The Ice Age series has always gone more for the heart that the funny bone, though there is no denying that Scrat’s eternal and Sisyphean struggle both to acquire and to retain the acorn he’s been chasing through the four previous films has, in equal parts, both hilarity and a keen commentary on the noble struggle of humankind against a basically unfeeling universe.
PROMOTION, THE
THE PROMOTION bills itself as a comedy, and elements of it do fall into that category, but at its core, this is an incisive and often merciless deconstruction of the American Dream. What writer/director Steve Conrad is getting at here, amid the absurdity rife in the general human condition, is the dark side of that… Read More »
ROLE MODELS
ROLE MODELS is ragged around the edges and pretty threadbare in between. Co-writer Paul Rudd, sharing credit with a small army of fellow screenplayers, has a genuine gift for a sight gag, and there plenty popping up here. Alas, he falls short with all the stuff that links them together. Yet, for all its failings… Read More »
GOON
GOON is an astute and winning character study that subverts and short-circuits conventional expectations. Seann William Scott plays Doug Glatt, the eponymous goon, that member hockey team members tasked with taking out opponents with brutal directness, who goes from fan to fame by a fluke. That the incident that precipitates the fluke arises because of… Read More »
RUNDOWN, THE
One of the best moments in THE RUNDOWN is Christopher Walken, doing his own peculiar riff on being the heart of darkness, explaining through a translator to a group of Brazilian Indians just exactly what the Tooth Fairy is. Its also emblematic of what is best in this slam dunk of an action flick that… Read More »
THE DUKES OF HAZZARD
It’s not fair to say that THE DUKES OF HAZZARD is the worst movie I’ve ever seen. I haven’t seen every movie ever made. But it’s definitely a contender. Based on the television series of the same name, it’s a convoluted series of car chases, car crashes, and lingering shots of Jessica Simpson’s cleavage all… Read More »
SOUTHLAND TALES
There are bad movies. CATWOMAN was bad. GOOD LUCK CHUCK was bad. And then there are movies that are not just bad, they are events. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE. ISHTAR. WATERWORLD. BATTLEFIELD EARTH. SWEPT AWAY (the remake), PEARL HARBOR. Many contend, but few achieve the apotheosis to that rarified circle, but SOUTHLAND TALES, with… Read More »