Tag: Jamie Foxx

Posted in: 2000 Eyes, by Robert Horton, Film Reviews

2000 Eyes: Bait

Written by Robert Horton Leave a Comment on 2000 Eyes: Bait

[Written for Film.com]

The plot is convoluted, so stick with me. A two-bit thief, Jamie Foxx, is busted for a robbery at a seafood plant—he had a briny notion to steal shrimp and sell ’em as scampi. The guy spends half a day in a cell with a much more ambitious thief (Robert Pastorelli), who’s gotten away with 42 million bucks’ worth of government gold bars; during his heist, he betrayed a brainiac partner (Doug Hutchison). Like the feds, Hutchison would like to know where the gold is buried. But Pastorelli dies in custody, from a heart ailment.

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Posted in: by Robert Horton, Contributors, Film Reviews

Review: Robin Hood (2018)

Written by Robert Horton

The Sheriff of Nottingham is throwing a big party, and Maid Marian asks Robin Hood if he’ll be attending. She tells Robin she “got an invite” to the party, and at that point I think I mentally checked out of the new Robin Hood. It’s bad enough that people use “invite” as a noun in 2018. But unless this is a Mel Brooks version of ye olde tale, using current slang to tell the Robin Hood story qualifies as an automatic tune-out.

The saga of Robin Hood has been around for almost a thousand years, and if it can withstand Kevin Costner’s accent, it can withstand this haphazard new film. The emphasis here is on a youthful Robin, an origin story that shows us how he came to be the legendary robber. 

Continue reading at Seattle Weekly

Posted in: by Robert Horton, Contributors, Film Reviews, Musicals

Film Review: ‘Annie’

Written by Robert Horton

Cameron Diaz, Quvenzhané Wallis, and Nicolette Pierini

Musical-theater purists can be almost as fussy as Star Wars fanatics, so expect a certain amount of kvetching over the new adaptation of Annie (previously filmed in ’82). The beloved 1977 Broadway show gets a thorough reworking, with rewritten lyrics, funked-up music, and a time-shift to the present day. (The comic-inspired original was a Depression-era fable, complete with cameo by Franklin Roosevelt.) Though it’s going to get lambasted, this new Annie is actually kind of fun on its own terms, with a rapid-fire pace and actors who aren’t afraid to be silly.

The role of Annie usually goes to girls who sound as though they’ve swallowed Ethel Merman’s trumpet, but here the part is played by soft-voiced Quvenzhané Wallis, the kid from Beasts of the Southern Wild.

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Posted in: by Robert Horton, Contributors, Film Reviews, Westerns

Film Review: ‘Horrible Bosses 2’

Written by Robert Horton

Jason Bateman

Maybe the bar wasn’t set especially high, but let’s not dampen the rare, humble pleasure of declaring that a sequel is better than the original. Horrible Bosses 2 is looser and funnier than its 2011 predecessor; and if its R-rated comedy misses as often as it hits, at least the timing is there. The first film’s trio of losers—played by Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day—is now trying to go the self-employment route by creating a new bathing gadget. But their idiotic invention, the “Shower Buddy,” brings them into partnership with a corporate shark (Christoph Waltz) and his conniving son (a manic Chris Pine, from Star Trek). When the boys get screwed over, their response is to kidnap the son and hold him for ransom.

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