While cognizant of the fact that the year is a little more than half over, I nonetheless feel confident in proclaiming Tropic Thunder to be the funniest film of the year. Tropic Thunder is one of those rare films that is both smart and silly, equal parts gifted satire and laugh-till-it-hurts farce. I have to give credit where credit is due. Ben Stiller—whom I’ve ridiculed (and not entirely without reason) for many years—has made a modern comic masterpiece. [Read more →]
If Sex and the City were a female buddy movie for middle-aged women, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is its younger version (minus the chic couture and rampant materialism). Ann Brashares’ novel “Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood” is brought to life in this sequel with the same heart, earnestness and, let’s face it, saccharine sweetness of the 2005 original. [Read more →]
Judd Apatow, he of the immaculate comic conception, has stated that The Pineapple Express is inspired from Brad Pitt’s stoner character in the 1993 Tony Scott directed/Quentin Tarantino scripted crime drama, True Romance. Imbued with a quirky, 1970s, Wes Andersonesque sensibility, The Pineapple Express is a straightforward film in which non sequitur subplots, vibrant supporting characters, sight gags, slapstick jesting, arcane masculine rituals, ridiculously absurd situations and hilarious monologues fuse into an unbridled, feral caper comedy. [Read more →]
This is an abridged version of a review I wrote for Christianity Today Movies. To read the rest of this review, click here.
AN OPEN LETTER TO ROB COHEN, DIRECTOR
Dear Mr. Cohen,
Earlier this summer, we were all treated to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a cinematic event many of us were deeply excited about and equally disillusioned by. The film was a pale, ridiculous ghost of its former self, more hokey parody than joyous reunion. After 15 years, it would have been better if we’d simply left Indy ridding into that glorious sunset. And so it is that I am forced to ask: Why, when that film was such a colossal disappointment, would I ever consider watching your third-rate, wannabe, copycat rip-off!? Mr. Cohen, I’ll say this for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor — it managed to make the latest Indy adventure look like a masterpiece by comparison. [Read more →]
If Swing Vote seems ridiculously improbable (and it is) — the U.S. presidency coming down to the vote of just one man in New Mexico — then it might be best to remind yourself that the presidency coming down to the votes of just one county in Florida seemed far-fetched once upon a time too. Swing Vote is a political fable, a satire not meant to be taken as reality but certainly meant to be taken seriously. It arrives in the best tradition of other political comedy satires like Dave, Wag the Dog, Bob Roberts and Bulworth. [Read more →]
American Teen (which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance film festival) is a documentary that begs the question: Does life imitate art or art imitate life? Proving that you can set the O.C. in the heart of Americana and still wring out every bit as much melodrama, American Teen acts as a sort of video yearbook, cataloging the good, the bad and the ugly of adolescence. [Read more →]
Over the past several months, the cast and crew of The X-Files: I Want to Believe considered it a badge of honor to be as tight-lipped about the plot of their film as possible. Internet searches met with futility. Spoiler sites were useless. The film’s trailers were little more than a jumble of unintelligible images. As it turns out, the tremendous secrecy was not to hide the film’s plot until the last minute, but rather hide the fact that The X-Files: I Want to Believe is arguably the dullest film to hit theater screens this year. [Read more →]
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child,” says St. Paul, “but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” Step Brothers is a movie about adults acting like children, by adults acting like children, for adults who like to act like children. [Read more →]
To call The Dark Knight the greatest superhero movie ever made is an understatement of titanic proportions. And yet, conversely, the film is so devoid of camp and superhero tropes, and is presented with such assured realism, that it hardly feels like a superhero movie at all. The most eagerly anticipated popcorn blockbuster of the summer is, in fact, one of the greatest crime epics ever made, taking its place beside such films as The Godfather, The Untouchables and Heat. [Read more →]
When we lived in New York City, there were certain Broadway shows my wife had to drag me to. Often they were musicals. I simply wasn’t as interested in the musical extravaganzas as the more epic, “serious” plays. Ironically enough, it was usually the plays I had to be coerced into attending that I ended up enjoying the most. So, despite a fair bit of predictable ambivalence and trepidation, I decided to give Mamma Mia!, the new film based on the long-running West End/Broadway musical, the benefit of the doubt. Turns out, it was the right decision. [Read more →]