The jokes are there but they’re mostly recycled. Dr. Harris is still a sex addict but now she’s even more disturbing! Motherfucker Jones’ running joke of being bad at haggling is on display all the time! The three ‘heroes’ luck into not screwing up! So many dick jokes!
I’m suffering from sequel-itis. It’s finally happened. On the plus side, Horrible Bosses 2 was a sequel to a film from three years ago instead of 10+. On the negative side, how many times can we recycle plot and jokes then call it a sequel? Isn’t that more of a remake?
I don’t understand why people hate open endings. I was thinking about the strange ending for Birdman (Michael Keaton has apparently taken over this movie rodeo, as we were also talking about him in last month’s column), as I left the theater, and began annoying the entire city of Ashland, Oregon with a cigarette.
How did you feel about the end of No Country For Old Men? Did it make you want to put your head through the window of a really stupid-looking little car? Did you tip over every baby carriage you came across, lest the child grow up to make movies with endings that are left up to the opinions of the crowd? If you did anything along those lines, then I’m not sure you’re going to be all that pleased with the ending for Birdman.
Here’s the biggest problem with splitting a book adaptation into two films: the first half of the novel usually sets up the second half. This includes the plotting, pacing, and action. Never was this so true or painfully obvious as in this weekend’s release of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One. As the credits rolled I felt like I was supposed to take an intermission and come back for the rest of the movie.
Here’s the biggest problem with splitting a book adaptation into two films: the first half of the novel usually sets up the second half. This includes the plotting, pacing, and action. Never was this so true or painfully obvious as in this weekend’s release of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. As the credits rolled I felt like I was supposed to take an intermission and come back for the rest of the movie.
... for fans, Dumb and Dumber To swims. The plot’s shoddy and formulaic, a good number of the jokes zip by with barely a chuckle, and the modern setting carries a vibe that is unsettling at times, but there’s something nostalgic about this outing. There’s a sense of joy in being reunited with these comedic icons that cannot be shaken, one that bears with it a feeling of closure many fans clamored for years ago.
Catching Fire carries the audience along on a thrill ride, in the way that only the best blockbusters can. It sells the authenticity of its world and its characters in a way the listless first installment never did.
This is a very deliberately paced movie. It’s practically lethargic in its approach to storytelling, seeming to desire nothing more than to show us the relationship between Mark and du Pont, two very lonely souls who manage to find one another despite their radically different upbringings.
If Mr. Burns were real, he’d be a lot sadder. That’s the main takeaway here, in Bennet Miller’s impressive new three-hander, Foxcatcher. I kid, of course. That’s not really the takeaway. But after an hour or so of watching Steve Carrell disappear into the role of John du Pont, the lonely and paranoid multi-millionaire, it struck me how positively Burnsian he was. And it was just so, so sad.