SETTING: NEARLY EMPTY COMEDY CLUB, ONE GRIZZLED STAND-UP VETERAN ON STAGE “Airlines are so tight-assed these days. What would it be like if a black man ran his own airline? That’s what I’d like to see. They wouldn’t be serving you salted nuts, that’s for sure. It’d be more like: “Here’s your bucket of fried […]
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Stephen Sommers has discovered a formula that works. In 1999, he wrote and directed an updated and seriously re-vamped version of Universal Studios’ 1932 horror classic “The Mummy.” It opened to huge box office, and was one of the biggest movies that summer. His knack for lots of CGI special effects and campy dialogue was […]
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Last week I blasted the crowd-pleasing hit movie “13 Going on 30” for being little more than a remake of “Big.” As luck would have it, this week we have another derivative teen-lesson movie. The difference between the two, however, is alarming. While “13 Going on 30” offers no insight or new ideas, “Mean Girls” […]
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The following transcription is taken from a conversation that took place in my friend Cameron’s van last night, after driving back from the screening of “Envy.” Cameron: What a waste. I thought any movie with Jack Black and Ben Stiller just had to be hilarious! Eric: The first scene in the movie, where they were […]
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Back in 1988, Tom Hanks was mainly known for silly lowbrow comedies like “Bachelor Party” and “Dragnet.” His first starring role was in 1984’s “Splash,” director Ron Howard’s mermaid-out-of-water tale. It was a successful crossover into mainstream comedy. But that movie’s success hadn’t really been attributed to him. Then came “Big.” Penny Marshall directed Hanks […]
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“Don’t let your memories kill you.” “They won’t kill me.” But this ridiculously inconsistent revenge flick may. Although it is masquerading as a trashy ‘80s Schwarzenegger action flick, “The Punisher” is actually the newest Marvel comic book character brought to Hollywood’s big screen. “The Punisher” is like Mel Gibson’s “Payback,” but not nearly as much […]
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My friend Megan tells me that the rated-R teen formula comedy I saw tonight, “The Girl Next Door,” is being billed in TV ads as the movie for “the next generation.” Apparently, that could be more clearly defined as “the generation that grew up with porn in mainstream culture.” When I was in junior high, […]
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“I want to welcome you all to tonight’s advance screening of ‘Standing Tall’ with the Rock.” That’s how the Hot Jamz 103 disc jockey introduced the new underdog action caper featuring Dwayne Johnson, known to wrestling fans as the Rock, last Tuesday night at the movie theater. It was an early omen, telling me that […]
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Ron Perlman is an odd-looking fellow. He’s the guy the with the long face and forceful jaw you might have seen in movies like “City of Lost Children” or “Blade II.” He was the Beast on TV’s “Beauty and the Beast.” Perlman is the kind of character actor who doesn’t ever get the chance to […]
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O Brother, what do we have here? “The Ladykillers” is the latest broad comedy from quirky filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen. Following “The Big Lebowski,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, and “Intolerable Cruelty,” it’s also the fourth comedy in a row from the Coens (“The Man Who Wasn’t There” being NOT a comedy) that should […]
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You are your memories. They define you. Attraction is something not to be trifled with, a dangerous thing. “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is the amazing new collaboration between writer Charlie Kaufman (“Being John Malkovich,” “Adaptation”) and director Michel Gondry (“Human Nature”). Jim Carrey, cast way against type, is excellent as Joel, a shy […]
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Kevin Smith is the writer/director behind controversial films like “Dogma” and “Chasing Amy.” He’s known for rapid-fire, hard-R dialogue in movies like “Clerks,” “Mallrats,” and “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.” He has amassed a loyal fanbase and cult following (me included), who forgive him for his lack of lofty cinematic goals as a director […]
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“In America” is a modern underdog story set in a somewhat familiar place at no specific time. Director Jim Sheridan (“My Left Foot,” “In the Name of the Father”) co-wrote the semi-autobiographical screenplay for his newest film with his two daughters Naomi and Kirsten Sheridan. It was the 1980s when Sheridan moved his Irish family […]
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Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara has long been thought of as an efficient and cocky architect of war. History has painted him in black and white. In his newest movie “The Fog of War,” accomplished documentarian Errol Morris shows us a lot of gray area. His portrait is of a conflicted man, one still […]
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Written and directed by Patty Jenkins, “Monster” is a powerful, unflinching movie based on a true story that dares to humanize the woman best known as “America’s first female serial killer.” When one thinks of serial killers, it is impossible not to think of the countless number of movies modeled after “The Silence of the […]
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