Approved for Adoption (now on video)

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

It's sad when a once-worthy narrative gambit wears itself out. Remember once upon a time when the found-footage gimmick seemed so fresh and exciting? It's so overdone now that I can't imagine THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT getting booked today at the Cleveland International Film Festival, let alone its historic Sundance slot.

Once upon a time a film was considered brave to reference 9/11; nobody much notices now. Maybe if someone makes the first September 11th balls-out comedy (WORLD TRADE CENTER CRASHERS, anyone?), and even then...who cares?

I'd like to ascribe this jaded, South Park/Omigod everything is crap! attitude to our present-day, dumbed-down society and attention spans, but I'm pretty sure the syndrome is as old as the movies themselves. I'm told it took just a few years for audiences of the silent era to lose their enthusiasm for recorded sound and talkies.

Rio 2

Review by Pete Roche

RIO ended with a triumphant musical number at the titular Brazlian city’s annual Carnival.  RIO 2 commences with a similarly bombastic New Year’s Eve celebration, during which director Carlos Saldanha (ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN) reintroduces us to the first film’s amusing animal ensemble. 

Former pet bird Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) has been successfully reintroduced into the wild and has learned to fly.  He and soul-made Jewel (Anne Hathaway) now live atop a sunny sanctuary with their three kids, who between them display all the quirks of your typical teenager:  chubby Carla (Rachel Chow) is musically-inclined daughter with an attitude; brainy Bia (Amandla Stenberg) is a petite Jewel clone; and free-spirited son Tiago (Pierce Gagnon) is a goofy miniature version of his dad.

The Nut Job

Review by Pete Roche

I’m one of those people who always hated working in groups in classrooms and at the office.  Even in grad school I found myself surrounded by lazy ne’er-do-wells who wouldn’t carry their weight, but would happily take co-credit for my labor.  I still prefer autonomy.  But even mavericks and lone wolves need a helping hand (or paw) every once in a while.  Sometimes we might have to spread the wealth or forgo credit entirely in order to benefit greater numbers or even just to keep our own moral compasses aligned.

A disenfranchised squirrel learns this hard the hard way in Toonbox Entertainment’s THE NUT JOB, whose title alludes to the rogue protagonist’s mental state as well as the similarly complicated heists perpetrated in crime movies THE ITALIAN JOB and THE BANK JOB.