You can generally tell within 20 minutes or so if a film is going to fly or not. Very few films recover from a disastrous first 20 minutes, and there are even fewer that go from bad to worse to engendering in its audience an active and vitriolic hatred. Such a film is BARNYARD, that… Read More »
THE SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS
Based on the 1960 film THE SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRESL OF HOW TO WIN WITHOUT ACTUALLY CHEATING!, which was, in turn, very loosely based on the 18th century play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, THE SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS never deviates for a moment from the textbook arc for tales such as these. Loser at life, love, and… Read More »
AMERICAN DREAMZ — DVD
Click here to listen to the interview with Paul Weitz (8:04)Click here to listen to the interview with Paul and Chris Weitz for ABOUT A BOY (20:36)AMERICAN DREAMZ did not perform as well as it should have when it was released. Perhaps it cut too close to the bone as it turned reality television inside… Read More »
A GOOD YEAR
In films such as A GOOD YEAR, there is never any doubt about how things will end. There’s precious little doubt about the plot arc that will lead to that ending. In fact, the only reason to see a film such as A GOOD YEAR is the charm of the main character to whom all… Read More »
FLUSHED AWAY
FLUSHED AWAY is the rude title of a sometimes rude film, but one that unswervingly hews to an ebullient sense of whimsy. Whimsy is its birthright, this being first-ever CGI Aardman effort, they of Wallace and Grommit fame. Fear not, it uses special software to deliberately include the sorts of imperfections that are inherent in… Read More »
BORAT
The most important thing to know about BORAT is that you will be appalled by what you see, and then you will be appalled by the way it makes you laugh. Uproariously. And with wild abandon. The only down side to seeing this film based on a character by Sacha Baron Cohen, and played by… Read More »
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION, like the other films co-concocted by Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy, WAITING FOR GUFFMAN, BEST IN SHOW, and A MIGHTY WIND, is a wry exercise in improvisation by an intrepid cast working from scenarios and guided only by their imagination and daring. These pieces (Guest deplores the word “mockumentary”) tell the tales of ordinary-seeming folk… Read More »
BECAUSE I SAID SO
To judge from the level of insight into the mother-daughter dynamic and/or the relative proficiency in turning out a decent script, the women who co-wrote BECAUSE I SAID SO might have been raised by iguanas. This sad spectacle degrades everyone participating in it, including the audience hornswaggled into thinking that it was going to get some… Read More »
MUSIC AND LYRICS
There’s nothing wrong with a fluffy film that doesn’t try to be anything more than what it is: a pleasant way to pass the time. Executed well, it can offer a welcome break from the mundane and such is MUSIC AND LYRICS. Delicately spun and deftly acted, it’s a harmless trifle that amuses and sometimes delights. Hugh Grant is Alex,… Read More »
GRAY MATTERS
GRAY MATTERS, alas, doesn’t. At least not when it comes to making a comedy about the heartbreak of love. It is, rather, a collection of fragments of ideas that fail to coalesce in any meaningful way. The result is dull, contrived, obvious, and at 96 minutes, seemingly endless. Heather Graham and Thomas Cavanagh play Sam… Read More »
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