Crisp Criticism - "Mr Peabody & Sherman", "Need for Speed", "The Single Moms Club", "Veronica Mars"

by

Julien Faddoul

Mr Peabody & Sherman   **

A genius talking dog and his adoptive human son go back in time to fix history when their time machine is stolen.

Smart, droll children’s film based on the 60s cartoon interstitials. It has a plot peppered with sentimentality that bogs it down, but otherwise it is a joy all the way.

d – Rob Minkoff

w – Craig Wright   (Based on the Characters Created by Ted Key)

pd – David James

m – Danny Elfman

ed – Michael Andrews

p – Alex Schwartz, Denise Nolan Cascino

Cast: Ty Burrell, Max Charles, Ariel Winter, Stephen Colbert, Leslie Mann, Stanley Tucci, Patrick Warburton, Allison Janney, Stephen Tobolowsky, Dennis Haysbert

Need for Speed

A street-racer, wrongfully imprisoned, joins a New York to Los Angeles race to get revenge.

A film that exists for the execution of car stunts, some of which are brilliant but are rendered redundant because everything else is so slackly handled, stealing from all walks of racecar movies – from The Fast and the Furious to Smokey and the Bandit.

d – Scott Waugh

w – George Gatins, John Gatins

ph – Shane Hurlbut

pd – Jon Hutman

m – Nathan Furst

ed – Paul Rubell, Scott Waugh

cos – Ellen Mironjnick

p – John Gatins, Patrick O’Brien, Mark Sourian

Cast: Aaron Paul, Dominic Cooper, Imogen Poots, Scott Mescudi, Michael Keaton, Rami Malek, Ramon Rodriguez, Harrison Gilbertson, Dakota Johnson

The Single Moms Club

Five struggling moms form a support group.

Another hackneyed, illogical piece of garbage from its maker; it’s not even bad enough to be interesting.

wd – Tyler Perry

ph – Alexander Grusynski

pd – Eloise Crane, Stammerjohn

m – Christopher Young

ed – Maysie Hoy

cos – Johnetta Boone

p – Ozzie Areu, Matt Moore, Tyler Perry

Cast: Nia Long, Wendi McLendon-Covey, McLendon-Covey, Amy Smart, Zulay Henao, Cocoa Brown, Ryan Eggold, Tyler Perry, William Levy, Terry Crews

Veronica Mars

Years after walking away from her past as a teenage private eye, Veronica Mars gets pulled back to her hometown in order to help her old flame.

A curiosity: a film based on a cancelled but cult television series that has been dominated by the story behind it’s making (the money for the film was provided by the public via Kickstarter). As a piece of cinema, it is of little interest to anyone other than fans of the show.

d – Rob Thomas

w – Rob Thomas, Diane Ruggiero   (Based on the Characters Created by Rob Thomas)

ph – Ben Kutchins

pd – Jeff Schoen 

m – Josh Kramon

ed – Daniel Gabbe

cos – Genevieve Tyrrell

p – Dan Etheridge, Danielle Stokdyk, Rob Thomas

Cast: Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring, Krysten Ritter, Ryan Hansen, Francis Capra, Percy Daggs III, Chris Lowell, Tina Majorino, Enrico Colantoni