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Summer 2011 is filled with sequels, spin-offs, and reboots. That's right, as exciting as the season's blockbusters may seem, we're being inundated with one of the most unoriginal summers the movies have ever seen. Within that context, though, which movies rise above the "Yeah, we phoned this one in" benchmark? Find out with our patent-pending originality meter.
From 1 to 10, where do these releases register? >>
Posted 08.12.11 by reelz -
Oscar season has officially begun with The Help. Critics are lauding the performances of Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, but they are split on whether it's a good movie or not.
"...a delicious peppery stew of home-cooked, 1960s Southern-style racism that serves up a soulful dish of what ails us and what heals us."
— Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times"...serves as an enlightening and deeply affecting exercise in empathy for those who've never considered what life must have been like for African-Americans living with inequality a full century after the Emancipation Proclamation called an end to slavery."
— Peter Debruge, Variety"...fans of the best-selling novel can rest easy: The warmly engaging book has been made into an equally affecting movie."
— Claudia Puig, USA Today"The Help is like a lot of Southern fare made with Crisco: you'll want to gobble it up, but it's not particularly nourishing."
— Sara Stewart, New York Post"...a fairly typical Hollywood flattening of history, with powerful villains and disenfranchised heroes."
— Karina Longworth, Village Voice"...a big, ole slab of honey-glazed hokum."
— Manohla Dargis, New York Times -
Though her father Ron Howard made his mark by playing nice guys (like Opie Taylor and Richie Cunningham), Bryce Dallas Howard is skilled at portraying some truly wicked women. The actress played the "vampire with a vendetta," Victoria, in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, and in this week's The Help, she plays a character nearly as powerful and dangerous as a vampire: Jackson, Mississippi's Junior League president Hilly Holbrook.
Who's more evil, Victoria or Hilly? Let's compare >>
Posted 08.10.11 by reelz -
With The Help hitting theaters this August, Hollywood's Top Ten wants to count down the most memorable maids, housekeepers, servants, and butlers on the big screen. Vote now for your favorites, then tune in to see if your picks make the cut.
Vote for your top 10 memorable movie maids >>
Posted 07.26.11 by reelz -
The first trailer for The Help debuted in April, offering the first look at actor/director Tate Taylor's (Winter's Bone) adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's best-selling novel.
The international trailer for the movie starts by covering similar territory, but then veers into newer footage that reveals a fuller version of the story, which follows Emma Stone as a young college graduate who decides to document the stories of two African American women (Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer) hired as housekeepers in the racially segregated community of Jackson, Mississippi, during the 1960s. Several new photos of the movie have also been released, which opens at the end of the summer in the U.S., but doesn't open in the U.K. until the fall.
watch the trailer >> Posted 06.09.11 by Ryan -
It's been a long, brutal winter in most parts of the country, so it's no surprise that even Hollywood is looking to get a jump on summer. The rollout of blockbuster movies starts this Friday, a full month before the Memorial Day Weekend.
As you'd expect (and hope), the mix of movies being offered up is heavy on the Action/Adventure movies (11) and Comedies (10). There's also plenty of offerings for Kids/Families (8). What's new this year is the addition of more R-rated comedies, thanks in no small measure to The Hangover's runaway success two summers back. Along with it's sequel, see what else is playing this summer — complete with trailers and photo galleries.
See the 2011 Summer Movie Guide >>
Posted 04.25.11 by reelz -
The first trailer has debuted for actor/director Tate Taylor's (Winter's Bone) adaptation of The Help, based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett.
Set in a segregated city of Jackson, Mississippi, during the 1960s The Help tells the stories of three women — young college graduate Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (Emma Stone) and African American maids Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) and Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer) — and how their intertwining lives represent the racial divide of their southern town.
Watch the trailer >> Posted 04.20.11 by Ryan