But as the cast of Psycho, Johansson (as Janet Leigh), Biel (Vera Miles) and D'Arcy (Anthony Perkins) are only given small details to define them, which leaves them lurking uninterestingly around the edges.

Continue reading: Hitchcock Review

Eurotrip Review


Good
Who would've thought, in this dreary month of studio-dumped product, that true joy could come in the form of Vinnie Jones and a busload of football hooligans barreling down a French highway in the wrong lane with Vinnie screaming, "Piss off! Drive on the right side of the road!" Well, me neither, but nonetheless Eurotrip manages to be that oddly rare quantity these days: the actually enjoyable stupid comedy.

Starring a bunch of nobodies, leavened with a few clever star cameos, and written and directed by guys you've never heard of, Eurotrip wastes no time with the setup and getting its young stars to Europe. Upon graduating from high school, Scotty (Scott Mechlowicz) gets dumped by his girlfriend (Smallville's Kristen Kreuk), who then makes out with the lead singer of the band playing at the graduation party (an oddly-placed Matt Damon, lip-synching a song called "Scotty Doesn't Know"). Simultaneously, Scotty discovers that his German e-mail pen pal, whom he thought was a guy, is actually an extremely hot blonde. Unfortunately, drunk and despondent, he has just told her to stop writing (thinking it was a guy coming on to him). Spiritually devastated, Scotty decides to head across the Atlantic with his friends - requisite crazy guy Cooper (Jacob Pitts), nerd Jamie (Travis Wester), and Jamie's tomboy sister (Michelle Trachtenberg) - to seek the Aryan beauty of his dreams.

Continue reading: Eurotrip Review

Space Jam Review


Bad
As a teenager, when I was rabid New York Knicks fan, I hated Michael Jordan. I hated how smug he was on the court. I hated how he always hit the big shot. I hated his commercials. I hated his Chicago Bulls teammates and his Zen-poseur coach, Phil Jackson. I hated the obnoxious bandwagon fans he created (second only to ignorant, win-happy, tradition oblivious, fair weather Yankee fans), as well as the wannabe playground showboaters he inspired.

That being said, I am probably not the most impartial person to watch Space Jam, the 1996 outing in which Jordan helps the beloved Looney Tunes gang compete in an interplanetary basketball game. However, any die-hard Bulls fan can agree with any Knicks fan on this one fact: Jordan is a terrible actor

Continue reading: Space Jam Review

Ivan Reitman

Ivan Reitman Quick Links

News Pictures Video Film Quotes RSS

Occupation

Filmmaker


Ivan Reitman Movies

Baywatch Movie Review

Baywatch Movie Review

Clearly, it's a risky proposition adapting a cheesy vintage TV series for the big screen:...

Ghostbusters Movie Review

Ghostbusters Movie Review

It's been more than 30 years since the Ghostbusters first hit the big screen with...

Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story Of National Lampoon Trailer

Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story Of National Lampoon Trailer

In the 1970s came the most controversial and accessible comedy ever seen. The National Lampoon...

Advertisement
Draft Day Movie Review

Draft Day Movie Review

Essentially this year's Moneyball, but set in American football rather than baseball, this fast-paced drama...

Draft Day Trailer

Draft Day Trailer

Sonny Weaver, Jr. is the general manager of National Football League team the Cleveland Browns...

Hitchcock Movie Review

Hitchcock Movie Review

What could have been an intriguing look at how Alfred Hitchcock created one of his...

Eurotrip Movie Review

Eurotrip Movie Review

Who would've thought, in this dreary month of studio-dumped product, that true joy could come...

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Evolution Movie Review

Evolution Movie Review

Here's my candidate for most creative casting of 2001....In Evolution, you get David Duchovny, (former)...

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