Video: 3
Audio: 4
Extras: 3
I might lose your respect for this, but I enjoy The Rock. Even when his material is lacking (which it often is), I find that The Rock rises above it all and makes something solid (pun sadly intended). Gridiron Gang continues to prove my theory, telling a “true story” that manages to combine troubled inner-city kids finding guidance and a football team rising above the odds. It’s a very conventional movie, complete with montages, but Dwayne Johnson makes it tolerable.
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 3
The log line “Will Ferrell hears narration” can conjure up a number of scenarios in one’s mind, some glorious, but most misguided and painful. Thankfully, Stranger Than Fiction turns out to be a rather subtle and charming “meta” comedy. Ferrell plays Harold Crick, a straight-laced, borderline-obsessive-compulsive IRS auditor who begins hearing the dulcet tones of narration. This sets in motion a chain of events that covers the broad spectrum of life, death, love, loss, and all creative endeavors, fictional and non.
Video: 2
Audio: 2
Extras: 1
The world is full of idiots, and we’re only getting dumber. That’s the premise behind Mike Judge’s Idiocracy, a sly satire on the state of our collective intelligence. Luke Wilson plays an average soldier who’s frozen in an experiment and wakes up in the year 2505. There, he is the smartest man on the planet. This is the launching pad for jabs at corporate culture and the dumbing down of America, most of it spot on, all very funny.
Mike Prince | May 01, 2007 | Published: Apr 01, 2007
Video: 2
Audio: 4
Extras: 3
On the surface, M. Night Shyamalan’s latest appears to tell a bedtime story concerning a creature called a narf that lives in a pool and how she affects the lives of those in the apartment building around her. But, underneath it all, I saw a story about how a director can surround himself with people afraid to say no to him. The ego shines far beyond the story, I’m afraid to say.
Mike Prince | May 01, 2007 | Published: Apr 01, 2007
Video: 3
Audio: 2
Extras: 2
Augusten Burroughs’ memoir Running With Scissors (the memoir that Oprah didn’t put on her book club, then rip the author a new one after learning it was fake) finally makes its way to the screen courtesy of Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy. For those unfamiliar, Burroughs had quite a bizarre upbringing. His mother (wonderfully played by Annette Bening) is a narcissistic, delusional dreamer who thinks her poetry is amazing and that she is someone important. Sadly, she neglects her son (Joseph Cross) to pursue her dreams, leaving him under the care of her eccentric therapist, Dr. Finch (Brian Cox), and his twisted family (including Jill Clayburgh and Gwyneth Paltrow) in a house packed to the gills with knickknacks, clutter, and junk. To call this boy’s upbringing dysfunctional is an understatement.
Mike Prince | Apr 24, 2007 | Published: Oct 24, 2006
Video: 2
Audio: 2
Extras: 2
It’s funny; I was just saying to myself the other day how much I wanted to see a remake of An Officer and a Gentleman, only more boring. Lo and behold, Annapolis answered my call. It tells the tale of a tough young Naval Academy recruit (James Franco) who doesn’t obey the rules at first but learns teamwork, respect, and honor through…boxing. Or something. I won’t lie: The film put me to sleep several times. And, while it’s not a terrible film, it certainly is a dull one.
Mike Prince | Apr 13, 2007 | Published: Aug 13, 2006
Video: 2
Audio: 2
Extras: 2
With so many unanswered questions remaining from their first outing, Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt return with a dozen children for yet another wacky family adventure, where, if we’re lucky, perhaps we’ll learn a lesson. The unnecessary sequel finds Martin’s brood going up against Eugene Levy’s eight overachieving children on a scenic summer vacation. While watching Martin, Hunt, and Levy on screen is always a treat, the family film has very little to offer that it didn’t bring to the table the first time around.
Mike Prince | Apr 13, 2007 | Published: Jul 13, 2006
Video: 2
Audio: 3
Extras: 2
Eminem had his semiautobiographical film debut. Now it’s 50 Cent’s turn. “Loosely based” on the story of Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s rise through the rough streets, Get Rich treads on some familiar territory. While there are some decent performances (courtesy of Terrence Howard, among others) and 50 Cent has a modicum of charisma, the movie doesn’t have enough to sustain itself or to make you truly believe that 50 Cent has this burning desire to get his words out in rap. In fact, rapping feels like an afterthought here.
Mike Prince | Apr 13, 2007 | Published: Jul 13, 2006
Video: 4
Audio: 4
Extras: 2
Neil Jordan serves up a taste of Ireland—with quite a bit of style and sass—with his latest film Breakfast on Pluto. It tells the story of Patrick, a very unusual man who enjoys the comfort of a good dress and high heels. He also goes by the name of St. Kitten and is played to peculiar delight by Cillian Murphy, from 28 Days Later. The film follows his exploits around Ireland in the 1970s and ’80s, as he searches for his birth mother who abandoned him on the steps of a parish. It’s filled with eccentric characters (populated with actors like Liam Neeson, Stephen Rea, and Brendan Gleeson) and a rocking soundtrack reflective of the times.
Mike Prince | Mar 23, 2007 | Published: Jun 23, 2006
Video: 4
Audio: 3
Extras: 2 The Dying Gaul is an interesting little movie, written and directed by playwright Craig Lucas, in his feature-film debut. It tells the story of Robert (Peter Sarsgaard), a gay screenwriter who’s just sold his extremely personal script “The Dying Gaul” to studio executive Jeffrey Tishop (Campbell Scott). Jeffrey is married to Elaine (the always lovely Patricia Clarkson) but desires Robert, and they begin an affair. Elaine finds out, and soon deception and betrayal are afoot among the three, with Elaine pretending to be Robert’s recently deceased lover, whom his script is based on. The actors are all very good, if the story is a bit strange and the ending a tad unsatisfying.