Colombiana, Tabloid, Our Idiot Brother Open
★★★ It could have been yet another “holy fool” story, following a beatifically smiling dunderhead as his touch opens cynical souls to true happiness. But fortunately, Ned (Paul Rudd) isn’t actually an idiot — and it’s surprisingly charming watching a fairly formulaic comedy revolve around the radical notion of fundamental decency. The narrative follows Ned, just out of jail for a well-intentioned marijuana sale, as he affects the lives of his three sisters: Miranda (Elizabeth Banks), a high-strung journalist; Liz (Emily Mortimer), an over-protective mother and housewife; and Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), a bohemian bisexual with commitment issues. Director Jesse Peretz certainly sets up some pretty easy pieces to knock down, with the sisters established as neurotic urban sophisticates who need to get over themselves and learn a lesson or three. If the film winds up endearing rather than aggravating, it’s almost exclusively thanks to Rudd’s Ned, who moves through the world on a basic level of trust and consideration. While many of Rudd’s other roles have cast him as the savvy hipster — he was on the other end of the holy fool lesson-learned experience in Dinner for Schmucks — he’s utterly winning as a guy for whom nothing matters more than other people being OK. (R) (AMC Dutch Square; Carmike 14; Regal 7; Regal Pastime; Regal Sandhill)Colombiana ★★★★ Errol Morris continues his fascination with people commonly accepted to be villains attempting to justify their vilified actions. Joyce McKinney was accused of tracking down her (maybe) fiancé Kirk Anderson to his Mormon mission in England in 1977, kidnapping him at gunpoint and forcing him to have sex — allegations McKinney still denies. Morris gives McKinney plenty of time to tell her side, and she’s undeniably fascinating with her obvious glee at the tricks she pulled off and spinning unflattering facts to preserve her take on reality. The real-life details grow so bizarre that at times it feels Tabloid is primarily about our own reaction to sex-and-craziness stories. Morris might wallow in sensationalism a bit, but Tabloid reminds us that, no matter how sophisticated we think we are, there are certain headlines that we can’t help but stop to check out.
Plot Of The Lottery - News
Jesse Eisenberg plays a pizza delivery man who is forced to rob a bank while strapped to a bomb to raise money so a couple of boozy layabouts (Danny McBride and Nick Swardson) can pay a hit man to kill one of their fathers for his lottery winnings.
It's a neat twist to make the ordinary guy a pizza-delivering slacker (Jesse Eisenberg) and the main villain (Danny McBride) a guy who wants the money to hire a killer to whack his lottery-winner dad. But something about the personalities — also
They plan to use that money to hire a hitman who will kill Dwayne's father (Fred Ward), a former Marine who won $10 million in the lottery. Dwayne and Travis select a pizza delivery guy named Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) to rob the bank, strapping a bomb to
For anyone who has not caught last week's episode, I don't want to give away plot details, but it is safe to say that bad things happen when sinister multinationals set up such camps. And have you guessed where the camp covering south Wales is?
JEFFERSON, Ohio (AP) — A winning ticket for last night's Mega Millions lottery jackpot has been sold at a gas station in northeastern Ohio. The Ohio Lottery says the ticket worth $99 million was sold in Jefferson, 10 miles from the Pennsylvania border
'Lottery Ticket' plot does not live up to potential | The Northern ...
Young man from the projects, Kevin Carson (Bow Wow, “The Family Tree”), happens to obtain the winning lottery ticket for $370 million on a Friday night. The catch? He has to wait until Monday to turn the winning ticket into the lottery claims office and his conniving neighbors find out he’s in possession of the winning ticket.
Kevin Carson has to survive his nasty neighbors, young, scantily clad women wanting to bear his children and a whole slew of other people wanting to get their hands on his new fortune the minute word gets out.
“Lottery Ticket” had promise. When trailers for this movie first came out, one could almost identify it as a more inspirational version of the 2001 comedy “Rat Race.” Like the 2001 movie, which had a relatively well-rounded cast of established comedic actors, “Lottery Ticket” boasts a cast of a few well-known actors, such as Bow Wow, Brandon T. Jackson (“Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief”), Ice Cube (“Are We There Yet?”) and Terry Crews (“The Expendables”).
Unfortunately, while the all-star casting was impressive, it didn’t do much to aid the movie. The entire plot was utterly predictable and the acting was only passable. Bow Wow’s character was, despite being a fun hero, also very one-dimensional and transparent.
There were several moments of laughter, but none kept the movie from feeling like a waste of time. The situational and racial stereotypes ran rampant in the film and were not at all humorous.
That being said, the overall plot of the movie had merit. Had the acting and screenwriting been a bit more intelligent and actually funny, the movie would have been a slam-dunk.