Tag Archives: Opinion

Anchorman (2004)

Posted on February 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

Doesn’t it seem as though the SNL crossover into movies is sort of a cursed venture?  So many competent comedians have failed trying to bring their brand of funny to the big screen, whether in the form of a popular Saturday Night character or something original.  Yet somehow, Will Ferrell has prevailed.  Not that it’s been a completely successful run.  Remember Kicking and Screaming? But if you break down his career he does seem to be, for the most part, successful.  It could be that he’s just that much funnier, or more likeable, or business savvy than a Molly Shannon or Tim Meadows.  Or maybe he’s just lucky.  Whatever the reason, Will Ferrell has claimed a spot among the elite comedic actors of all time, and though he’s got a few crapfests under his belt, it’s movies like Anchorman that keep his momentum building.

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Rachel Getting Married (2008)

Posted on February 13, 2010 | Leave a comment

Reality is tantamount to the assembly of pretty much any film.  There are obvious exceptions in the realm of science fiction or fantasy, but for the most part, stories are set in our world and live by our rules.  This can be frustrating on a small level, when John McClane yet again avoids dying in some absurd way, or when two people fall madly in love with each other in the span of five minutes.  But working in the confines of reality can go much deeper than this.  With the goal of making something real, a director can place as many restrictions on his story as he chooses.  This is the triumph of Jonathan Demme with Rachel Getting Married. Reality is the impetus and the guiding hand in this story about the struggle for empathy and the obligation of relationships.

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Posted in DVD/Blu-Ray, Full List, Oscar Nominee

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Humpday (2009)

Posted on February 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

According to the reputable Urban Dictionary, the term Bromance describes “a non-sexual relationship between two men that are unusually close.”  Off the top of my head, I can think of three films from the last year or so that employ this concept as a main plot point: Pineapple Express, I Love You Man and Superbad.  All solid comedies, and all born of an idea that has really only recently started gathering steam.  Two straight guys, overcoming conflict together, and in the end being able to say “I love you.”  It’s sweet, and as a guy with a few separate bromances, I’m always a little touched by it.  Humpday, directed by Lynn Shelton, takes this idea to the (perhaps) logical conclusion, asking a question that, as far as I know, hasn’t been asked by a film before: What if two entirely hetero dudes chose to have sex with each other?

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The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Posted on February 8, 2010 | Leave a comment

Something happens in that moment when Margot Tenenbaum (Gwyneth Paltrow) steps off the Green Line bus and the soft strum of Nico’s “These Days” flutters.  Light suddenly fills her space, and time drags as she comes back to Richie (Luke Wilson), the brother she hasn’t seen in years.  Each step feels eternal and Richie watches unmoving, his impassive gaze telling us far more than any dialogue or exposition.  It’s a towering moment, showing us a director with, among many, many other talents, the ability to construct beautiful cinema.  Character, setting, light, sound, time; all just elements that Wes Anderson has blended to a moment glancing at perfection.  It can take your breath away.

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Posted in DVD/Blu-Ray, Five Stars, Full List, Oscar Nominee

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Batman Begins (2005)

Posted on February 4, 2010 | 2 comments

You know what my least favorite part of Batman Begins is?  The title.  Batman Begins. It just kind of sits there on the page, doing absolutely nothing to excite me about what it is I came to see.  The movie is based on a graphic novel titled Batman : Year One, which itself is cleaner and sounds much less like a kid’s picture book than the former.  Luckily though, marketing a film goes far, far outside of just the title and Batman Begins flat appellation effects very little of the film it precedes.

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Best in Show (2000)

Posted on February 3, 2010 | 1 comment

Christopher Guest has to be the most successful mockumentarian to date.  The competition is pretty thin, but the caliber at which Guest has been performing since way back with This is Spinal Tap sufficiently distances him from all comers.  While he has written and directed at least three phenomenal entries to the genre, the endless number of  bizarre, captivating, charming, endearing and thoroughly unique characters he’s devised easily earns him a spot at the top.  To put it more plainly, Christopher Guest is to mockumentaries what Julia Child is to TV cooking.  Or to put it even more plainly, Christopher Guest is Julia Child.

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All the Real Girls (2003)

Posted on February 1, 2010 | Leave a comment

When it comes to storytelling (or songwriting for that matter) love is probably the most over-utilized jumping off point.  It’s to be expected.  So many of us spend so much of our time longing for it or working towards it or doing our best to maintain it.  The stakes of losing love are high enough as to almost necessitate injecting it into a story whenever you can.  It’s the most basic tale we can tell.  What has manifested then is a genre that uses love as a starting point while spending much more time exploring it’s minutiae.  And so, All the Real Girls.

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Funny People (2009)

Posted on January 22, 2010 | 1 comment

It seems like comedy has more to do with putting yourself out there completely than anything else.  If it’s not funny then it’s not funny, likewise for being overly offensive or dated, but if the comedy is non-committal than everything else will fall short anyway.  With his latest direction, Funny People, Judd Apatow exercises this notion possibly to a fault.  The director throws everything he’s got into his third feature film, an exercise made more strenuous by the looming uncertainty of what this film is…Comedy?  Drama?  Both?  Neither?  B-Movie Sex Horror?  No…no, it’s not that.

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You Don’t Mess With the Zohan (2008)

Posted on January 20, 2010 | 2 comments

It’s always seemed that my parent’s generation has a tendency to think of Adam Sandler as a comedy buffoon.  In the early years he made a name as a high-energy goofball and the loudest guy in the room.  Both Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore follow this blueprint with an excess of voices and slapstick and dirty jokes.  His newer films feel pretty much the same, just a little older, a little less energy.  It works for him, and perhaps because it’s something I grew up with I’ve never had a problem with it.  On the other hand, there’s nothing fresh about Adam Sandler’s comedy.  As much as you’re laughing, you’re never remarking on its quality, never aware of any polish.  And while there certainly are notable titles in Sandler’s comedic filmography, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan is definitively NOT one of them.

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Posted in Bad, Bad Films, DVD/Blu-Ray, Full List

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Reservoir Dogs (1992)

Posted on January 19, 2010 | Leave a comment

When Reservoir Dogs was first released, it divided critics.  It utilizes a type of intensity that wasn’t yet as commonplace as it might be now.  Violence and profanity and few, if any moments where the viewer can simply catch his breath.  But it isn’t a cut and dry gangster flick, nor is it a simple heist movie, or even the kind of obscene death porn that Eli Roth has made a name shoving at us.  Reservoir Dogs is an examination of men under extreme duress who are no longer afforded the luxury of trust.

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