Review: 'Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day', Starring Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner

A lot of family-friendly movies struggle with being entertaining for both the kids and the adults. Disney has usually gotten it right in the past, and does so now with the youth book-to-film adaptation Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day, a sweet family comedy anchored by Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner, and is funny, cute, and entertaining in all the right ways. 

Alexander Cooper (Ed Oxenbould) has a bad day every day. He's always down on his luck, the girl he likes doesn't give him a lot of attention, and his 12th birthday party is coming up but is going to be overshadowed by another classmate's fog-machine, energy drink bar, and

trampoline party. And out of everything, Alexander gets the most annoyed with his family, who don't seem to understand the extent of his bad days since they're apparently, according to his brother, "#blessed". 

So the night before Alexander's 12th birthday, and on a day that's supposed to bring big things for his family, he makes a wish that just once, his family would know what it's like to have a bad day like him. The next day, everything imaginable goes wrong for his family (who include Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner, Dylan Minnette, Kerris Dorsey). There is a lot of running around, fire, a driving test gone completely wrong, a book reading disaster, and a high on cold medicine rendition of Peter Pan. Somehow, the Coopers have to pull it all together in time for Alexander's birthday. 

While the title is a bit of a mouthful, the film is family-friendly fun at its best. It's even sure to please those without families, because the movie at its most basic is genuinely funny and cute. With a run time of only 81 minutes, the film gets straight to the point, but never feels rushed. The plot is simple and there's enough craziness going on, which is thankfully not at all forced or contrived just for laughs. 

Ed Oxenbould is cute as Alexander. The way he talks and acts makes you understand his frustration with his everlasting string of bad luck. Steve Carell is the silly funnyman whose streak of positivism holds up the family, and Jennifer Garner's got the "mom smile" but really shines when she's aggravated and gets frustratingly aggressive, which is hilarious. Dylan Minnette and Kerris Dorsey are great supports and flaunt a personality of their own without slinking quietly into the background. Dick van Dyke and Jennifer Coolidge make fantastic cameos and really make the movie more fun. 

It's very hard not to like this film. It's energetic, filled with silly, genuine fun, and has humorous beats that will make you smile and possibly laugh out loud. Its long title gets a shout out not once, but twice in the film, which is a major accomplishment given the fact that it's easy  to jumble up the words. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is sincerely funny and manages to have a moral to its story, while being entertaining fun for the whole family. 

Read More

First Look at Jack Black as R.L. Stine in 'Goosebumps'

Jack Black has been keeping a low profile over the last few years. He's made a couple of cameos, and does again in Sex Tape, but his last starring roles came three years ago in Bernie and The Big Year. Perhaps he's been preparing for what promises to be one of the weirdest roles of his career, playing a fictionalized version of author R.L. Stine in the Goosebumps movie.

The first images have arrived that show Black as Stine, the writer of the kid-friendly horror novels popular in the '90s and turned into a Nickelodeon TV series. The feature film will be directed by Rob Letterman, who worked with Black on Gulliver's Travels, and has the author teaming up with his daughter and a neighbor when some of his literary creations come to life. Odeya Rush, Dylan Minnette, Amy Ryan, Ryan Lee, Jillian Bell, and Ken Marino co-star.

Goosebumps hits theaters August 7th 2015. [EW]

Read More

First 'Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day' Trailer with Steve Carell

Obnoxiously long title aside, Judith Viorst's children's book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is considered a classic, which is why 20th Century Fox and Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right) were anxious to bring it to the screen. Cholodenko ultimately dropped out as director, staying on as co-writer, but Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl) picked up the reins and judging by the first trailer he's lived up to the novel's chaotic spirit.

Starring Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner, and Ed Oxenbould in the title role, the film covers one truly awful day in the life of the Brand family. Young Alexander has always had it tough while everyone else seems to get what they want, until the tables are suddenly turned and they get a taste of what he goes through. Coming off his darker-than-expected turn in The Way Way Back it's good to see Carell doing something wholesome that families will likely flock to.

Also starring Dylan Minnette, Jennifer Coolidge, Bella Thorne, Kerris Dorsey, and Megan Mullally, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day opens October 10th.

Read More

Jessica Alba Lifts 'The Veil'; Helen Mirren is 'The Golden Lady'; 'Goosebumps' Adds Dylan Minnette

* Jessica Alba and Thomas Jane will star in The Veil, a supernatural thriller with some interesting talent behind the camera. Robert Ben Garant (Night at the Museum) wrote the screenplay with Phil Joanou (Gridiron Gang) directing the story which begins "30 years ago, when members of a religious cult known as Heaven's Veil take their own lives. The truth behind what really happened remains buried deep in the memory of the sole survivor, a five-year-old girl, who returns to the compound with a documentary crew as an adult. They soon discover something that is far more terrifying than anything they could have imagined." Alba's been keeping plenty busy and has the teen assassin film Barely Lethal coming up, plus rom-com How to Make Love Like an Englishman, and Robert Rodriguez's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Jane gets it on with Shailene Woodley in White Bird in a Blizzard, and co-stars with John Cusack in Drive Hard. [THR]

* Here's one to keep an eye on as a potential Oscars favorite. Helen Mirren is in early talks to star in The Golden Lady, an art world drama directed by My Week with Marilyn's Simon Curtis. Mirren would play real life figure Maria Altmann, a Jewish refugee who mounted a successful legal campaign to reclaim priceless pieces of art stolen from her family by the Nazis.  Among these were a collection by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, which included the Portrait Of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, sold just a few years ago for $135M. [DailyMail]

* With Jack Black already confirmed to play author R.L. Stine in an adaptation of his Goosebumps series, his two young co-stars have now been found. Dylan Minnette, most recently seen in Prisoners, and Odeya Rush (The Odd Life of Timothy Green) have come aboard the film to be directed by Rob Letterman. Minnette will play "Zach Cooper, who moves with his family move from NY to to the idyllic town of Greendale, MD, where his secretive new neighbor turns out to be author R.L. Stine (Black). When the many, many demons in Stine’s mind are set free by Slappy, a demonic ventriloquist’s dummy, it’s up to Zach and Stine’s niece Hannah (Odeya Rush) to put the evil genies back in the bottle." [Deadline]

Read More