THE WORDS (PG-13) -CBS Films
RUSS
“The Words” is a Hollywood melodrama that never quite lives up to its promise. Bradley Cooper plays a wannabe novelist who stumbles upon a great manuscript and passes it off as his own.
SHAWN
Bradley Cooper’s character isn’t the only guilty party. Much of “The Words” has been stolen from other movies. Call it cinematic plagiarism.
RUSS
The story-within-a-story-within-a-story structure gets a bit awkward and the characters’ motives are muddled. A good cast and handsome production values help a lot, but really there’s not much between the lines of “The Words.”
SHAWN
It is pretty empty but the cast is the saving element in this cinematic jigsaw puzzle that’s missing a few key pieces. Needed a bit more romance and a bit more tension. Plays a little too soft. More drama! More drama! More drama!
But Zoe will you marry me?
RUSS: 3 Popcorn Bags
SHAWN: 2 Popcorn Bags
BACHELORETTE (R) -Radius – TWC
RUSS
Take “Bridesmaids,” turn all of the characters into utterly obnoxious, self-centered reprobates, ratchet up the raunch factor and infantile behavior…and, hey, you’ve got “Bachlorette.” Kristin Dunst, Isla Fisher and Lizzy Caplan star as bridesmaids who raise hell the night before a friend’s Manhattan wedding.
SHAWN
This trashy movie is nothing more than white chicks behaving badly and it ain’t the Wayans Brothers pretending. This gutteresque movie is completely uninspiring and unfocused.
RUSS
Heaven only knows why, but this ugly and off-putting flick reached #1 on iTunes video on demand platform. Sad.
SHAWN
It’s called marketing dude. And poor Kristin Dunst. Sometimes watching a movie can be punishment.
RUSS: 1 Popcorn Bag
SHAWN: 0 Popcorn Bags
MODELS (Not rated) – Black Armor/Peculiar Films/Millennium Images
RUSS
This locally produced faith-based feature is about the trials of teenage girls. It’s heart is squarely in the right place and the cast is likable, but a low budget, overly talky script and lack of story momentum work against it.
SHAWN
Not gonna hate cause they had a low budget. That’s why this movie is screening at the Kansas City Urban Film Festival this weekend at Screenland Crossroads and KC Black Expo at Bartle Hall. Loved the message. The acting was inspired. But yes talky. And an unmotivated story. But a fun watch.
RUSS: 2 Popcorn Bags
SHAWN: 3 Popcorn Bags
COSMOPOLIS (R) -Entertainment One
RUSS Robert Pattinson and Juliette Binoche star in David Cronenberg’s “Cosmopolis,” an oddball sci-fi social commentary based on a 2003 novel by Don DeLillo about an unusual day in the life of a billionaire asset manager. Pattinson plays the 28-year-old Wall Street titan who goes on a long and bizarre cross-city limo drive to get a haircut.
None of the characters are realistic and they speak in dialogue that’s meant to serve as DeLillo’s commentary on financial disparity and the vacuous, meaningless lives of some of the “one-percenters.” The chatter is endless and a good cast can’t keep boredom at bay. This is the sort of thing that work better on the page than on the screen.
RUSS: 2 Popcorn Bags
Also opening this week, “The Cold Light of Day” is an action adventure movie about kidnapping and international intrigue. Henry Cavill and Bruce Willis star.
