There’s a lot of talk about the secret formula behind delicious Krabby Patties in “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run,” but the real secret formula lies in the creative trust that has managed to create not one, not two, but now three thoroughly entertaining feature-length adaptations of the long-running TV show.
In an era when so many 25-page children’s books or eight-minute animated shorts have been bloated beyond proportion on their way to becoming 90-minute movies, Team SpongeBob deserves credit for unlocking the alchemy behind building up and building out a storyline and a set of characters without losing sight of what made the original beloved in the first place.
This time around, writer-director Tim Hill steps in, and he’s managed to take the goofy denizens of Bikini Bottom on a road trip that is visually dazzling and almost consistently hilarious, mixing verbal and physical humor,...
In an era when so many 25-page children’s books or eight-minute animated shorts have been bloated beyond proportion on their way to becoming 90-minute movies, Team SpongeBob deserves credit for unlocking the alchemy behind building up and building out a storyline and a set of characters without losing sight of what made the original beloved in the first place.
This time around, writer-director Tim Hill steps in, and he’s managed to take the goofy denizens of Bikini Bottom on a road trip that is visually dazzling and almost consistently hilarious, mixing verbal and physical humor,...
- 3/4/2021
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
Looks like Kevin James is going to be leading a Netflix original film, and despite the above featured image, it is a not a Paul Blart: Mall Cop movie. The streaming service has announced today that the actor/comedian will be heading the film entitled True Memoirs Of An International Assassin.
The film's synopsis is as follows:
"A mild-mannered would-be author gets mistaken for a killer-for-hire when his fictional novel about an international assassin is published as a true story. The book is a huge success and he is suddenly kidnapped and taken to Venezuela and forced into an assassination plot."
True Memoirs Of An International Assassin is directed by Jeff Wadlow, who is likely best known for directing Kick-ass 2, and will be hitting Netflix some time in 2016.
While I feel no particular way or another about this film, I'm very interested to see the online interest. Given James'...
The film's synopsis is as follows:
"A mild-mannered would-be author gets mistaken for a killer-for-hire when his fictional novel about an international assassin is published as a true story. The book is a huge success and he is suddenly kidnapped and taken to Venezuela and forced into an assassination plot."
True Memoirs Of An International Assassin is directed by Jeff Wadlow, who is likely best known for directing Kick-ass 2, and will be hitting Netflix some time in 2016.
While I feel no particular way or another about this film, I'm very interested to see the online interest. Given James'...
- 2/3/2016
- by Joseph Medina
- LRMonline.com
Start A New Holiday Tradition
With The Family Comedy Hit
Hop
From The Creators Of Despicable Me
Own It March 23, 2012 on Blu-ray. and DVD Combo Packs From Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Featuring an All-New Mini Movie, Extensive Bonus Features, Digital Copy and UltraViolet.
Also Available on Digital Download
The Easter Bunny.s hare apparent leaves his ancestral home on Easter Island to pursue pop superstardom in the hilarious comedy Hop, coming to Blu-ray. and DVD on March 23, 2012, from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Blending state-of-the-art CGI animation with live action, Hop is a non-stop, rockin. adventure packed with humor and hijinks as rebellious young rabbit E.B. (voiced by Russell Brand), strikes up an unlikely friendship with Los Angeles underachiever Fred (James Marsden) en route to becoming a rock star drummer.
The perfect Easter gift, the Hop Blu-ray./DVD Combo Packs deliver perfect hi-def picture andperfect hi-def sound and include an all-new,...
With The Family Comedy Hit
Hop
From The Creators Of Despicable Me
Own It March 23, 2012 on Blu-ray. and DVD Combo Packs From Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Featuring an All-New Mini Movie, Extensive Bonus Features, Digital Copy and UltraViolet.
Also Available on Digital Download
The Easter Bunny.s hare apparent leaves his ancestral home on Easter Island to pursue pop superstardom in the hilarious comedy Hop, coming to Blu-ray. and DVD on March 23, 2012, from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Blending state-of-the-art CGI animation with live action, Hop is a non-stop, rockin. adventure packed with humor and hijinks as rebellious young rabbit E.B. (voiced by Russell Brand), strikes up an unlikely friendship with Los Angeles underachiever Fred (James Marsden) en route to becoming a rock star drummer.
The perfect Easter gift, the Hop Blu-ray./DVD Combo Packs deliver perfect hi-def picture andperfect hi-def sound and include an all-new,...
- 1/9/2012
- by Melissa Howland
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Kodak Joins Universal Pictures And Illumination Entertainment To Launch National Integrated Initiative In Support Of Upcoming Live Action/CG-animated Comedy Hop
Kodak Picture Kiosks to Feature Hop-Themed Content Through May
Rochester, NY, March 31, 2011 . Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: Ek), a world leader in photo systems and inventor of the photo kiosk category, announced today that it will participate in Universal Pictures. multimillion dollar integrated marketing and advertising initiative in support of Hop. The live action/CG-animated comedy is the new release from Illumination Entertainment that follows last year.s blockbuster Despicable Me. The film opens April 1, 2011.
Starting next week Kodak will be launching a Hop themed contest on the Kodak Facebook page and a Hop sweepstakes on Twitter. Starting Monday April 4th and running until April 20th, fans can upload their favorite family photo into a Kodak Picture Kiosk Hop border on Kodak.s Facebook page to receive a coupon...
Kodak Picture Kiosks to Feature Hop-Themed Content Through May
Rochester, NY, March 31, 2011 . Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: Ek), a world leader in photo systems and inventor of the photo kiosk category, announced today that it will participate in Universal Pictures. multimillion dollar integrated marketing and advertising initiative in support of Hop. The live action/CG-animated comedy is the new release from Illumination Entertainment that follows last year.s blockbuster Despicable Me. The film opens April 1, 2011.
Starting next week Kodak will be launching a Hop themed contest on the Kodak Facebook page and a Hop sweepstakes on Twitter. Starting Monday April 4th and running until April 20th, fans can upload their favorite family photo into a Kodak Picture Kiosk Hop border on Kodak.s Facebook page to receive a coupon...
- 3/31/2011
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Fran Drescher tries the big screen on for size with "The Beautician and the Beast", and while the likable comedian is certainly up to the challenge (having tested the waters with Robin Williams in "Jack" and "Cadillac Man") the material proves to be less than form-fitting.
Directed by Ken Kwapis, who previously guided "Seinfeld"'s Jason Alexander through his feature paces with the ill-fated and similarly thin "Dunston Checks In", the fish-out-of-water romantic comedy, about an ambitious beautician who leaves Queens behind for a gig tutoring the children of a stern, Eastern European dictator (Timothy Dalton), never really clicks into gear despite obvious similarities to Drescher's hit TV series.
Although she has a loyal at-home following, "Beautician"'s boxoffice prospects don't look too pretty.
Written by Todd Graff, a longtime friend of Drescher and her husband and co-executive producer Peter Marc Jacobson, the vehicle is essentially "The Nanny Goes Abroad", with Drescher having to make few adjustments in her transition from Fran Fine to Joy Miller.
Stopped on a New York City street with an unusual job offer from a persistent emissary (Ian McNeice), Joy quickly finds herself saying goodbye to her pushy mother (Phyllis Newman) and her sympathetic father (Michael Lerner) before she's whisked off to the former Communist country of Slovetzia, to teach the four children of president-for-life Boris "The Beast" Pachenko (Dalton) Western ways.
Operating under false pretenses -- due to a misunderstanding, Joy is believed to be a science teacher -- the beautician schools the kids in matters concerning accessorizing and frequent flyer miles, while giving Boris a tip or two in transforming his less-than-benevolent image. After a rocky start, the two begin to feel the pangs of attraction, much to the displeasure of Pachenko's old school right-hand man, Kleist (Patrick Malahide).
While the vehicle would appear to be tailor-made to Drescher's effervescent talents, it seldom gets up to speed. For what purports to be a romantic comedy, there just isn't much chemistry to speak of between her and Dalton.
But while Drescher's "fine whine" is very much intact, both Kwapis' direction and Graff's script feel a couple of beats off. As a result, a number of comic set-ups and pay-offs simply don't match up. Drescher appears to be timing some of her line deliveries against a non-existent laugh track.
With a major chunk of the picture filmed on location in the Czech Republic, the production values are cost efficient. Costume designer Barbara Tfank has provided Drescher with a Day-Glo wardrobe that effectively screams "Queens chic".
THE BEAUTICIAN AND THE BEAST
Paramount
A Koch Company production
in association with High School Sweethearts
Director Ken Kwapis
Screenwriter Todd Graff
Producers Howard W. "Hawk" Koch Jr.,
Todd Graff
Executive producers Roger Birnbaum,
Fran Drescher, Peter Marc Jacobson
Director of photography Peter Lyons Collister
Production designer Rusty Smith
Editor Jon Poll
Costume designer Barbara Tfank
Music Cliff Eidelman
Casting Jane Jenkins, Janet Hirshenson
Color/stereo
Cast:
Joy Miller Fran Drescher
Boris Pachenko Timothy Dalton
Grushinsky Ian McNeice
Katrina Lisa Jakub
Kleist Patrick Malahide
Jerry Miller Michael Lerner
Karl Adam La Vorgna
Judy Miller Phyllis Newman
Running time -- 105 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
Directed by Ken Kwapis, who previously guided "Seinfeld"'s Jason Alexander through his feature paces with the ill-fated and similarly thin "Dunston Checks In", the fish-out-of-water romantic comedy, about an ambitious beautician who leaves Queens behind for a gig tutoring the children of a stern, Eastern European dictator (Timothy Dalton), never really clicks into gear despite obvious similarities to Drescher's hit TV series.
Although she has a loyal at-home following, "Beautician"'s boxoffice prospects don't look too pretty.
Written by Todd Graff, a longtime friend of Drescher and her husband and co-executive producer Peter Marc Jacobson, the vehicle is essentially "The Nanny Goes Abroad", with Drescher having to make few adjustments in her transition from Fran Fine to Joy Miller.
Stopped on a New York City street with an unusual job offer from a persistent emissary (Ian McNeice), Joy quickly finds herself saying goodbye to her pushy mother (Phyllis Newman) and her sympathetic father (Michael Lerner) before she's whisked off to the former Communist country of Slovetzia, to teach the four children of president-for-life Boris "The Beast" Pachenko (Dalton) Western ways.
Operating under false pretenses -- due to a misunderstanding, Joy is believed to be a science teacher -- the beautician schools the kids in matters concerning accessorizing and frequent flyer miles, while giving Boris a tip or two in transforming his less-than-benevolent image. After a rocky start, the two begin to feel the pangs of attraction, much to the displeasure of Pachenko's old school right-hand man, Kleist (Patrick Malahide).
While the vehicle would appear to be tailor-made to Drescher's effervescent talents, it seldom gets up to speed. For what purports to be a romantic comedy, there just isn't much chemistry to speak of between her and Dalton.
But while Drescher's "fine whine" is very much intact, both Kwapis' direction and Graff's script feel a couple of beats off. As a result, a number of comic set-ups and pay-offs simply don't match up. Drescher appears to be timing some of her line deliveries against a non-existent laugh track.
With a major chunk of the picture filmed on location in the Czech Republic, the production values are cost efficient. Costume designer Barbara Tfank has provided Drescher with a Day-Glo wardrobe that effectively screams "Queens chic".
THE BEAUTICIAN AND THE BEAST
Paramount
A Koch Company production
in association with High School Sweethearts
Director Ken Kwapis
Screenwriter Todd Graff
Producers Howard W. "Hawk" Koch Jr.,
Todd Graff
Executive producers Roger Birnbaum,
Fran Drescher, Peter Marc Jacobson
Director of photography Peter Lyons Collister
Production designer Rusty Smith
Editor Jon Poll
Costume designer Barbara Tfank
Music Cliff Eidelman
Casting Jane Jenkins, Janet Hirshenson
Color/stereo
Cast:
Joy Miller Fran Drescher
Boris Pachenko Timothy Dalton
Grushinsky Ian McNeice
Katrina Lisa Jakub
Kleist Patrick Malahide
Jerry Miller Michael Lerner
Karl Adam La Vorgna
Judy Miller Phyllis Newman
Running time -- 105 minutes
MPAA rating: PG...
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