Bob Mondello

'This Is The End': The Apocalypse Is One Hot Party

Bob Mondello — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 18:39:00 +0000

So far, the summer's end-of-the-world movies (After Earth, Oblivion) have mostly been provoking unintended yuks, so it's kind of a relief that this week's offerings include one that actually means to be funny.

That This Is the End actually is funny — well, that's even better, especially as it's playing cleverly enough with form to keep your brain occupied, too.

It opens with actor Seth Rogen waiting at the L.A. airport for his comedian buddy Jay Baruchel.

When 'G' Movies Are For Kids, Do Kids Avoid 'G' Movies?

Bob Mondello — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 19:48:00 +0000

If you're a parent with small children, summer is traditionally a time when there's lots for them to see at the multiplex. That's not untrue this summer. But if you're specifically looking for a film with a G rating, you may just be out of luck.

Two years ago, out of the more than 600 films submitted to the Motion Picture Association of America, 16 got rated G — the most in a decade. Last year, even if you counted re-releases, only 10 films got rated G. And this year, of the 250 films that have opened so far, not a single one has been rated G. Not one.

Summer Movie Preview: Kids, Theft, The Apocalypse, And Joss Whedon

Bob Mondello — Tue, 28 May 2013 14:15:00 +0000

Trending, trending. M Night Shyamalan sees dead people. I see trends.

This will be a summer of Adolescents Triumphant, with kids overcoming parental units specifically to tame a hostile environment, be it a planet (Shyamalan's After Earth) a woodsy suburban clearing (Kings of Summer), or a waterpark (The Way Way Back).

More Time Together, Though 'Midnight' Looms

Bob Mondello — Fri, 24 May 2013 20:49:00 +0000

Celine and Jesse are sporting a few physical wrinkles — and working through some unsettling relational ones — in Before Midnight, but that just makes this third installment of their once-dewy romance gratifyingly dissonant.

It's been 18 years since they talked through the night that first time, Julie Delpy's Celine enchanting and occasionally prickly, Ethan Hawke's Jesse determined to charm; their chatter then, as now, scripted but loose enough to feel improvised as captured in long, long takes by Richard Linklater's cameras.

Take a peek back at 1995's Before Sunrise, and

New 'Trek' Goes 'Into Darkness,' But Not Much Deeper

Bob Mondello — Sat, 18 May 2013 22:14:00 +0000

The opening sequence of J.J. Abram's new entry in the Star Trek universe has all the ingredients of the classic franchise.

There's Kirk and his crew bellowing on the bridge, everyone worrying about the prime directive and our favorite Vulcan trapped in a volcano.

OK, I'm in. I may not be a fanboy anymore, but I sure was in my youth, and having these guys in their youths again is just as cool at the outset as it was last time.

Chris Pine's baby-Shatner is spitting his lines while Zachary Quinto channels his inner Nimoy.