Remember Judd Apatow’s 2009 project, Funny People? While a lousy and flat film, it at one stage cleverly poked fun at actors who have long renounced their dignity for the sake of a paycheck. Tooth Fairy is exactly the type of noxious family entertainment parodied in Apatow’s flick. It mixes a few recognizable faces with…
Almost exactly one year ago Kick-Ass, directed by upcoming X-Men: First Class filmmaker Matthew Vaughn, opened to little business and reasonable critical success. Adapted from the popular Mark Millar graphic novel, the film follows a young New York teen as he tries to become a superhero in the real world. Now enter James Gunn’s Super…
The “big dreams, small town, no chance” premise is a recognizable refrain in literature and motion pictures. Directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, 2010’s Cemetery Junction is yet another feature to examine this particular quandary. If Gervais and Merchant sound familiar, it’s because they are the dynamic duo responsible for the original British version…
For a screenwriter, period pieces tend to be difficult — especially if they’re set in medieval times — dialogue being restricted to olden diction isn’t the easiest to write. However, with director David Gordon Green’s latest, which is an awkward mix of stoner comedy and medieval epic, that problem is quickly dispelled. How, you may…
“Hitch” meets “The 40 Year Old Virgin” with a mix of family values? Judging from the trailer of Crazy, Stupid, Love. that may be an apt description. In it, bland and fortyish Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) finds himself recently divorced from his wife Emily (Julianne Moore) (she cheated on him) and sticking out like a…
Even for a consistently-reliable studio like Pixar, the notion of Toy Story 3 seemed risky due to the time-honored tradition of part threes being unnecessary and below-par. The Godfather: Part III, Lethal Weapon 3, Batman Forever, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Alien 3, Jurassic Park III and Superman III are a few examples of…
The premise behind 2010’s Furry Vengeance — a live-action cartoon featuring woodland mammals — is tolerable. However, the film is rendered insufferable due to its soulless, mean-spirited, moronic script, the repetitive, obnoxiously unfunny slapstick comedy, and the ill-conceived attempts to inject this cinematic stool sample with an environmental message. It is a film with no…
