http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/index.html http://media.miamiherald.com/images/logos/rss_sitelogo.gif http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/index.html 140 25 News, sports and entertainment from MiamiHerald.com en-us Copyright 2009 MiamiHerald.com Rene Rodriguez 60 Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:41:55 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's PubSys miamifeedback@miamiherald.com http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/837282.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/837282.html Sun, 04 Jan 2009 14:22 EST BIG SCREEN Last Chance Harvey (PG-13) -- Dustin Hoffman is a lifelong loser who meets a kindred spirit (Emma Thompson) at an airport bar. But can two zeros add up to anything? http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/833128.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/833128.html Fri, 02 Jan 2009 03:01 EST Here is one last, irreverent look back at the movies of 2008. Best villain: Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight. R.I.P. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/833127.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/833127.html Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:01 EST A strange thing has happened to Revolutionary Road on its way to the screen: All the heat and passion of Richard Yates' esteemed 1961 novel, about a disintegrating marriage in 1955 Connecticut, have seeped out of the material. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/827239.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/827239.html Mon, 29 Dec 2008 03:01 EST In 2008, VHS finally died for good, DVD sales flattened and Sony's Blu-ray format bested Toshiba's rival HD-DVD in the war for the next-generation high-definition media. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/826959.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/826959.html Sun, 28 Dec 2008 03:01 EST BIG SCREEN Revolutionary Road (R): Titanic co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet reunite for the story of another sinking ship, this one a marriage. Sam (American Beauty) Mendes directs this adaptation of Richard Yates' novel about a young couple's marital woes in 1950s Connecticut. The acting is strong, particularly Winslet. But the film fails to distinguish itself from countless other dramas about troubled marriages. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/824537.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/824537.html Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:01 EST With The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, director David Fincher sets aside the darkness and violence of Seven, Fight Club and Zodiac -- the recurring themes that had earned him the mantle of Hollywood's reigning Prince of Darkness -- and tries his hand at an emotional epic. This is a long, impeccably detailed, richly textured movie about a most unusual life, and although it's far from perfect, the sum of it achieves what Fincher set out to do in the first place: Make you blubber like a 6-year-old... http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/824513.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/824513.html Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:01 EST Walt Kowalski, the protagonist of Gran Torino, should be an impossible man to like. A racist, judgmental, foul-tempered loner and recent widower, Walt seems to hate everything about the world (and everyone in it) except for his aging Labrador, his beloved Pabst Blue Ribbon and the mint-condition 1972 Gran Torino parked in his driveway. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/823969.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/823969.html Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:01 EST People with even the most cursory knowledge of World War II are likely to know that Adolf Hitler was not assassinated by a secret squad of dissenters from within the Nazi ranks. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/819778.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/819778.html Sun, 21 Dec 2008 03:01 EST As Gran Torino opens, Korean War veteran Walt Kowalski (played by Clint Eastwood) has just buried his wife -- and with her, his remaining interest in the world around him. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/819836.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/819836.html Sun, 21 Dec 2008 03:01 EST At the movies, 2008 was a period of transition -- a year when popcorn movies proved they could attain the level of art and when new and established filmmakers took daring, if not always successful, chances. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/819773.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/819773.html Sun, 21 Dec 2008 03:01 EST BIG SCREEN Marley & Me (PG-13) -- Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston star in director David Frankel's shot-in-South-Florida adaptation of John Grogan's bestseller about with the world's worst-behaved Labrador retriever. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/817638.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/817638.html Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:01 EST The makers of Seven Pounds have struggled mightily to keep the particulars of their movie from leaking in order to preserve the story's surprises. One thing is evident, though, from the opening scene: This is not a comedy. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/817630.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/817630.html Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:01 EST There's a lot more going on in Yes Man than just another Jim Carrey high-concept comedy a la Liar, Liar. Yes, the film's central conceit allows Carrey plenty of opportunity for his manic, rubber-faced antics -- including one memorably hilarious riff on the effects of drinking too much Red Bull. He plays Carl, a depressed bank loan officer who rarely leaves his apartment and decides to turn his life around after attending a self-help seminar by saying yes to every request, invitation or suggestion... http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/819059.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/819059.html Fri, 19 Dec 2008 03:01 EST The Florida Film Critics Circle, which comprises critics and writers from throughout the state (including The Miami Herald's Rene Rodriguez and Connie Ogle), has named Slumdog Millionaire as the best picture of 2008. The movie also won Best Director for Danny Boyle and Best Screenplay for Simon Beaufoy. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/817636.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/817636.html Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:01 EST The mission of Overbrook Entertainment, the production and management company co-owned by Will Smith, is simple: ''the creation of extraordinary entertainment art delivered to all people of the world.'' So whenever Smith, the most popular movie star in the world, is considering a new project, one of the conditions is that the picture meet the standards set by that guiding principle. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/811963.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/811963.html Mon, 15 Dec 2008 03:01 EST The biggest perk in watching Mamma Mia! The Movie on home video (Universal, $30 one-disc DVD, $35 two-disc DVD, $40 Blu-ray) is the fast-forward button on your remote control, which will rarely have seemed handier. Now you don't have to endure the film's dialogue passages, in which lots of famous actors pretend (badly) to be excited and giddy in order to get to the reason why the movie exists, which is the music. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/810312.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/810312.html Sun, 14 Dec 2008 03:01 EST BIG SCREEN Seven Pounds (PG-13) -- Will Smith puts aside the superheroes and special effects for this melancholy -- OK, make that seriously heavy -- drama about an IRS agent driven to change the lives of seven strangers (including Rosario Dawson and Woody Harrelson). Directed by Gabriele Muccino (The Pursuit of Happyness). http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/808250.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/808250.html Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:01 EST The annals of film history are filled with movies about tragic, hardscrabble childhoods. But few have been as hellish -- and as wondrous -- as the one survived by Jamal, the hero of Slumdog Millionaire. Born in impoverished Mumbai and orphaned at the age of 7, the now-18-year-old Jamal (Dev Patel) is one question away from winning 20 million rupees on India's version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/808259.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/808259.html Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:01 EST Watching Frost/Nixon, I could see why the original Broadway play become such a sensation and its stars were so highly lauded. What I still don't see is the reason anyone thought it needed to be turned into a movie. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/808235.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/808235.html Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:01 EST When the alien Klaatu stepped off his spaceship the first time, in 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still, he had come to warn us that man's constant warring against itself had become a threat to other civilizations and we had better stop it -- or else. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/800901.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/800901.html Sun, 07 Dec 2008 03:01 EST BIG SCREEN The Day the Earth Stood Still (PG-13) -- Finally, someone has seized on Keanu Reeves' spacey screen persona and cast him as an alien. Reeves stars in this remake of the 1951 classic as the extra-terrestrial Klaatu, who steps out of a spaceship and warns mankind its days are numbered. Jennifer Connelly co-stars for director Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose). http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/798398.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/798398.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 03:01 EST Heartwarming is the operative word in Breakfast with Scot, a crowd-pleasing comedy that makes up for its formulaic, sitcom-ready premise with likable performances and an inviting sense of humor. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/791302.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/791302.html Sun, 30 Nov 2008 03:01 EST BIG SCREEN Cadillac Records (PG-13) -- Beyonce Knowles, Mos Def and Cedric the Entertainer are among the contemporary stars playing the legendary musical artists (including Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry and Etta James) who formed the stable of the 1950s label Chess Records. Directed by Darnell Martin (I Like It Like That). http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/786994.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/786994.html Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:01 EST San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk was the first openly gay politician elected to public office in the United States, so it's fitting that the long-in-the-works movie based on his life, Milk, has been directed by an openly gay filmmaker, Gus Van Sant, who doesn't spend much time wringing his hands about depicting homosexuality onscreen. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/786992.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/786992.html Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:01 EST In Milk, Gus Van Sant makes extensive use of newsreel footage (some of it provided by Miami's own Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives) in order to depict the battle that raged across the United States in the 1970s between gay-rights groups and anti-gay organizations such as Save Our Children, which sought to repeal ordinances that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/786990.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/786990.html Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:01 EST Australia is being marketed as the kind of old-fashioned romantic epic Hollywood rarely makes anymore, and after you've sat through it, you'll be thankful they don't. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/787001.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/787001.html Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:01 EST The most inspired thing about Four Christmases is the casting of Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon as Brad and Kate, a happily unmarried couple who are in love and live together, but have no plans to ever tie the knot or raise a family. Vaughn and Witherspoon bring dramatically different approaches to comedy, but playing opposite each other, they find a suitable medium between his lampshade-on-the-head stylings and her subtler, reactionary brand of humor. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/782012.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/782012.html Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:01 EST BIG SCREEN Australia (PG-13) -- Director Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge) barely finished his epic drama about the wartime romance between a dainty aristocrat (Nicole Kidman) and a rough-and-tumble cattle herder (Hugh Jackman) in time to meet its release date. The 10-minute reel of footage distributor 20th Century Fox recently screened used snippets of music from Gone With the Wind, so you know Luhrmann is aiming for an Epic, capital E and all. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/779631.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/779631.html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:01 EST As if turkey recipes, Black Friday bargain hunting and year-end vacations weren't enough, here's something else to work into your busy schedule: The holiday film avalanche is upon us. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/779629.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/779629.html Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:01 EST When filmmaker David Frankel showed a rough cut of his film The Devil Wears Prada to his boss, Fox 2000 Pictures president Elizabeth Gabler, she was so pleased that she handed him a copy of another best-selling book to adapt into a movie: Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/779647.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/779647.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:01 EST There are two sorts of modern-day Disney cartoons: The ones made by Pixar and everything else. Bolt, the studio's newest release, has traces of Pixar-ish humor and characterizations: The cast of talking animals includes a hamster named Rhino (voiced by Mark Walton) personable enough to have landed a job in Ratatouille's kitchen. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/779641.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/779641.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:01 EST There are certain times in life when hearing the words ''You can tell me everything; you can talk to me'' is the greatest gift a person can receive. Juliette, the protagonist of I've Loved You So Long, is in the midst of a period of withdrawal, silence and great, unnamed inner torment. In a way, the entire movie is one long, expectant wait until Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas) reaches the point at which she can build the courage to stop wielding her unspoken pain as a shield against the world... http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/771315.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/771315.html Sun, 16 Nov 2008 03:01 EST BIG SCREEN Twilight (PG-13) -- The wait is finally over for the legions of fans who have been anticipating director Catherine (Thirteen) Hardwicke's adaptation of the first book in Stephenie Meyer's series of novels about a teenage girl (Kristen Stewart) in love with a vampire (Robert Pattinson). Sort of like Wuthering Heights, with fangs. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/768588.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/768588.html Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:01 EST Quantum of Solace is the first James Bond picture that technically can be labeled a sequel -- and it feels like one, too. The plot of the 22nd 007 adventure picks up directly where the previous one left off, with Bond (Daniel Craig) looking to avenge the death of his beloved Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), who was killed at the end of Casino Royale. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/768585.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/768585.html Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:01 EST For its first 20 or so minutes, Synecdoche, New York, the directorial debut of the Oscar-winning, mind-bending screenwriter Charlie Kaufman appears to be a meditation on death. We first meet its protagonist, theater director Caden Cotard (Philip Seymour Hoffman), while he's lying in bed listening to a radio talk show host prattle on about how the arrival of fall announces the beginning of the death of everything that bloomed in the spring. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/763876.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/763876.html Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:01 EST The Dark Knight may have ruled the box office this summer, but for sheer imagination and adventurousness, no comic-book adaptation could top Hellboy II: The Golden Army (Universal Home Entertainment, $30 single-disc DVD, $35 three-disc DVD, $40 Blu-ray). Writer-director Guillermo Del Toro's follow-up to 2004's Hellboy makes the first movie feel like a trailer. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/761377.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/761377.html Sun, 09 Nov 2008 03:01 EST SMALL SCREEN Dirty Money: The Business Of High-End Prostitution (10 p.m. Sunday, CNBC) -- The world's oldest profession is also one of the most lucrative, at least for one segment of the market. This documentary focuses on ''escorts'' -- women who make a staggering $12,000 to $100,000 a day. Which is even more than TV critics, and they don't even have to watch things like . . . http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/758869.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/758869.html Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:01 EST At this weekend's 2008 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, practically every movie being screened between Friday and Tuesday's closing night festivities will be accompanied by a famous face. Jane Lynch, who also stars in the Hollywood comedy Role Models, will attend Friday's screening of I Do & I Don't, followed by Superman Returns' Brandon Routh, who is coming to support his film Fling. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/761372.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/761372.html Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:01 EST When Casino Royale opened in theaters around the world in November 2006, producer Barbara Broccoli -- daughter of original James Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli and keeper of the 007 movie flame -- was a little nervous. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/758880.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/columnists/rene-rodriguez/story/758880.html Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:01 EST Role Models proves that a drab and formulaic Hollywood studio comedy can still make you laugh hard enough to choke on your popcorn. The casting is the key to the success of this absolutely hilarious crowd-pleaser, which is a spiritual throwback to the 1980s comedies that made Eddie Murphy a superstar by combining a simple premise with loads of ingeniously used four-letter words.