Screening Room, Movies at Home Edition- “Olympus Has Fallen,” “The Big Wedding”

 

KANSAS CITY, MO —

1) OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN (R)

FilmDistrict

RUSS: You’d think that Hollywood hated the Presidency given the way the White House is being treated in big screen action flicks these days. In “Olympus Has Fallen,” Gerard Butler plays a former Secret Service agent who must rescue the President after the White House has been captured by North Korean terrorists.

SHAWN: Yes, “Olympus Has Fallen” is noisy and silly. You couldn’t find the plot with the Hubble Telescope. It’s an overly patriotic ‘Die Hard’ wannabe that falls early and never gets up. But it’s better than “White House Down.’

RUSS: While it has plot holes you could fly a Blackhawk through, “Olympus Has Fallen” has enough action to please most undemanding genre fans.

SHAWN: The extras only include five featurettes and a few bloopers.

RUSS: 3 Popcorn Bags

SHAWN: 3 Popcorn Bags

2) THE BIG WEDDING (R)

Lionsgate

RUSS: It’s hard to knock the cast put together for the new comedy, “The Big Wedding.” Four Oscar winners, Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Diane Keaton and Robin Williams star along with Katherine Heigl, Amanda Seyfried, Ben Barnes and Topher Grace. The actors do yeoman’s work in an attempt to breathe life into a graceless and vulgar script.

SHAWN: It’s not hard to knock the cast. They all read the script. Couldn’t have been good neither is this movie. Sure it’s wasted talent but it’s your time that will be wasted if you invest in this horrible cinematic experience that isn’t entertaining or interesting. Just blah.

RUSS: Like too many contemporary comedies, “The Big Wedding” tries to mine laughs from outrageous R-rated subject matter and then attempts to make it more acceptable by pouring on the sentimentality. There are moments when the cast makes it work, but those few scenes can’t make “The Big Wedding” worth attending.

SHAWN:  This is just a bad movie. The Blu-ray Disc and DVD also contain the usual mix of extras, including a featurette titled “Coordinating The Big Wedding”, which examines how the cast was assembled for this mess.

RUSS: 1 Popcorn Bag

SHAWN: 0 Popcorn Bags