‘Fatman’ Film Review: Mel Gibson Is a Grizzled Santa in a Messy Genre Mash-Up

Joe Leydon Film CriticMore than two years after filming wrapped, “Superintelligence” the latest joint effort of Melissa McCarthy and her director husband Ben Falcone, has finally popped up on a streaming platform — specifically, HBO Max — which arguably is the natural habitat for a lightweight, undemandingly engaging comedy that can be enjoyed either entirely in one sitting, or sporadically in bite-sized chunks.

Fully identified with a preteen heroine facing challenges that have no good solutions, Van Maximilian Carlson's Princess of the Row views even the harshest realities of homelessness through the eyes of someone who stubbornly believes in happy endings. Sentimental at times but not as cloying as its title may suggest, the polished production benefits from the happily un-cute lead performance of young star Tayler Buck, whose determination suits the weighty social issues driving the plot.

Watch Video: Melissa McCarthy Apologizes as HBO Max Nixes Donation to Group With Anti-LGBT History: 'We Blew It'Carol (McCarthy), our protagonist, does want to good in the world; since stepping down from her exec position at Yahoo, she’s spent most of her time working for environmental and pet-rescue non-profits.

You can't say that Buddy Games doesn't immediately let you know what you're in for. Within the first few minutes, we see a man's testicles being ripped to shreds by a paintball burst.

Also Read: See Johnny Flynn as David Bowie in First Look at Unauthorized Biopic 'Stardust'For better and for worse, “Stardust” grapples with those issues as it follows a 24-year-old Bowie on a promotional tour through the United States in 1971, accompanied by a long-suffering Mercury Records publicist named Ron Oberman.Johnny Flynn plays Bowie, Marc Maron plays Oberman, and the point of director and cowriter Gabriel Range’s film is to trace the seeds of Bowie’s breakthrough character, Ziggy

Watch Video: Alan Ball Found His 'Inner Tennessee Williams' to Write 'Uncle Frank'Except he doesn’t: Crashing a party at his apartment one night, Beth learns that Frank is gay, and his partner of ten years is Walid (Peter Macdissi, “Here and Now”). She’s barely begun to process all this new information when Frank gets a call that his father, and Beth’s grandfather, Daddy Mac (Stephen Root) has died.

Soft-hearted, middle-of-the-road comedies — that is the brand Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone have established in their three previous films together. With McCarthy as star and sometimes co-writer, and Falcone as director and writer, the real-life married couple have turned out the innocuous, mildly funny Life of the Party (2018), The Boss (2016) and Tammy (2014).

Netflix's mission to conquer the already oversaturated holiday movie marketplace continues with this sequel to its 2018 hit starring Kurt Russell as a very hip Santa Claus. With Chris Columbus in the director's chair (he produced the earlier film) and Goldie Hawn bumped up from a cameo to a co-starring role as Mrs.

It sounds fun on paper —sort of: The kitchen staff of a high-level California restaurant was to be whisked off to France, where they'd bring their chef's vision to restaurants in three different picturesque locales, pairing his food on each occasion with that of a locally revered restaurateur.

Streaming takes another away from theaters, as the pandemic forces yet another film to skip the big screen and take a streaming paycheck. This time, it’s the long-awaited “Boss Level” action film from Joe Carnahan.

Also Read: 'Showbiz Kids' Movie Review: Child Stars Tell Troubled Tales in Sobering DocumentaryWhile many members of Zappa’s family and his band are on hand to reminisce about the famously driven, often cantankerous and always demanding musician and composer, much of the story is told through materials from the Zappa’s personal archives, to which Winter had access.

It's been seven years since DreamWorks spliced the DNA of the Ice Age franchise with The Flintstones and gave us The Croods, an amiable adventure whose vibrant 3D visuals and zippy slapstick action helped disguise the lack of smart humor in its storytelling. You might be forgiven for wondering who asked for a sequel to a film that didn't fossilize much of an impression in the animated landscape.

The sixth time around the paddock is decidedly not the charm for the latest live-action feature incarnation of Black Beauty, based on the enduring Anna Sewell-penned equine adventure.

Not to take anything away from filmmaker Dana Nachman, but her new documentary certainly benefits from the timing of its release. The film focuses on the 107-year-old Operation Santa program run by the U.S.

A movie made for young men whose parents or girlfriends have insisted they put down their gaming consoles for one goddamn night or it's over, Dimitri Logothetis' Jiu Jitsu has all the barely-motivated action and sci-fi trappings of a middling videogame and, well, at least a little of the dramatic value. Reteaming with Alain Moussi, star of his previous film Kickboxer: Retaliation, Logothetis finds nearly none of that film's tongue-in-cheek, pulpy appeal (modest though it was).

Mel Gibson has a surprise for fans, another “Lethal Weapon” is happening.

Turkish origins to the Icelandic legend of the Yule Cat (Jólakötturinn, who goes by “Jola” for short here) to the Star of Bethlehem itself.Watch Video: Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn Say Christmas Is 'Doomed' Forever in 'The Christmas Chronicles 2' TrailerAlso part of the holiday’s history is Belsnickel, one of Santa’s gift-giving antecedents, but in “Christmas Chronicles 2,” Belsnickel (Julian Dennison, “Deadpool 2”) is Santa’s former right-hand elf, so embittered by the big man’s devotion to

Amanda N'Duka pmc-editorial-managerEXCLUSIVE: Actress Kate Katzman has been cast in Panama, joining Cole Hauser and Mel Gibson in the action thriller, which is being directed by Mark Neveldine (Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance).Set to being shooting next month in Puerto Rico, the pic follows an ex-marine who is tasked to go undercover to complete an arms deal and becomes entangled in the U.S. invasion of Panama.

The unknown story of a brilliant illustrator who survived the Spanish Civil War only to be interned in a French concentration camp, where he was beaten, tortured and starved to death for several years until he escaped and eventually made it over to Mexico, where he became the lover of Frida Kahlo, after which he moved to New York and frequented painters like Rothko and De Kooning, is definitely one worth telling.

First love sours almost imperceptibly in Make Up, the assured feature debut of Claire Oakley, in which an off-season beach destination is just quiet enough to force an 18 year-old to grapple with questions she doesn't know she needs to ask. Atmosphere plays a large role here, opening up thriller-ish possibilities without disturbing the realism of a setting where teens in the service industry earn a living and don't think much about the future.