Menu

Sex Tape

Film In Theaters Movie Reviews
3440

Cameron Diaz looks especially good in Sex Tape, from all conceivable angles, but unlike some of her other recent comedy vehicles (Bad Teacher, The Other Woman) this one actually offers laughs, plus a compatible costar in Jason Segel. For a goofy, R-rated comedy the initial premise is surprisingly credible: a happily married woman writes a “mommy blog” and wistfully remembers how she and her husband used to have great sex, all the time, until parenthood took the spark (and opportunity) out of their lives. One night, with their two kids away at Grandma’s house, they try to rekindle that magic. Nothing seems to work until he proposes that they video themselves enacting every position described in Alex Comfort’s book The Joy of Sex. Unfortunately, he…

READ MORE >

I Origins

Film Movie Reviews
2667

I Origins is provocative and original, so while it may be less than perfect, it’s not a movie I would or could dismiss. Director Mike Cahill’s screenplay opens on an intriguing note, heads in unexpected directions, and meanders a bit before bringing its story full circle. Whatever its flaws, there aren’t many serious movies that deal with science and spirituality in an entertaining way, as this one does. Michael Pitt is well cast as a research scientist who is preoccupied with the individuality of people’s eyes. He photographs almost everyone he meets and keeps a running file of these close-up pictures. But when he shoots a sexy woman at a Halloween costume party and she runs off before he can learn her identity, he becomes…

READ MORE >

Transformers: Age Of Extinction

Film In Theaters
2639
Mark Wahlberg and Lockdown in TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION

Well, there’s another three hours shot to hell. Somewhere in this interminable mess there is an entertaining action movie, but it’s smothered by Michael Bay’s addiction to overlength (165 minutes, to be exact), lumbering exposition, and stupid dialogue, courtesy of screenwriter Ehren Kruger. I doubt this will bother 11-year-old boys and undemanding summer audiences, but I can’t pretend to fit into either of those categories. I remained engaged as long as I could but, at the two-hour mark, I got bored and couldn’t wait for it to be over. (I feel the same way about all the films in this series, which began on a more promising note in 2007.) When the most interesting thing in a scene is the blatant product placement (Bud Light,…

READ MORE >

Back To The Future—With Mary Pickford Looking On

Journal
2864

The Los Angeles Conservancy’s ‘Last Remaining Seats’ series—now in its 28th successful year—marked a milestone this weekend and I was there..

The Art Of Mary Blair: In Person And In Print

Journal Movie Reviews
2495

There are two outstanding exhibits in the temporary galleries at the Walt Disney Family Museum right now; one honoring master animator Marc Davis and the other paying tribute to one of Walt Disney’s favorite artists, Mary Blair.

How To Train Your Dragon 2

Film In Theaters Movie Reviews
2493

Not many films escape the sequel curse, but How to Train Your Dragon 2 is one of those happy exceptions to the rule. After a sensory-jarring opening sequence, meant (I suppose) to provide instantaneous action for young viewers weaned on video games, the movie gets down to business—and its business is spinning a good story. Now that young Hiccup is a hero, and his pet dragon Toothless has brought peace and happiness to their ramshackle Viking kingdom, new challenges are introduced: a terrifying villain named Drago (menacingly voiced by Djimon Hounsou) who seeks to overpower all dragons, and an ethereal woman named Valka (well played by the great Cate Blanchett), who has created a haven for the misunderstood creatures. Valka turns out to be Hiccup’s…

READ MORE >

22 Jump Street

Film In Theaters Movie Reviews
3044

Talk about a meta-movie: the guys behind 22 Jump Street have gotten away with murder, making an action comedy that simply (and brazenly) copies all the ingredients of 21 Jump Street. The joke, which stretches from the first scene to the last, is that both the filmmakers and the characters onscreen acknowledge the conceit. This smug self-awareness is funny for a while, but eventually wears thin—at least, it did for me (if not for the audience at the screening I attended). When a film is long and only intermittently funny I lose patience with self-referential material. Instead of infiltrating a high school, Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum go to college this time, but on an identical mission: to find the source of a powerful new…

READ MORE >

Subscribe to our newsletter

MERCH

Maltin tee on TeePublic

PODCAST

Maltin on Movies podcast

PAST MALTIN ON MOVIES PODCASTS

Past podcasts

PATREON

Maltin On Movies Patreon

APPEARANCES/BOOKING

Leonard Maltin appearances and booking

CALENDAR

April 2026
S M T W T F S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930