HOT PURSUIT Review
The casting and concept are pregnant with potential: Proven comedic actresses Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara paired in a cop buddy comedy. What could go wrong? Plenty, apparently, and I blame the sheer and utter misfire of Hot Pursuit on director Anne Fletcher and screenwriters David Feeney and John Quaintance. Couldn’t they have at least tried a little? It…
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Review — An Entertaining Slug Fest
By Lisa Johnson Mandell Bam! Crash! Boom! (snide comment from Tony Stark) Pow! Kablooie! That pretty much sums up the plot of Avengers: Age of Ultron. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth watching. Millions of people are going to see it no matter what I say, and let me reassure them that they will be entertained. They’ll…
THE AGE OF ADELINE Review — Tears for Fears
By Lisa Johnson Mandell Get out your tissues and your waterproof mascara: The next great romantic tear jerker has arrived. Seriously, I’m predicting The Age of Adeline is going to go rank among the best-loved romantic movies of all time, right up there with An Affair to Remember, Somewhere in Time and The Notebook. The premise is a simple one, and you can see…
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD Review
I can’t think of a better time in the past decade or two for those or us who love smaller, quality, plot-driven films filled with esteemed actors who can almost effortlessly wring tears from a thoughtful audience. A few week’s ago we were treated to Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds in Woman in Gold. Last week it…
MAGGIE Review: Close, But No Cigar
By Lisa Johnson Mandell From international body building champ to cyborg to Governor of California to zombie slayer, I challenge you to find anyone who has had a weirder career trajectory than Arnold Schwarzenegger. In light of that, it would appear that putting him in the indie zombie pic Maggie would be gratuitous stunt casting, meant…
I'LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS Review: Could be a Sleeper Hit
I almost feel as if I should disqualify myself from reviewing this film because of a conflict of interest. It’s darn near impossible for me to be objective about a movie that was shot in a house I know and love, and features two dear friends. Add that to the fact that my Mom resembles…
EX MACHINA Review
By James Mandell So who inherits the Earth after us? Cockroaches? Hmmm, no opposable thumbs–problem. Likely answer: Self-sufficient AI’s. It’s an easy logic leap. We could eventually create independently thinking/learning machines, tireless super-brains that simply push us aside as antiquated evolutionary flotsam, without so much as a wink to ol’ Charlie D. Just the sort…
Open House at the Bates Motel
When you get an invite from Vera Farmiga to an Open House at the Bates Motel, the response is not a simple “yes please,” but a “HELL YESSSSS! And what should I wear and can I bring my lovely and talented husband to snap a photo or two?” This time of year, with Critics Choice…
Answers.com's Q&A With Lisa Johnson Mandell
Editor’s Note: Every now and then a publication will do a feature on me and I’m grateful for them all, but I particularly loved this one on Answers.com, because I felt it really captured the essence of what Lisa Johnson Mandell, and AtHomeInHollywood.com, are all about. They have my eternal gratitude for running this. Q&A…
WOMAN IN GOLD Review
At last, I have a decent answer when someone asks, “Have you seen any good movies lately?” Woman in Gold is the cinematic work of fine art I’ve been waiting for all year. While I was thrilled by Furious 7, debuting in theaters the same weekend, I’m not going to run out and take my mother to see it. Woman…
