Long before he was mild-mannered chemistry teacher turned fearsome drug lord on Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston made his mark in television comedy by, among other things, keeping Malcolm in the middle, and tending to Seinfeld’s teeth. Those comedic chops stand him in good stead for WHY HIM?, an intermittently hilarious hybrid of the buddy film… Read More »
GOAT
GOAT is not a subtle film, though the performances by its young cast are wonderfully nuanced. Based on the eponymous memoir by Ben Land, it opens with a mob of naked frat boys caught up in slow-motion frenzy of testosterone-driven, gleeful aggression. We do not see what it is that they are kicking, but we… Read More »
SAUSAGE PARTY
It’s just as well that Seth Rogan’s animated comedy, SAUSAGE FEST, is R-rated. That would be because the most awkward question a parent might have to answer after his or her child has seen this metaphysically dense romp wouldn’t be about the specific mechanics involved in the bonding between Brenda (Kristen Wiig), a bosomy hot… Read More »
EVERY THING WILL BE FINE
Tragedy is complicated. Guilt and anger, acceptance and forgiveness don’t fall into neat pigeonholes in Wim Wender’s EVERY THING WILL BE FINE, a title that is what everyone aspires to in this small but powerful tale of searching for redemption. The central character is Tomas (James Franco), a good writer with a middling career and… Read More »
PINEAPPLE EXPRESS
Naturally it all begins with a secret government experiment gone horribly wrong. Or right, depending on your point of view. In a secret government facility conveniently located in the middle of field and under a rock, the military developed Item 9. Weed so strong that it was not only declared illegal, the facility was ordered… Read More »
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
Before they devolved into a campy excuse for a quick buck, THE PLANET OF THE APES franchise was a nicely rendered and clever conceit for commenting on the human condition by having apes stand in for us. RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, the prequel that explains how it all happened, is a worthy… Read More »
OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL
It is a bold move to revisit a classic film, even if it is to make a prequel to it. Particularly when the studio involved, Disney, had tried, and failed, once before to produce the WIZARD OF OZ. That was in the early part of the last century, before MGM got hold of it in… Read More »
SPRING BREAKERS
What is most interesting about Harmony Korine’s SPRING BREAKERS is the way it turns its imagery on its head while revealing harsh truths about the hollowness of American pop culture. Though the camera revels in shots of decadent excess, it never quite reduces them to mere cheap exploitation. Instead, by the end of this anti-fairy… Read More »
THIS IS THE END
THIS IS THE END is a ribald frolic of a film that willfully, gleefully skewers both film conventions and the cult of celebrity. As the world collapses into fire, brimstone, and anatomically correct demons, an inept band of well-known actors attempts to keep death at bay while the film careens through every horror fiick ever… Read More »
THE COMPANY
The thing about Malcolm McDowell is his charisma that permeates without overpowering. Even in the small dollops of screen time afforded him in Robert Altmans THE COMPANY, he is undoubtedly the star, the fixed point about which the film revolves. And rightly so. He plays Aberto Antonelli, the artistic director of the eponymous company, The… Read More »