EXCLUSIVE BLOG: Jesse Csincsak Calls Bachelorette Ashley 'A Great Catch'
Posted on May 24, 2011 @ 02:03PM - Add a comment
Radar's resident "Love Guru" -- professional snowboarder and TV personality Jesse Csincsak -- is once again exclusively blogging for RadarOnline.com about the show that turned him into a household name, The Bachelorette!
DVD Review: Edge of Darkness
Posted on May 11, 2010 @ 12:05PM - Add a comment
In real life, Mel Gibson has his foibles, from driving under the influence to infidelity. But in Edge of Darkness, he’s all good-guy, battling the baddies who kill his daughter and letting his morality -- and bullets -- do the talking.It’s a good thing that Gibson’s grief-stricken looks and tough-guy posturing get more screen-time than his dialogue.
Once he and the other characters start wielding fake Boston accents and incredibly cliched lines, the gory action is better than words. As detective Thomas Craven, Gibson handles his vendetta well and seems wholly believable as a bereaved dad out for revenge. The further he digs into the mystery of Emma’s (Bojana Novakovic) murder and he finds out how little he really knew about her., the more dangerous things get. Soon, he’s neck-deep in a web of secrets that involve corporate power, a cover-up and government collusion with a wimpy senator who likes to wear track suits in his free time. What’s mostly unbelievable is just how long Craven is able to stay alive -- generously, at least 25 minutes past his expiration as a viable character.
As the body count piles up, the detective is like a real-life Terminator, scaring all the evil guys in suits who evidently have no backbones (or brains), but dodging everyone like a pro. They know where he lives, where he works and even what he eats for lunch (a big hamburger, at one point). Still, Craven keeps on chugging along, peeling back the layers of secrets and lies until he’s got nothing left to lose and he’s simply a deranged, armed man in a trench coat.
Amid the carnage and tears Edge of Darkness does try to have a little fun. One of the movie’s most enjoyable -- if not mostly useless -- components is the arrival of Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), who, like Madonna, goes by one name and has a lot of power. Unlike the svelte pop star, Jed’s a portly guy with a Cockney accent who likes his booze. He has no apparent function except to show up on benches for covert meetings over, say, a glass of red wine. While Jed seems to be working for the evil suits, he and Craven do some male bonding and exchange heavy-handed quips about having no one to bury them, given that Emma’s dead and Jed’s a loner. These brief tete-a-tetes serve no real function, except to keep Jed’s alliances loose and air out deep thoughts along the Charles River. As Jed drinks, Craven threatens and the suits make evil plans, the remaining cringe-worthy motif is the repeated appearance of the un-dead Emma. Gibson holds his own as a man in mourning, and yet the film relies on countless flash-backs (with video recorder time code, just in case we don’t get it) and softly lit memories of little-girl Emma at the beach and pretending to shave.
Even worse is when Craven talks to himself -- or rather, to his deceased daughter. What’s meant to be touching seems so outlandish that when he later unravels, it’s not so shocking that there’s drool in the corner of his mouth. Somehow, despite the numerous flaws and poor pacing, the film manages to entertain. Edge of Darkness is no Braveheart, or even any one of the Lethal Weapons. Still, Gibson is in fine form, shooting, mourning and even drooling like a pro, no matter what might be going on off-camera.
The Loews Hotel - Santa Monica
Posted on Mar 31, 2010 @ 02:54PM - Add a comment
Check out the Lowes Hotel in Santa Monica
REVIEW: Couples Retreat
Posted on Oct 09, 2009 @ 08:31AM - Add a comment
If fixing relationships was as easy as flying to the tropics, facing adversity and washing it down with a yummy, fruity cocktail, couples could weather anything.
Sadly, real life isn’t anything like the intermittently comical, easy paradise of Couples Retreat. The adventures kick off when the uptight Cynthia (Kristen Bell) and Jason (Jason Bateman) admit that they’re on the brink of divorce, and convince three other couples to join them on a holiday to save their marriage. Only a group rate will allow them to go, so with some guilt-tripping and promises of jet-skis and sunshine, it’s off to “Eden” -- aka The Most Boring Place on Earth.
Watch Couples Retreat Movie Trailer
There, the couples are inexplicably forced to follow the island’s treatment program, which includes sunrise meetings with guru Marcel (Jean Reno), therapy sessions (the dress code evokes Star Trek, if Kirk and Uhura were sushi chefs) and wacky group exercises that involve everything from dropping trou to sexy-time yoga. Instead of fun in the sun, the vacation becomes a new-age Guantanamo where everyone’s problems bubble up, and all four couples -- including our doomed, pinched-face pair -- unravel amid the palm trees.
Despite the exotic setting, Couples Retreat takes aim at the most basic issues we face once we’ve traded party-hopping for trips to Home Depot: growing apart, bedroom boredom, conception struggles and balancing domestic duties with romantic urges. In the hands of stars like Faizon Love (Shane), Malin Akerman (Ronnie) and Vince Vaughn (Dave), each couple’s troubles are relatable and, mostly, funny. When Cynthia and Jason queue up a powerpoint preso to explain their marriage problems -- and graphically quantify the potential effects of divorce -- you don’t have to be a white-collar veteran to crack up. Up-and-comer Kali Hawk (Trudy), meanwhile, is like an energy elixir, perking up scenes that sag beneath heavy-handed antics.
Yet, as Dave repeats throughout the movie, relationships take work. Some of them have fault lines so deep that not even island rum and one-liners can fill the cracks. Lucy (Kristin Davis) and Joey (Jon Favreau, who also co-wrote the film), for example, seethe with the kind of latent anger and suffer battle wounds so fresh that, despite incredible delivery of tight banter, broad comedy can’t quite support them. While Couples Retreat strives to guide us from tenderness to hilarity and back, the characters take on a sit-commy, wooden feel so that, by movie’s end, home-wrecking in paradise doesn’t seem so bad.
Island life, however, isn’t all gloom and doom: Couples Retreat is, to borrow from the film, like an accessible Sandals resort, versus a Club Med’s richer offerings. Vaughn, who also co-wrote and produced the movie, serves as its keel on unpredictable seas, righting the ship with subtlety and timing that are at times genius. The way he pokes fun at all-too-familiar, trying situations allows us to laugh at ourselves, even if Mai Tais and white sand can’t solve everything.
Hot Movie Pick for this Weekend!
Posted on Mar 20, 2009 @ 04:00PM - Add a comment
MAN BOOBS
There’s a lot for guys to like about the bromantic comedy I Love You, Man. The best jokes revolve around farting, projectile vomit, a pooping dog, banana hammocks and the ultimate symbol of masculinity -- Lou Ferrigno. And, of course, the title is taken from a classic Bud Light commercial. But unlike the beer ad, which won a CLIO award way back in 1995, there’s not much new here. I Love You, Man is really just another copy-cat sprung from the Judd Apatow school of filmmaking -- let’s call them Dick Flicks -- which promote male bonding and at least one character’s refusal to mature/commit/shave.
