Fred Topel Instant Family opens the weekend before Thanksgiving, in time for families to see it together. Based on co-writer and director Sean Anders’ experience adopting foster children, the comedy is a tribute to the laughs and hardships of the system. Pete (Mark Wahlberg) and Ellie (Rose Byrne) decide to adopt instead of having kids. In real
Rose Byrne has played mothers in comedies and horror films, from Neighbors and Adult Beginners to the Insidious films. In Instant Family, she plays a foster mom jumping in the deep end with three kids. Ellie (Byrne) and Pete (Mark Wahlberg) decide to adopt a foster child, but they hit it off with a teenager,
Too many family movies dismiss the challenges of parenthood and childhood with some feel good ending. Instant Family makes no bones that any happiness is going to come with challenges that won’t go away at the end of the movie, and it’s stronger for it. Pete (Mark Wahlberg) and Ellie (Rose Byrne) decide to adopt
I remember the Gary Hart affair. Hart and Donna Rice were on the news and SNL mocked him. If only 10-year-old Fred had a movie like The Front Runner to make him more informed. For one, I never knew what Hart’s policies were which is telling. I was only 10 but the affair was blasted
When you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself. Kristen Ruhlin wanted a great role to play, so she wrote one for herself in Welcome to Mercy. Welcome to Mercy played at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival and now opens November 2 in theaters from IFC Midnight. Ruhlin plays Madaline,a woman who
I’ve only seen the original Suspiria by Dario Argento once, so I’m a bad horror fan. Therefore, I don’t have any attachment to it and the remake is fine, but it’s way too long. Adding 45 minutes to the adaptation doesn’t improve it, especially in the protracted epilogue. The most egregious addition is a Holocaust
I’m happy to report that this is not Bohemian Crapsody. I also thank Dexter Fletcher for this movie. Bohemian Rhapsody would never have been completed without him. Even if Bryan Singer had returned to the production, they could not have waited to assess his ability to finish filming. The only way to keep the actors
Rose McIver first graced American television sets in episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. More recently she’s been on Master of Sex, Once Upon a Time and the lead of iZombie. McIver got on the phone from the set of iZombie’s final season in Vancouver to talk about her new movie,
I have to say, I never got sucked into identifying with criminals like Henry Hill and Tony Montana. I knew drugs and murder were bad so as entertaining as their stories were, I never felt bad for them when it came crashing down. Lee Israel at her worst only defrauded some pretentious art collectors so
Requiem for a Dream and Trainspotting captured the physical experience of being a drug addict. Beautiful Boy is about the emotional experience, and it’s not just the addict. It’s his family too. Journalist David Sheff (Steve Carell) tries to get his son Nic (Timothee Chalamet) help for his crystal meth addiction. David and his wife