Hamlet 2 (2008)

Brief: A failed actor turned high school drama teacher (Steve Coogan) learns that his school's drama program will be canceled, so he pens a semi-autobiographical musical sequel to Hamlet believing that the runaway success of the musical will save the program.

It's like this: if you can't see the humour in sequel to Hamlet in which a time-traveling Hamlet teams up with Jesus to stop all the death at the end of Shakespeare's great tragedy but takes time out for Jesus to arrive in the present and inspire musical numbers like, "Rock me, sexy Jesus," then this movie isn't for you. The entire third act is devoted to the opening performance of Hamlet 2. That's too bad for you, really, as Coogan continues to be a comic genius who apparently hasn't broken big over here (or so the AV Club would have me believe).

The talent pool varies in the rest of the cast from the always wonderful Catherine Keener as Brie, Coogan's bizarrely poorly thought out wife, to the sometimes strained performances of the newcomers that fill out Coogan's high school troupe (personal favourite: Arnie Pantoja as Vitamin J), to Elisabeth Shue and Amy Poehler duking it out for the title of Most Inspired Cameo.

Co-writer and director Andrew Fleming, who hilariously also co-wrote and directed The Craft, and co-writer Pam Brady have their work cut out for them in creating a movie that's exactly as awfulsome (tm the Vulture, I think) as its title musical. Fortunately, they mostly succeed in this point, although some of the running gags fall flat (one with a 12 year-old school paper theatre critic (Shea Pepe) that Coogan treats with utmost deference is inspired; another with a girl who suffers repeated head injuries, less so). Even so, it's cuckoo bananas that more people haven't gone to see it. B+

Pop Culture Round Up: September 20 - 26

I want you to know that I almost wrote "septembre."

I bet you were all excited about the boring, poorly watched Emmys, but this news was far more exciting come Monday morning. YES! Kung Fu Hustle rules!

Other, more exciting awards results.

A nice theory. I wonder what movies you would consider Monday surprises.

I swear, I've been reading about the 52 week season for the last three years, and it has yet to come to fruition.

This is ingenious! But does it work in Canada?

Can anything stop the runaway train of Mickey Rourke, future Oscar winner? The eighties did rule, though.

"But Dylan culture, especially Dylan bootleg culture, figures into the way we assess 'authorized' and 'unauthorized' work by other great artists such as Shakespeare and Nabokov." It does? Well, alright.

Hurray! I still want 13 to hurry up and leave the show, though.

I can't tell yet if this is going to be awesome, but somehow I doubt it.

Which one's your favourite? "Sally Draper's Cocktail Cheat Sheet" might be mine.

I think that might be a better Penn Badgely than even Penn Padgely does. Has anyone else watched the trailer for his new rugby movie and laughed?

I am now going to have to up yearly Entertainment Weekly print purchases to two because I have to have this cover in my home.

The two Sherlock Holmes movies continue to be the most exciting things around.

Traitor (2008)

Situation: FBI Agent Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) tracks terrorist group Nathir to a police raid in Yemen and finds Sudanese-American Samir Horn (Don Cheadle) in the midst of it all. Clayton and his partner (Neal McDonough) can't get Samir to talk, and eventually Samir escapes with his new terrorist pal Omar (Saïd Taghmaoui) and becomes the group's demolition expert. As the FBI closes in, Samir reaches out to Carter (Jeff Daniels), his boss at another intelligence agency.

This movie would have packed one hell of a narrative punch if we didn't all know from every single advert we've seen that Samir was secretly in league with Carter. Almost nothing from the first act made it into any ads, which is too bad as it is pretty good. We can see that Samir is caring and compassionate, and Cheadle, in an intense and dedicated performance, rises above to make that powerful when put into action.

It's also nice to see Pearce out and about again, making character choices about how far to push his Southern accent and when. He does officious so very well. Combined with Hey! It's that Guy (tm Fametracker) in uniform McDonough, they make a rote good cop-bad cop pair seem like fun. When you add in the criminally underused Daniels (seriously, the man operates at a Jeff Bridges level. Someone needs to write him a Dude to call his own), it's an attractive package for audiences.

Everything that surrounds them is fairly run of the mill. Writer-director Jeffrey Nachmanoff doesn't put a lot of personal style into the direction, narrative, or dialogue, and the devout-Muslims-aren't-necessarily-terrorists "twist" doesn't feel as fresh it could. But he's got Cheadle, fantastic location porn, and an absolutely stunning lighting scheme (the last two courtesy of J. Michael Muro, no doubt). Seriously, it's beautiful, and it adds meaning to every shot. Well done. B

Pop Culture Round Up: September 13 - 19

I felt like I bookmarked a lot of stuff for you guys, but it turned out either to be a slow news week or busy work week for me. Take your pick.

Sad. Mimi Smartypants was a big fan and posted about it a lot over the years, but I've never picked up Infinite Jest. Maybe now I should.

Yes, funny, hurray: I have yet to watch this.

Articles like this remind me of the church I went to growing up. We never clapped after solos or anything of the sort. We clap more now (particularly the Christmas Eve service I start clapping for this kid who had only taken up the violin that fall, I believe, and got up there and performed three numbers), but I wonder sometimes if it's really better. Mind you, I've never applauded at funeral.

"A clever technique for creating drama? Or a contrived way to keep the pair from speaking, in an age in which everyone has a cell handy?" Contrivance! Especially in the scene just outlined!

Ha! 'Unwatchable' indeed.

But who else would do the accents and look askance when no one gets the right answer to an "easy" question? You know, besides me?

This might be good.

Holy crap! But will it be available in Canada?

I think it is going to take longer for DVD to die than anticipated because there's no real push for the medium to go under.

YES! I will enter early and often!

Burn After Reading (2008)

Story: Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) quits his job at the CIA. His wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) is having an affair with Harry (George Clooney) and plans to divorce Ozzie. Looking for a picture of his financial information, she burns a disc from his hard drive, which is misplaced at Hardbodies. It falls into the hands of two Hardbodies employees, Linda (Frances McDormand) and Chad (Brad Pitt), who try to blackmail Cox into paying for several cosmetic procedures for Linda in exchange for the disc.

I don't think I've told you anything here that happens after the first twenty minutes, which is about how long I spent waiting for this movie to start. Whatever this was supposed to be, I doubt weirdly off-putting with occasional funny bits" was the goal.

Seriously, I don't get what this was supposed to be. A lark? Doesn't seem like enough fun for that to be true. A satire, as CBC implied to me? Of what, I reply. I know that in the past I've said things along the lines of "it's not supposed to be anything," and that remains true for certain movies. But this isn't that kind of movie. Writing and directing brothers Joel and Ethan Coen go one step beyond this time (cue up "One Step Beyond" by Madness). It's just not enough of anything to be any more than mediocre.

I'm fairly certain you could build an entire movie around the deliberate way Malkovich pronounces "memoir," Clooney's delivery of "Well, hello!" and Pitt's dancing, and I wish that they had. The overlapping plot doesn't work the way it should, it takes too long to get to the Hardbodies characters, and, though we end with the always impeccable J.K. Simmons, there's no emotional pay out because there was never any emotional buy in. The only character that seems to garner any sympathy is Richard Jenkins as Ted, the Hardbodies manager with the best boo-boo kitty face in the industry, so naturally he's relegated to a minor role. The rest of them barely earn a shrug. Well, at least when it's funny, it's very funny indeed. B

Pop Culture Round Up: September 6-12

I think I will try to pretend that this will result is something truly amazing and not a reminder that the show might be a lot better if it were called 12.

"Indie film is dead! Again! Still! For real this time!" We'll see.

Oh, no wait, the Australian thinks so, too.

I totally rocked this quiz. I have been pronounced "Dylan McKay smooth."

"Memory, comprehension and problem-solving skills all improve in people who apply mental exercises used by actors." Yay! Bring on the elderly improv groups.

This might be brilliant.

I realize that I was pretty young when it came out and that I haven't seen in in years, but I thought Grumpy Old Men was funny because it was funny and appealing because it's nice to think that we'll still have friends and fun when we get older. Now thinking about getting older just makes me sad.

Great. Now can we do something about the dearth of great female characters in movies?

You know what? Good. Post secondary is too expensive to begin with, especially in the US.

Again, if I made a habit of linking to GFY, it'd fill this post every week, but what? Why haven't I heard about this Etta James biopic starting effing Beyonce sooner? Why is this happening?

I can't explain why, but this casting news is exciting!

Even if we are saddled with another Paul Haggis-mussed script, this trailer still looks totally bitchin'.

This story manages to be funny, sad, weird, and great simultaneously.

"I never said I was better than you, just smarter and classier. You're clearly a better athlete, and you have much better survival instincts."

As my criticism in crisis series seems to be never ending, I take a moment to consider why we still need film critics in my latest Culture article.

Over in my advice column, I tackle work issues, laundry issues, grammar issues, and dildo issues. What? They happen.

Pop Culture Round Up: August 30 - September 5

I know these are supposed to be "touchstones," but does anyone find this list a little meh? Incidentally, the word touchstone makes me think of Winona Ryder calling Ethan Hawke her touchstone in Reality Bites, which, in turn, makes me giggle because she's calling him that to her Psychic Friend.

Criticism in crisis continues: Christian Science Monitor worries over music critics losing their clout.

Why are people in the Guardian weirdly obsessed with product placement?

Why must they take our fun away from us so soon?

If for nothing else, check out the drawing of a brain walking a dog.

"These images turn The Red Shoes into what we might call a study of the psychopathology of ballet."

First Julia Child and now Roald Dahl? Excitement!

"It’s undeniably U2 in the very best way." Well, in that case.

Aw, he's a Food Network junkie, too!

When I think "particle accelerator," I think "exceptional grand cru."

Perhaps Lauren and Peter should consider the possibility that a lot of movies suck.

It is one of my favourite cameos.

I think I'd never see any movies if I stuck by the Bechdel Rule. Prey for Rock & Roll would make the cut.

Okay, so the new one kind of sucks, but it's still fun to read these reflections.

Definitely dead, apparently. Sorry, Sean!

I may have gotten a little goosebumpy watching this.

Not only did I notice that change during the The Women trailer, but, as a curly haired girl, I have wondered about that for years.

17 complaints? Are people in Britain really bored?

"We have practically no reason to believe that Ghostbusters 3 won't be the greatest movie of all time."

This post is kind of stupidly written, but who cares? Greatest crossover ever!

"We have never even thought about Mother Bass." Really? She's the one not-yet-seen character I most want to meet!

The Short Take: the white trash edition

Okay, that's a little mean.

Slums of Beverly Hills (1998)

After I watched The Savages and remembered that I had liked writer-director Tamara Jenkins' earlier picture, I thought I should watch it again to make sure. It wasn't as good as I remembered it, and I found myself kind of thrown by the young, thing Kevin Corrigan as Natasha Lyonne's neighbour/love interest. I did still like Lyonne and Marisa Tomei as her pregnant, drug-addled cousin, but there was a lot that didn't add up or go anywhere, e.g. an extended scene with David Krumholtz singing in his underwear. You know the family situation must be bad when, as 14 year old Vivian breaks up with her 18 year old drug dealing, Mason-obsessed boyfriend, I thought, "Dude, what are you doing? He has a car. He can take you away from these people!" Clearly not the message the movie intended. B-

Prey for Rock & Roll (2003)

I've been meaning to get around to watching this movie since I first watched Rocked with Gina Gershon about four years ago, and Zip finally sent me the DVD. So here we are. Again, not really what I was expecting based on the trailer. The trailer's all, "Hot, sexy rock!," and the movie's all, "Sad, but cool." I've got a bit of a soft spot for Lori Petty, so it was nice to see her again. As punk rock girl bands go, the music and the actors behind it were great. A lot of the plot involved, for some reason, the drummer's (Shelly Cole) brother (Marc Blucas) getting out of jail and why he was in jail and a similar thing happening, and it's suddenly all strum und drang, and you start wondering where all the hot, sexy rock went. The similar thing involves Ivan Martin, who looks like the unholy love child of Mark Ruffalo and Kevin Corrigan. Props to director Alex Steyermark for smashing to black. It's an affecting performance from Gershon, but the heavy subplots keep the movie from going forward. B

Pop Culture Round Up: August 23 - 29

Kitties need to rock, too.

It claims it was published on the 21st, but I am certain I have read this somewhere before.

Everyone wants Jay Baruchel now, too. Well, everyone except 24 Heures Montréal. They saw some "Ray Baruchel" kid in Tropic Thunder.*

Hey, remember when Italian cinema was experiencing a Renaissance that we didn't know it needed? Now we apparently need to worry if it will last.

Ha! I can't wait to see how crazy hateful this might turn out.

And equally funny (fake) Sorkin news.

WTF, Sara? The Women, Ghost Town, and Lakeview Terrace all look fucking terrible.

This was not as exciting as I wanted it to be. Dan's with some new chick? Whatever.

"You will note: there is a rampant high tide of colonisation." I have noticed that, actually!

Lamenting silence.

I originally misinterpreted this subtitle to mean convention as in rule or method instead of convention as in meeting, so I was like, "What, using parliamentary rules of debate?"

Why does Orlando Bloom feature so heavily in this trailer? Is there a person alive who associates him with that city in particular?

I did think that this rumour might be "totally awesome," for about half a second.

Sadly, none of these are Ms. Hauser, Veronica's angry, theiving, racist Health teacher. Or Professor Landry, her adulterous, murderous criminology professor. Or Mr. Rook, her molesting Ancient History teacher. Wow, there weren't a lot of good teachers on that show.

Funny, recent Woody Allen.

Gear up for fall with NY Mag's Fall Movie Preview.

OMG, this is totally true.

Find out what made the cut as "the scariest disaster movie of the decade." Hint: it's got polar bears!

Cattle and deer have a sixth sense! Beware!

Having read the AV Club's Fall TV Preview, I can safely name of number of new shows I plan to check out: 3. And I'm expecting two of those to suck.

Jennie and Shannen hate the new 90210? Check it out for yourself. They kind of do.

That's all great and good if you live in the US. When will Hulu be available here?

I'm pretty sure we're just stuck on anyone who can successfully live outside the law.

How mean does it make me to find this ever-so-slightly amusing?

Well, yeah, Kiefer. Also, spoilers!

Bye, Dan! I'll miss you, and I'm sorry I didn't read the Vulture back when you made that video because it is killer.

Rob's Amazing Poem Generator** came up with a Feria Films poem:

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*Print only, apparently. Couldn't seem to find this online.
**This makes me want to generate a poem for pretty much every review now.

The Prestige (2006)

See? I wasn't kidding when I said there were more RE-views in store.

And I bet you didn't even know that a Johansson/Hall double bill was possible.

As per usual when watching something surprising or twisty, particularly if you were surprised, watching it a second time makes you wonder how you could have been fooled. I watched this with a friend who had never seen it, and she was like, "Obviously that guy is his twin." I threw her off the scent, inquiring incredulously, "You think that guy looks like Christian Bale?" She admitted that he didn't, but, seriously, why didn't I notice it before? He doesn't talk! He's always hanging around! Suspicious stuff, man.

Instead, I made a game of figuring out which one he was in any given scenes. Certain scenes, like the ones with Sarah (the still terrific Hall) and Olivia (a less irritated although still unnecessarily English Johansson) or when he is in jail, are more obvious, but it's still a pretty fun game in the second viewing. On the other hand, thinking about this twins business for too long can make you disappointed that you just watched an entire movie to learn absolutely nothing about one of the central characters. Why are the Bordens so obsessed with magic that they are willing to live only half a life to pursue it? The Nolans won't be giving you the answer.

I was once again bowled over by Jackman's performance. Angier is the real villain of the piece, a man so hell bent on revenge for so long that even the reason for his obsession pales in comparison to pursuing it. It's his steadfast belief that Borden could not, under any circumstances, be using a double that drives a lot of the action, and he plays it so well. With Jackman as Angier, has a blood curdling believable quality to it: if he could just understand how Borden works. I love how something so seemingly simple (if he could just) leads to so much complication.

I didn't realize upon first viewing that there were two prestiges at the end: Borden and Angier each get their own prestige. It never occurred to me that we were supposed to think that Telsa (the subdued but still rockin' David Bowie), discovering that the machine duplicated rather than transported, would "fix" the machine. It was more a question of what Angier was going to do with all the extra Angiers, and I figured that one out soon enough. Still, it's the more devastating reveal for the audience; the two Bordens is most devastating to Angier alone.

While I may not feel exactly the same watching this as I did the first time around, it's still a superbly crafted fantasy/thriller and an excellent allegory for filmmaking. Original grade stands: A

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

Brief: Two friends, Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson), are invited by Vicky's aunt (Patricia Clarkson) to spend the summer in Barcelona. There they meet Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem), a painter who takes an instant liking to them. The return of Juan Antonio's ex-wife, Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz), complicates matters.

There's been a lot of talk about how if this movie had come out before Match Point, it would have been heralded as writer-director Woody Allen's return to form and that one would have been considered the retread. I'm not sure I agree. For one, I'm not sure that there is such a thing as a "return to form" for Allen. I've been operating under the assumption that there is no form, or at least no one form, for him. For two, I didn't see the classics first. I saw movies like Everyone Says I Love You and Small Time Crooks long before I ever set eyes on something like Manhattan, so my view of what makes a Woody Allen movie a Woody Allen movie is somewhat skewed. That said, while I may not know whether this movie is more or less Woody Allen (whatever that means) than Point, I do know that I don't think this movie is better than the former.

There are some good points, though, chief among them Bardem and Cruz. I read in an interview with Allen that Barcelona could have been pretty much any city, and that Barcelona happened to work* (I guess that means that we have cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe to thank for the architecture porn). I wonder whether Vicky Cristina Rome really would have been the same. What Italian actors would he have found that would have brought the star wattage and sex appeal that those two bring? Bardem's devilish matter of fact delivery saves a number of clunkers (why so literal, Allen?), and Cruz's manic combination of comedy, sensuality, and pathos keeps the scenes buoyant. I think I may have turned the corner on Cruz. This is by far her best English language performance.

I think I may have turned the corner on Johansson as well. I think I'm over her. There came a moment late in the film where Johansson didn't quite gel for me, and I wasn't sure if the problem was that Cristina, acting, didn't sell it, or Johansson, actor, didn't sell it, or if it was a combination of the two. The fact that I can't tell the difference is problematic. It's easy enough to apply narration over a silent Vicky that makes her seem more complex (the problem was never that I thought that her portrayer was empty-headed), but that can only take you so far. It's up to Johansson to go the rest of the way, and I don't think she does.

Yes, narration. I realize that I've got a well documented mental block when it comes to narration, and I doubt I am going to ease up on that anytime soon. It works well enough when Allen wants to drop in bits of exposition without having to stick any unsightly dialogue in his characters' mouths, and there is one scene where we honestly wouldn't have known that a mistake was being made unless someone told us. Okay, I was going to expand that to "scenes," but then I thought of something that he could have shown us that would have done away with the need for narration and, in doing so, thought of a later scene that does away with even the narration in the one scene where I originally thought it necessary. So, good for exposition in this case and not much else.

I realize I have yet to say anything about Hall, and I have been remiss in doing so. Though the American accent trips her up little bit, everything else she is doing (her mannerisms, her body language: there's an excellent kinesthetic sense that Hall brings to Cristina) is spot on. I definitely want to see more of her.

The sun-dappled vistas are a nice contrast with the pessimistic view of love that Allen presents here. It may not be all it could be, but it is very good. B+

*Then I stopped reading, as it seemed to be a spoiler heavy interview.

Pop Culture Round Up: August 16 - 22

How intense has this week been? This is old, old news. But still, aww! Seriously, though, you'd think it wasn't August with the level of stories worth reading this week.

"Northern Peaks"? Sounds about right.

Is Germany going to help everyone else get their art back? Like these people, maybe?

Criticism in crisis continues - it's not just for print critics anymore!

That's a shame because I would like to see what the brothers Nolan would make of Professor Hugo Strange.

It is strange, but I've always liked number 5. It's Liev Schreiber's (a man born to play Hamlet if there ever was one) possibly-incestuous take on Laertes that really makes it.

Are there people out there that don't want to see Hugh Jackman and Liev Schreiber face off? Do they have a pulse? What? I like Liev Schreiber!

Aw, matchmaker! Now there's someone whose life I wonder about.

"Elitism? Of course it is. But then, the love of books is surely a minority sport, isn't it?" Is it? I didn't think it was that hard.

"Parse for me, please, the distinction between 'sexual material' and 'sexual content.'" Heh. The MPAA's a broad target, but they're worth the effort to take aim.

Are you sure it's unfair competition, Brian? Maybe it's poor quality.

I, sadly, do not posses a killer instinct. Well, at least not one of a sociopath.

I'm all about these kinds of programs. It's important to make sure indigenous cultures don't die out.

Hee! John Cusack can't fact check, apparently.

I'm going to watch all of these.

You know, this is true. Sad, but true. Still, there are plots that I would like to see wrap up, and I miss Logan in a big way. Why has no one snapped him up for a plum role yet?

Wrong. If you want to know if something is age appropriate for your kid, read it yourself first. There remains no substitute for parenting.

Ha! "The man has really got some serious beard on him."

"Jay Baruchel as a high-maintenance mustached porn actor with performance anxiety." One can dream!

Hurrah! Just the other day I was watching the first one and running around going, "I always thought it would be Clemenza."

A-ha! Good thing smoking always equaled evil and death on Buffy then.

Give your friends faux tattoos. They even ripple!

Mourn Manny Farber by reading what's probably his most famous essay, "White Elephant Art vs. Termite Art."

Then again, maybe we are really August bored. Daily Intel gets into it with the Observer over Ed Westwick's face. Can't we all just agree that he's maybe a (sexy) vampire?

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Premise: First time director Damien Cockburn (the peerless Steven Coogan) can't control his diva cast of action star Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), award winner Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey, Jr.), and comedian Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black), so Four Leaf Tayback (a never funnier Nick Nolte), author of the book Tropic Thunder, convinces him to put his stars and two supporting players, rapper mogul Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) and bit player Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel), out in the jungle to shoot the movie guerrilla style. Things go south pretty quickly.

It's a Jack Black double bill!

Oh, co-writer-director-producer-star Stiller, how do we get you to make more movies like this? Stop making sequels to those not-particularly-funny-in-the-first-place Focker movies, and just make more movies exactly as outrageous as this one. Mind you, seven years have lapsed between this and the highly quotable Zoolander. Allow me to revise: if it takes another seven years to get a parody of this quality, one that is this smart, silly, and fun, we'll wait.

Yes, parody. Don't bother calling it a satire 'cause it's not a satire. Satires have bite, and this movie only has bite if you are a) Russell Crowe or b) Tom Cruise, and he is obviously not bothered by it. And, while we're here, let's get this out of the way: Is it offensive? No. I'm not a member of a group that would be offended by it, but let me explain. The Simple Jack stuff is representative of a certain kind of Oscar-baiting and within the movie it is meant to be offensive, which is why it shouldn't be considered offensive outside the movie. The fact that Tugg made Simple Jack is supposed to make him look bad, so pointing to it outside the movie and saying, "That looks bad" is redundant.

As for the blackface, same deal. It's suppose to highlight that doing this sort of thing is stupid and offensive, so saying, "Hey! That's stupid and offensive!" accomplishes the same goal. Besides, Downey is doing the most hilarious parody of Method-actors like Russell Crowe (with a touch of Adrian Brody thrown in for good measure) ever. The throw away clip of Lazarus on Inside the Actors Studio is worth the price of admission alone. Downey's trademark multi-current emotional acting is suspended in favour of a more deadpan delivery, but I think we can live with it. It's worth it to see Downey and Stiller try to out crazy each other with Black's manic energy surging in the background.

Let's move on to what's really important here: When did Baruchel get so adorable? He was always adorable (nervous about grabbing the hydro wires on PMK? Adorable! Punching Lloyd in the ear 'cause he doesn't know how to fight? Adorable!), but now he's super adorable, like, boyfriend adorable. When did this happen? Maybe it helps that of the five, he's the audience surrogate. Okay, his fantastic comedic timing helps, too.

Fine, I'll tell you what you really want to know: will Tom Cruise's cameo save his career? Probably not (there a moments when he's a little too scarily committed), but it should because it is hands down the funniest thing he has ever done. It's a shame he never had the chance to be on Extras. And to those in the theatre who gasped when his name was revealed in the credits (yeah, I heard you): are you best friends with Anthony Lane? Not only does Tom Cruise still resemble Tom Cruise, but he also sounds like Tom Cruise. He has a very distinctive voice.

The details are what makes this one near-constantly hilarious from the three fake trailers that precede the movie (I would so see Satan's Alley*) to the exposition via Maria Menounos to Tyra Banks. Co-writers Stiller, Justin Theroux, and Etan Cohen have an excellent ear and eye for fitting in the visual references and double speak that makes this inside-Hollywood picture nothing short of a treat. A-

*When did Tobey Maguire start looking like Wentworth Miller, though? Well, like Michael Scofield?

Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Idea: Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover) goes on vacation and leaves Mike (Mos Def) in charge of the video store. After Jerry (Jack Black) accidentally erases all the tapes, Mike and Jerry improvise their own versions of the movies back on to the tapes with Alma's (Melonie Diaz) help.

I complain a lot about ambiguity in movies for a reason. When something doesn't make sense, is incomplete, or is dropped altogether, it takes away from the rest of the movie. You're left wondering what happened to that character or subplot instead of paying attention to what's on screen, and your experience with movie is diminished.

Movies can and do use ambiguity to their advantage, though. Pineapple Express jettisoned an entire subplot about Dale's girlfriend's family in favour of one crazy scene, and it streamlined the film. Before Sunrise ended ambiguously, and that ending was its biggest, most romantic gift to the audience: for nine years, it was up to you if they met up. Great fiction lets you decide for yourself, and the ambiguity in writer-director Michel Gondry's lovely feature does that with pretty much every scene: Is Mike Mr. Fletcher's son? Are Mr. Fletcher and Miss Falewicz (a delightfully loopy Mia Farrow) in love? What's Jerry's deal? Gondry will never tell!

Instead, the ambiguity enhances the feeling that you just dropped into the slightly off-kilter lives of the residents of Passaic, NJ and the employees/hangers-on of Be Kind Rewind, a store with one dollar video rentals. It makes up for other flaws in the movie's plotting and pacing, so the enterprise seems sweet and exciting. It's not your average underdog story -- no one seems to win against the man, ever. As an ode to the fun that we make for ourselves, it's a bubbly diversion, visually stimulating (there's a hilarious, near-throw away moment involving painted coveralls and a "ladder gang") with heart to spare. If it inspires you to start sweding your own videos, so much the better. B+

Pineapple Express (2008)

Story: While waiting to serve a subpoena to Ted Jones (Gary Cole), Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) witness Ted murder someone, tosses his roach out the window, and heads to his dealer, Saul (James Franco), for help. Realizing that they could be identified by the rare weed Dale was smoking (Pineapple Express), as Ted is its only supplier, Dale and Saul go on the run.

Seeing this makes me wish everyone in the extended Apatow family would sit down for a seminar about why some of the movies bearing his stamp are better than others.

The second feature from screenwriting duo Evan Goldberg and Rogen doesn't quite have the heart of Superbad, but it's inspired in its own right, especially in the casting of Franco as the dizzy, childlike Saul, who's just dealing drugs to keep his bubbie in a nice retirement home. It also finds inspiration in director David Gordon Green, best known for his indie tone poems (which I don't entirely get), who manages to bring personalized style and flair to the sometimes visually bland Apatow factory.

There's a lot to like, actually, from Ted's relationship with Carol (Rosie Perez), his cop on the take, to Kevin Corrigan's L'Oreal Man Pouf, but the best part might be Danny R. McBride as Red, the middle man between Ted and Saul. His hilariously deft take on a guy who can't quite figure out what side to be on should be the launch of a long and storied supporting actor career.

Perhaps the only knock against this movie is the long and somewhat indifferently shot violent, slapstick, gross out third act though it includes plenty of well done references to Hot Fuzz. On the other hand, I love that they stick to their roots in the finale with no one discovering hidden potential. The movie nails the details of not only stoner culture (from Dale's monologue/rant on how pot makes everything better to the pitch perfect breakfast scene that closes the movie) but also of 20 somethings culture. B+

Pop Culture Round Up: August 9 - 15

Sorry about the lack of posts this week, kids. I think I'll be back on track soon. In the meantime, holla me, as the 9th up there was my birthday. I have moved into a new age bracket and had to get a new prescription for my glasses, hence am feeling old.

I wonder if they could have chosen a worse photo for this story.

"Do you suffer from blockbuster fatigue?" Possibly, although I considered that to be related to the lack of good movies this year rather than an overabundance of blockbusters.

Actually, I've noticed this as well inasmuch as there are ridiculously few new shows that I am anticipating for fall. And by few I mean . . . one, sort of.

"It won't sell, they think, unless they put some naughty bits in - even if they have to invent the naughty bits." What, I can't take a sentence out of context for my own amusement? Of course I can!

I must say that I agree with the first one (No. 1o) on this list mostly because they annoy me in this about to happen/just happened/is happening way.

Gak! It's just like when the Globe shrank, and now it sits there, pushed to one side in its over sized boxes on street corners, a hollow shell of what it used to be.

"But as Warners goes through the arduous process of absorbing two dozen or so New Line films into its distribution system, the studio simply has too many movies to release, so it's starting to pick out the weak calves from the herd." Ooo, a slaughter! Much like the above, this kind of news makes me a little sad. You toil to get a picture greenlit, actually finish it, and then it might never see the light of day. Sigh.

Already? It occurs to me that the show as it will exist on air will never live up to the behind the scenes drama I imagine is going on. I want to watch that show.

Isn't Jerry Maguire a little too much for a simple date movie?

Apparently Allan Kozinn over at the Times has a beef with French horns, which is sad but funny. They are one of those instruments that are really beautiful when played well but don't get really get enough play for players to get really good at them, you know? No? Okay.

Another beef that cracks me up. Pretty much any beef reported in "Beef" cracks me up, though. Remember when Spike Lee accused Clint Eastwood of racism earlier this summer? Somehow the Vulture made that funny, too.

Again, why are people still reporting this like it's news? Well, new news, which it was, about three years ago. Holla 2005!

Oddly, this does help redeem Sorkin in my eyes. That and occasional memories of what a brilliant show The West Wing was.

Now, if I linked to every good post on Go Fug Yourself, I'd be linking to GFY all the live long day, but this post in particular is fantastic. Maybe it's for a role?

Hurray! I've been missing Green since he stepped out as Oz to go hang with monks. Okay, Oz went to hang out with monks, and Green went to finish a movie, but still. We're missing Green, right?

While I think this is probably true, I also think that it is a slow, trickle down effect that will prevent us from realizing the dire situation for another few years. Most of us haven't had the time to get around to the all the fantastic releases to realize that there aren't enough coming out anymore.

"Julia Child's spy career revealed." That headline says it all.

I'm beginning to think that the web peeps over at CBC revel in choosing strange photos.

"But it was his cover of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” that spread through the Internet and drew new listeners to his site." Which I love. It's almost as good as "Tom Cruise Crazy."

"Kaleem Aftab is outraged at the way marketing is taking over." Outraged!

I'm so excited that Primer is back (I don't think I've seen one since May) that I think I probably would have linked to it regardless of the subject matter. Getting to know one of America's most influential filmmakers is a good idea, though.

"I hope it's my new issue of Geeks Who Live With Their Mothers Monthly!"

I can hear y'all clamouring for my latest cinema article over at Culture. "It's mid-month! Why do you torture us with these delays?!" Because there is no new issue. August's issue is a 'best of' and apparently my best is my December article, "Some Things Just Look Better." If you haven't already read it, get on that. Didn't you hear? It's the BEST! The Heath Ledger Roundtable has also been reposted, should you feel the desire to revisit.

As for the advice column, which some of you love even more than the cinema column, it's just a blurb this time around. I shall repost it here:

Miss Smartypants is taking this month off, but be sure to keep sending in those questions regarding problems, issues, and grammatical confusion. Boy-girl stuff? She's got an opinion about it. Forgot what happened in that movie that time? She'll figure it out. Can't remember if it's "between you and me" or "between you and I" is grammatically correct? She'll tell you… and she'll probably make fun of you.

Send your issues, questions and concerns to advice@culturemagazine.ca

Pop Culture Round-Up: August 2-8

I wouldn't necessarily like all of these, but it sounds like an awfully good idea.

The inspiration for The Red Shoes?

"Can you teach your kid to have taste?" Probably not, but it's certainly worth a try.

Dude, am I the only person that doesn't have a problem with his Batman voice? I dig.

Oh, VI. I would so watch this. Would he do an accent?

MPDGs really get to me sometimes, but I like this list.

I can't tell if this is a good or bad thing. I enjoyed the novelty of the swearing in Step Brothers because people do speak that way, but we probably shouldn't.

Nothing could be more ridiculous or more potentially enjoyable. Look at him furrow!

Ah, yes, the good old fashioned snub. Nothing like it to irk the people who actually watch TV.

Dude, it stars Demetri Martin? Sign me up!

"That could be useful in a range of situations, from policing, to attaching cameras to wildlife." Excellent. The solution to my not being able to attach cameras to wildlife problem is near.

Roland Emmerich's house is exactly as ridiculous as the man himself, thank goodness.

I saw this . . . : Post war edition

Sometimes I actually get around to seeing the classics.

Les Quatre cents coups (The 400 Blows) (1959)

Before I went to see this New Wave gem from director François Truffaut, my mom asked me what it was about. I fumbled for a while and eventually came up with, "A 12 year-old boy." That was it. Thank goodness I've had blinders on about this one because I know others that have been spoiled by its reputation. Honestly, it's a shame. For them. The first half is as charming as the second half is maddening, and the combination is devastating. The title comes from a French idiom that translates "to raise hell," and that's exactly what Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud) sets out to do. Léaud is a wonder of a child actor, a kid who plays a kid all the way through, never grows up, never has the world on his shoulders, never does much of anything that any kid wouldn't do. The exact same excuse you apply to his earlier indiscretions (Well, he's 12) becomes your whimper as life heaps greater and greater punishment on him (But he's 12!). Guided by Jean Constantin's glorious score, it's a paean to childhood and innocence lost, and the indefatigable spirit that can carry us through if we let it. A

The Graduate (1967)

Alright, I watched. Maybe I come from the wrong time/place, but I don't get it. I get it at when Ben (Dustin Hoffman) is just drifting and when Ben submerges in the middle of the party. I get why Ben would have an awkward affair with Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). But then Elaine (Katherine Ross) is introduced and, for me, the whole thing comes off the rails. Why in the world would Elaine be interested in Ben? He slept with her mom, he stalks her, and he's annoying and clingy. I get why Ben's doing all this, but we have no insights into why Elaine would want anything to do with this schmuck. Maybe there's more to her in the novel, but here it's just . . . unbelievable. Still, that final scene? That I get. B

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)

I somehow got it into my head that this was the first movie to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder in WWII vets, and that probably unfounded idea coloured my opinion of the movie while I was first watching it. I kept waiting for the moment when Tim Roth (Gregory Peck) would flip and, like, try to murder his wife (Jennifer Jones) because he thought she was a Nazi or scale his employer's sky scraper thinking he was a sniper, but nothing like that ever happens. It's more like post-traumatic laconic staring, where Peck spends a lot of time gazing out windows lost in not at all violent memories of the war. If anything it's more about the inherent difficulties in dealing with bureaucracy and with being honest in your home life. Fortunately, that movie's elegant, quiet, and smart, and writer-director Nunnally Johnson won me over by the end. B+