Review: 'Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb' starring Ben Stiller and Rebel Wilson

While silly and clearly aimed at the kiddies, the first Night at the Museum movies were smarter than they get credit for. Ben Stiller plays a security at a museum where the exhibits spring to life when night falls, giving the historical artifacts a chance to be relevant again. For kids, the message was simple: history is both important and can be fun. Nobody's going to call either film a tour de force, but they had energy to spare and a high-powered cast (remember Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart? *swoon*). The same can't be said for Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, a rehash of old gags told with half the zip and a rather depressing send-off for two comedy legends.

Ben Stiller is back as Larry, night watchman at the American Museum of Natural History. He's spent years hiding the secret of the living artifacts: Teddy Roosevelt (Robin Williams), diminutive cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson) and Roman centurion Octavius (Steve Coogan), Attila the Hun (Patrick Gallagher), and more. When the magical tablet that gives them life begins to lose power, for reasons poorly explained in a Mummy-esque prelude, Larry packs up the gang and flies off to the British Museum where the item gets its power. Along for the ride is Larry's teenaged son because if there's one thing all the madcap nonsense needs is some daddy drama.

A new environment doesn't give us new jokes, though. You've seen Larry get slapped by the Capuchin enough, and there are only so many ways Attila can grunt that are funny. Actually, that number is zero. Perhaps now is a good time to give Octavius and Jedediah their own spinoff? The biggest laughs come from their tiny escapades, including a hilarious Pompeii gag that is better than the Pompeii movie we got earlier this year. Worth an unintentional laugh is the presence of Ben Kingsley as an Egyptian pharaoh, as if we didn't just see him as a Hebrew slave in Exodus: Gods and Kings. Dude. We know you're a chameleon but you don't have to rub our faces in it. Rebel Wilson barely registers as a lonely security guard who falls in love with a caveman designed to look like Larry. She deserves better. So do we. So do the late Robin Williams and Mickey Rooney (he makes a small cameo) in their final movie roles. The script lets them down terribly, but especially Williams whose Roosevelt character is relegated to the background. He turns to wax as the tablet's power wanes. He's luckier than the audience.

'Secret of the Tomb' is beyond tedious; it feels like a slapped-together cash grab. Not even the broad strokes make much sense. For much of the film there's no real villain so the characters just run around in circles doing exactly nothing. Eventually a confused Lancelot (Dan Stevens) starts causing problems, but it's too little too late. Wasn't there an actual historical figure they could have used? Nah, that would have required too much thought. The sight of Stevens in his suit of armor will give moms something to look forward, to, but that's about it. They say those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Let's hope the lesson has been learned and Night at the Museum stays in the past where it belongs.

 Rating: 2 out of 5

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Robin Williams Returns as Teddy Roosevelt in New 'Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb' Trailer

There's a reason why a third Night at the Museum film is headed our way next month. Combined the first two comedies have made over $980M, and probably inspired a bunch of school field trips to the local museum to check out the artifacts. But what may be the biggest draw for Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb is the final chance to see the late Robin Williams on screen.

Ben Stiller is back as museum watchman Larry Daley, and this time he's bringing the gang of living artifacts across the pond. There they explore the Egyptian wing of the British Museum in hopes of finding a way to revive the magic powers of the Tablet of Akhmenrah. And this trailer features a good deal of Williams, back on his horse as President Teddy Roosevelt, one of the popular roles he'll always be remembered for.

Directed by Shawn Levy and co-starring Owen Wilson, Rebel Wilson, Steve Coogan, Dan Stevens, Rami Malek, Ben Kingsley, and Ricky Gervais, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb opens December 19th.


EXCLUSIVE - Night at the Museum Secret of the Tomb Official Trailer #2 (2014) - Robin Williams Movie by Allvideos HD

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First Trailer for 'Despicable Me' Spinoff 'Minions' Shows Minions Throughout History

When Universal debuted Despicable Me a couple of years ago they never could have expected it to be the phenomenon it turned out to be. Originally designed as a starring vehicle for Steve Carell, voicing the supervillain Gru, most popular characters to emerge were actually his little yellow sidekicks, the minions. Now you can find them everywhere: on t-shirts, as toys, in their own amusement park ride at Universal Studios, and now they've got their own movie.

Universal has revealed the first trailer for Minions, a Despicable Me spinoff that works as an origin story. Directed by Pierre Coffin and featuring the voices of Jon Hamm, Sandra Bullock, Steve Coogan, Michael Keaton, and Allison Janney, the story shows how the Minions serving evil throughout history, until finally an ambitious trio set out to find a new master. Their best prospect turns out to be Scarlet Overkill (Bullock), the world's first female supervillain.

Basically, this looks like everything fans could want from a Minions movie, and with the first two Despicable Me films grossing more than $1.5B Universal is in no hurry to change the formula. Minions opens July 10th 2015.

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Steve Coogan Leads 'Boswell for the Defence', Guy Pearce Joins 'Holding the Man'

With Steve Coogan's road trip comedy The Trip to Italy in theaters now, the actor is already moving ahead on his next film. He'll take on the title role in Boswell for the Defence, playing 18th century Scottish lawyer and author James Boswell. Gregor Jordan (Buffalo Soldiers) will direct from playwright Patrick Edgeworth's script which centers on Boswell's attempts to save convict Mary Bryant from execution.

The ever-busy Guy Pearce is joining the cast of Holding the Man in a supporting role. Directed by Neil Armfield and based on Timothy Conigrave's memoir and stageplay, the film follows the decade and a half-long relationship between a pair of Australian men. Ryan Corr, Craig Stott, Kerry Fox, and Anthony LaPaglia also star. [ScreenDaily]

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Review: 'The Trip To Italy' by Michael Winterbottom and Starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon

How would do you describe The Trip To Italy to someone who, maybe like some of you, have never seen The Trip? Well let me give it a shot. The Trip To Italy is the sophisticated and worldly man’s bromantic comedy. Much like the earlier film a lot of Judd Apatow comedies, it's about looking at male friendships through a comedic lens, only less subdued and crass overall. It’s not really sappy either because, hey people, this is British so it’s full of guarded vulnerability wrapped in quips and great impersonations. The Trip To Italy brings back together stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon with Director Michael Winterbottom as fictionalized versions of themselves again on restaurant tour, this time through Italy from Liguria to Capri following the path of the great romantic poets.

Now much like the last film there really isn’t much of a hardcore linear plot being told here. It’s mostly a film made up of improvised conversations and constant back and forth between Coogan and Brydon as they try to one-up each other. The one difference in this film than the last is a greater emphasis on them getting older and trying to come to grips with it. This time the two are lot less adversarial and open in terms of what the “characters” are feeling in terms of their lives. There is a lot of scenes here that are just them riffing on different impersonations of famous actors. They of course go back to doing the greatest Michael Caine impersonations ever done but this time instead of doing the OG Bond in Connery they decide to keep doing Roger Moore to hilarious effect as one does Caine and the other Moore in imagined interactions.

Being that The Trip To Italy is like its predecessor a BBC comedic series that was edited down from six 30-minute episodes into a roughly 2-hour film the quality of the direction feels like a BBC show. That’s not a bad thing at all there is always a very cinematic level of filmmaking in a lot of British television and you'd never know this was a TV series first unless made aware of it. The film also does a fantastic job of keeping you interested even though it's just two actors on screen either talking, eating or driving. They also have some great shots of Italy’s landscape and landmarks along with great quick shot of the different restaurants preparing the dishes they are eating.

Finally I’ll be honest I really like British humor a lot. I grew up on it but while watching this I chuckled knowing this might not be for everyone.  It might be a bit too quiet and slow for some, and it has no real "point". For what it’s worth it’s pretty dope to see a film that has two men as friends, having conversations and enjoying one another's company with bubbling, gross events, and silly action/slapstick set pieces. For what it’s worth my score is going to be a high one but hey maybe I’m biased to English accents or I’m just sappy these days.

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Review: 'Alan Partridge', Starring Steve Coogan

Last year, we saw Steve Coogan's more dramatic side in Philomena, a Best Picture nominee that he helped co-write and . But now that he's back in the comedic chair, the first thing we see him in is his BBC character Alan Partridge, in the movie titled... you guessed it: Alan Partridge. Now I'll immediately start off by saying that I haven't seen the series the movie is based off of, but it is safe to say that the film is enjoyable and funny regardless of your level of Alan Partridge knowledge. 

Alan Partridge (Coogan) is as annoying as ever. A DJ who is immensely aware of his own popularity and image, he cares about nothing and no one but himself. If there's a way to save his own hide, he'll stoop low enough to make sure that his job, and more importantly his large ego, stay intact. Partridge is definitely the kind of guy who follows the motto that as long as someone's talking about you, then there's no such thing as bad publicity. 

Everything gets a little complicated when Alan's radio station is bought by a new company and changes their image to a more modern taste and a different sound. Which means that they're looking to fire someone and only two possible people are on the list: Alan and Pat Farrell (Colm Meaney). When Alan convinces (or rather begs) the station to fire Pat and keep him (in a display of humorous desperation), Pat eventually goes off the deep end and holds the station's employees hostage, forcing Alan to be the middle man between Pat and the police. And the whole time, poor Pat still thinks that Alan has his best interest at heart. 

British comedy is always less subtle than American comedy. It's a little more fast-paced and either you get the jokes and humor off the bat or you don't. There's no pause button that gives you a cue of when to laugh. And that's exactly what Alan Partridge feeds off of. Many fans liked the first series of the show better than the second and third, and some may be split on whether the film still holds a candle to the show, but there's no denying that this film has a spark. 

It starts off slow and the laughs are few and further between, but as the film progresses, so does its comedy. Steve Coogan is as awkwardly funny as ever. His character's annoying but never so much so that it's obnoxious, and yet when he is being slightly irritating, that's when the laughs are the most. The supporting cast gets enough to do that they're not just extras, and some of the funniest scenes are between Coogan and Meaney, both awkward and slightly strange in different ways. 

Alan Partridge is exactly the kind of person who society looks up to and hates at the same time. He's a fame whore who's only concerned with being talked about and popular, doesn't care about hurting other people to get what he wants, and is rude and demeaning a lot of the time. Yet, somehow the people love him, though it's unclear whether it's because of his attempt at being charming and charismatic or because he's an entertaining DJ. It's a really interesting point of discussion about the desperation for fame and the meaning of having some kind of moral code. Partridge even uses the hostage situation for press, trying to gain as much news coverage as possible, even continuing radio hosting with Pat while under lockdown. 

Perhaps this is reading too much into the Alan Partridge character and what he stands for. Ultimately, the film is pretty entertaining with some laugh-out-loud moments from around halfway through until the end. Steve Coogan's comedy is sometimes hit or miss with some people, but he's pretty humorous in a role he's been playing for awhile. You don't need to be a fan of the show to find enjoyment out of this movie, which is endearing regardless of its overly simple plot and sometimes asinine sense of humor. Just wait for the scene where the cast makes up a new jingle for Pat's radio show while under threat of being shot and you'll know this is worthy of a laugh. 

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New Trailer and Poster for Steve Coogan's 'Alan Partridge'

Steve Coogan brought his beleaguered TV personality Alan Partridge back to theaters in the UK last summer in Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, but the film is only just about hit our shores. Renamed simply Alan Partridge, a new trailer and poster for the comedy has been released, showing the (in)famous character having a nervous breakdown while in the midst of a hostage crisis at his radio station. The film reunites Coogan with writer Armando Iannucci (I'm Alan Partridge, In the Loop) and director Declan Lowney.

I don't have much experience with the Partridge character or much of Coogan's work before he hit it big here in America, but this trailer was funny enough to pique my interest.

Alan Partridge hits Itunes on February 27th, followed by a theatrical run on April 4th.

PLOT: Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan) has had many ups and downs in his life. National television broadcaster. Responsible for killing a guest on live TV. Local radio broadcaster. A nervous breakdown in Dundee. His self-published book, “Bouncing Back,” subsequently remaindered and pulped. 

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Interview: Steve Coogan Explores his Serious Side in 'Philomena'

Although Steve Coogan will always be the guy who has made us laugh in The Trip or as Alan Partridge, of late he's taken his career in a more dramatic direction. What's more, his films seem to have a real point to make, whether it's the impacts of divorce on children in What Maisie Knew, or challenging social moors in The Look of Love.

Coogan found a true passion project in Philomena (review here), which he wrote and starred in as real-life BBC journalist Martin Sixsmith. Coogan stars alongside Judi Dench in the story of Sixsmith's journey with Irishwoman Philomena Lee to find the son who had been taken and hidden from her by Catholic nuns fifty years earlier. The film is part road trip comedy, part angry commentary against the church's misdeeds, and joined by my colleague +Tim Gordon  we had a chance to talk to Coogan about taking on what is very different subject matter for him.

More Movies Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Cinema Royale on BlogTalkRadio

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Review: 'Philomena' Starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan

The true life premise behind Steve Coogan and Stephen Frears' Philomena sounds like it was tailor made to be a cinematic tearjerker. The incomparable Judi Dench plays an elderly, extremely devout Irishwoman searching for the child who was taken away from her decades earlier. To be sure, the film tap dances on all the right emotional buttons that will have audiences diving for the Kleenex, but it'll also make you laugh, and when at its absolute best will also fill you with justifiable outrage.

Coogan, who co-wrote the script with Jeff Pope, gravitated to the role of journalist Martin Sixsmith after reading an article by him, then diving into his powerful novel, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee. The book chronicles Sixsmith's epic, revealing journey alongside Philomena, a woman he couldn't be any more different from. Whereas the novel is heavy stuff all around and hardly what one would call a crowd-pleaser (it's quite sad, really), the story is rejiggered into a mismatched buddy comedy that recalls Coogan's The Trip.

At least, the first half of the film is mostly about laughs. Recently sacked from his government spin doctor gig over a trumped up scandal, Sixsmith is wallowing in self-misery and finding little inspiration in new novel. He takes little interest when Philomena's daughter approaches him for what sounds like a human interest story, involving her mother who became pregnant as a teen and was sent to one of those awful Magdalene Laundries (check out The Magdalene Sisters to see how terrible they were) where her child was given away to prospective parents. Decades later, Philomena still feels horrible about what happened, and needs Sixsmith's help to find her son.

As a man who left his Catholic faith behind years earlier, Sixsmith is drawn to Philomena's story because of the guilt she carries over her one act of sexual indiscretion. Or as the nuns accused her, "carnal incontinence", and felt the need to deny her and thousands of other troubled young woman basic human decency as they toiled for years like slaves. For this kind-hearted woman to hold no malice towards the Catholic Church for what they did, drives the Oxford-educated Sixsmith to challenge her faith repeatedly, as if belittling her with his superior intellect will force her to have some grand epiphany. More often than not these confrontations are done with a playful touch, and the film finds a lot of humor in highlighting the odd couple's differences. Their investigation taking them to America, she's immediately enamored by buffet food, bad movies (Big Momma's House is the culprit) and trashy romance novels, which she fills Sixsmith's head with stories about, much to his chagrin.

And then things start to get tough as the clues to her son's whereabouts lead to some extremely dark places, and the lies told by the Church begin to pile up. Along the way, Philomena's dogged determination and ability to forgive drive Sixsmith's angry crusade, and the answers they find only seem to lead to bigger questions. While the mystery at the heart of the film is never less than intriguing, it takes a while for the investigative aspect to hit its stride. Frears, who has been in a bit of a directorial slump lately, struggles to blend the severe shifts in tone. Fortunately he gets a ton of help by Coogan and Dench, who make a wonderful team and are a joy to watch. Dench is terrific as the working class, grandmotherly Philomena, a woman whose capacity for kindness seems limitless. It's impossible not to love Dench, and by extension Philomena, which only makes it tougher for Coogan to make Sixsmith a guy worthy of just being liked. And yet he does it by showing the softer side of Sixsmith underneath the snide remarks and righteous indignation. There's a deeply caring soul who only wants to see Philomena lighten the burden of guilt she's been carrying for decades.

Frears and Coogan balance the weightier aspects with enough levity to keep the mood light, even when launching what is a scathing attack on the Catholic Church's misdeeds. What’s most impressive is that there's enough room allowed for differing viewpoints without condescension. As Sixsmith begins to warm to the old woman, he doesn't drop to his knees in prayer and start seeing things her way. Nor does she give in to Sixsmith's cynicism, even when it would be easier to do so.
While the film edges on sentimentality just a little, it never preaches and is always rooted in being an entertaining experience. Regardless of your religion or lack thereof, Philomena is a funny and hopeful tale of redemption that audiences (and possibly Oscar voters) will love.

Trav's Trip: For more on Philomena, check out my interview with Steve Coogan here!

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Trailer for Festival Favorite 'Philomena' Starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan

Could Philomena be a dark horse Best Picture contender this Oscar season? It definitely looks like Stephen Frears has bounced back from a series of underwhelming efforts with the crowd-pleaser after it took runner-up to 12 Years A Slave for the TIFF People's Choice Award. And after a number of well-received showings elsewhere and some extremely high praise for stars Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, a new trailer for the film has been released.

Co-written by Coogan and adapting the memoir by disgraced civil servant/journalist Martin Sixsmith, the story follows his attempts to help Philomena Lee reconnect with the child who was forcibly taken from her by Irish nuns in the 1950s.  The trailer seems to give away a lot of the story, but it also does a good job of presenting the heartwarming premise, not to mention the funny and touching bond formed between Coogan and Dench which is sure to be the biggest draw.

Philomena opens in select cities on Christmas Day, then nationally January 10th.

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Trailer Time: 'Ruby Sparks', starring Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan

Anybody who has at one point or another imagined themselves as a novelist, including yours truly, has created a female character who embodies every physical and personality trait they hold most dear. But what would they do if that girl suddenly showed up on their doorstep? And would she be everything they'd hoped her to be, or the greatest disappointment ever?

That's sorta what Paul Dano's character is going through in Ruby Sparks, a quirky new meta-comedy directed by Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton, their first film since Little Miss Sunshine. Formerly title He Loves Me and co-written by star Zoe Kazan, the story follows a successful writer(Dano) who can't seem to come back with a strong follow-up. Unlucky in love and struggling with writer's block, he creates a character named Ruby Sparks who is the perfect girl of his dreams, only to wake up one day and find her in his kitchen.

The tone has a touch of Charlie Kauffman, which is definitely a good thing, but what's going to matter most is how they play with the meta nature of the story. They seem to be aiming for the light romantic comedy crowd, and with Dano and the always great Kazan they should be able to pull that off effortlessly. Part of me expects more, though, so I'm assuming there's more to the story than this trailer reveals. Featuring an astounding cast with Steve Coogan, Chris Messina, Deborah Ann Woll, Antonio Banderas, Elliott Gould, Annette Bening, Alia Shawkat, and Aasif Mandvi, Ruby Sparks opens on July 25th. Check out the trailer below....

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