Evan Almighty + summer movies.

"Evan Almighty signals a passing of the torch, as Tom Shadyac's follow-up to his 2004 Jim Carrey vehicle Bruce Almighty heralds Steve Carell as the new face of big-screen comedy," begins Nick Schager at Slant. "As proven by the plummet of Carey's box-office star, it's a station not easily maintained, and one that necessitates far better - and funnier - films than this toothless biblical-themed sequel."

Updated through 6/25.

"At 89 minutes that last a lifetime, it's a sanctimonious sitcom dolled up as the most expensive comedy ever made - $175 mil, so they say, no doubt choking - and marks an unfortunate low point in the history of recent American comedy, as it proves that Steve Carell can't make a Bible school lesson funny. There goes his perfect game," writes Robert Wilonsky in a variety of McVoice titles.

"Evan Almighty runs out of comic invention early, and the filmmakers fall back on what real politicians do when they exhaust their small stash of ideas: brainless piety," writes David Edelstein in New York.

"If Evan Almighty turns into a summer hit, as several competing studio executives predict, the movie could put Hollywood back in the business of making big-budget movies that intentionally embrace sacred subjects," write John Horn and Sheigh Crabtree in the Los Angeles Times. "Christian moviegoers have been an increasingly hot target since [Mel] Gibson's [Passion of the Christ] grossed more than $370 million in 2004. In assembling Evan Almighty, Universal and Shadyac endeavored to create a crowd-pleasing, but nondogmatic, parable. The goal was to appeal not only to fans of star Steve Carell - last seen searching for a willing woman in The 40-Year-Old Virgin - but also liberal environmentalists and more socially conservative audiences who rarely venture into the multiplex."

Meanwhile, also in the LAT, Claudia Eller notes that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - for those of you without kids, that's the book, the 7th and final installment - hits stores 10 days after Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - the movie, based on #5 - hits theaters on July 11. "Warner doesn't expect any spoilers to hurt box-office sales of its upcoming film. Indeed, the flurry of publicity surrounding the release of a new movie and book could feed sales for both of them. But there are two Harry Potter sequels to go over the next three years. Could knowing how it all ends dissuade moviegoers from turning out to see them?"

Jim Hill has lots - lots - more on Pixar's Wall*E, slated for next summer. Via Jeffrey Overstreet.

Updates, 6/21: "With September and the rest of the fall now bursting with major Hollywood releases and Academy Award aspirants, the previously uncrowded terrain of summer no longer looks so hospitable for more serious movies," writes David M Halbfinger in the New York Times. In other words, it's crowded out there.

"Chances are good, [John] Travolta figures, that his name will also help Hairspray at the box office this summer. 'You have to trust that people want to see me be this big fat woman who can sing and dance,' he says." Kevin West talks with him for Style.com. Via Movie City News.

Bill Gibron at PopMatters on Evan Almighty: "Part of the problem lies with the film's tone. This is a subtle smile maker that believes it's an uproarious farce."

"Evan Almighty feels market-researched within a cubit of its life, from its strategic mix of biblical homilies and save-the-planet platitudes to the inevitable heartstring-tugging about how building an ark turns the career-obsessed Evan into a more devoted family man," writes Scott Foundas in the LA Weekly. "What makes the film transcend its limitations is Carell, whose square, Father Knows Best demeanor belies a supreme comic self-confidence and whose implacability in the face of the movie's CGI-intensive animal antics can be marvelous to behold."

"Of all the summer's big-budget action sequels, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is the least painful," writes Armond White in the New York Press. "At 94 minutes, it not only gets out of your face the quickest, but it seems to have the most light-hearted approach."

Updates, 6/22: "God may be in all things, but lately he seems especially at home in a certain kind of big-budget studio comedy aimed at a very particular market," notes Carina Chocano in the Los Angeles Times. "That would be, apparently, the market that loves its zingy Bible puns and its adorable CGI versions of all God's creatures but doesn't want to be made to feel too bad about driving that SUV or heating 6,000 square feet in a just-sprouted development."

Evan "combines bland religiosity and timid environmentalism into a soothing Sunday-school homily about the importance of being nice," writes AO Scott in the New York Times, where he's got a few ideas for further installments in the franchise.

"It's a rare movie that offends and bores at the same time," writes Nerve's Bilge Ebiri.

"In Evan Almighty, Carell is on the fast track to becoming Robin Williams, a guy who lost the plot far too early on and began pouring his considerable comic gifts into brain-dead heart-warmers," warns Salon's Stephanie Zacharek.

Scott Tobias at the AV Club: "Historically, throwing money at a comedy has never made it funnier, because there's nothing more cost-effective than a joke, and nothing more ruinous than a spectacle trampling all over it."

At the WSWS, David Walsh places Oceans's Thirteen in context of Steven Soderbergh's career.

The Independent talks with Jeffrey Katzenberg about Shrek the Third.

"[L]ike a megachurch pastor in a loud sweater, Evan Almighty excels at telling you unchallenging things you already knew while leaving middle-class assumptions unstirred," writes Mike Russell.

"More a marketing tool than a movie, Evan Almighty attempts to court evangelicals, environmentalists and shots-to-the-groin enthusiasts in a schizophrenic comedy that should please none of them," writes R Emmet Sweeney at the Reeler.

"You're aware that the dialogue is dumb and the situation is lame and yet, thanks to the actors, you laugh anyway," writes Jette Kernion at Cinematical. "And after the movie is over you feel almost like you've been conned, and you're not entirely sure what was so funny in the first place."

Updates, 6/23: In the Telegraph: "The cast of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on what it's like to be a child actor, kissing Daniel Radcliffe, and keeping secrets for JK Rowling."

At AICN, Quint talks David Yates, who'll be directing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

"If it's true that there's an 8-year-old boy inside every man, Transformers is just the ticket to bring the kid out," writes Jay Weissberg for Variety. "Big, loud and full of testosterone-fueled car fantasies, Michael Bay's actioner hits a new peak for CGI work, showcasing spectacular chases and animated transformation sequences seamlessly blended into live-action surroundings. There's no longer any question whether special effects can be made more realistic: The issue is whether disposable actors can be trained to play better with bluescreens."

Update, 6/24: For the Observer, Amy Raphael asks Harry Potter 5 and 6 director David Yates, "Without wishing to sound rude, how did he get the job? 'You're not the first to ask,' he laughs. 'David Heyman, who produces the Harry Potter films, was a big fan of the TV work I'd done. There were certainly other directors in the frame, such as Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who directed Amélie. But as Order of the Phoenix is quite edgy and emotional, and it's got a political backstory, the studio saw a fit with me. I think they wanted to wake it up a bit, make it real.'"

Update, 6/25: Quint's visited the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix set and files a long, long report for AICN.

Posted by dwhudson at June 20, 2007 2:15 AM