Archive
Special Review: “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” — A Surprising Lack of Inexperience
Directed by: Judd Apatow
Produced by: Judd Apatow, Clayton Townsend, Shauna Robertson
Written by: Judd Apatow, Steve Carell
Edited by: Brent White
Cinematography by: Jack Green
Music by: Lyle Workman
Starring: Steve Carell, Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Leslie Mann, Kat Dennings, Jane Lynch
Year: 2005
If you’re among my friends, you probably know the story about how I saw this movie soon after it came out on DVD during my first year of college. It wasn’t the sort of movie that I would have sought out myself at the time, but my best friend’s roommate put it on one night while I was hanging out at their dorm, as I was wont to do in those days, and, yeah, I watched it. It was pretty much the first hard R-rated comedy film I had ever sat down and watched at the time on my own. Being 19, living relatively on my own, I felt pretty grown up about the whole situation. And, you know what? I actually quite liked it. (Spoiler alert if you’re worried about those kinds of things with a review.) Read more…
Review: “Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family”
Directed by: Tyler Perry
Produced by: Tyler Perry, Reuben Cannon, Roger M. Bobb
Written by: Tyler Perry
Edited by: Maysie Hoy
Cinematography by: Alexander Gruszynski
Music by: Aaron Zigman
Starring: Tyler Perry, Loretta Devine, Shad “Bow Wow” Moss, David Mann, Cassi Davis, Tamela Mann, Lauren London, Isaiah Mustafa, Rodney Perry, Shannon Kane, Teyana Taylor
Based on the musical play by Tyler Perry
I watched a pretty bad movie this weekend, the Robin Williams-starring What Dreams May Come, but even that trite piece of cloying rubbish couldn’t come close to satiating my craving for bad cinema, apparently. And so I ran through my Netflix queue and discovered that, long ago, I had stashed away a Tyler Perry movie for just such an occasion. And, well, I did it. I finally did it. After watching about 70% of Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman on TBS and then not being able to take any more, I finally watched my first complete Tyler Perry production, Madea’s Big Happy Family. And, oh my God, I don’t know how I got through it. (Actually, maybe I do. Here’s a hint: it rhymes with “bin and chronic.”) Read more…
Review: “It Happened One Night”
Directed by: Frank Capra
Produced by: Frank Capra, Harry Cohn
Written by: Robert Riskin (screenplay); Samuel Hopkins Adams (story)
Cinematography by: Joseph Walker
Editing by: Gene Havlick
Music by: Howard Jackson, Louis Silvers
Starring: Clark Cable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns, Jamesson Thomas, Alan Hale, Arthur Hoyt, Blanche Friderici, Charles C. Wilson
Based on the short story Night Bus by Samuel Hopkins Adams
Year: 1934
The romantic comedy genre has a bad reputation these days, primarily because most modern romantic comedies are insipid, grating experiences that rely primarily (often solely) on star power and easy jokes to fill 90+ minutes. Yet so many of them make such big money, it’s easy to see why studios continue to make them — a sad fact that infuriates those with, in my humble opinion, objectively better taste than those who pretty much throw their money away. Read more…
Review: “Slither” (2006)
Directed by: James Gunn
Produced by: Paul Brooks, Eric Newman, Thomas Bliss
Written by: James Gunn
Cinematography by: Gregory Middleton
Music by: Tyler Bates
Starring: Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Gregg Henry, Michael Rooker, Tania Saulnier, Brenda James
Year: 2006
Slither is an amusing horror comedy from James Gunn, the director of the indie superhero film Super andfuture director of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy adaptation (so expect him to be kind of a big thing soon). Featuring a familiar B-grade horror film vibe while elevating it to a higher, sleeker form, Slither provides a lot of great scares and plenty of familiar yet effectively disturbing moments to please horror aficionados (such as the alien slug’s gradual approach toward a girl soaking peacefully in her bathtub in the poster), but it also cuts through the gross-out moments with plenty of laughs and has a great deal of fun with the concept without falling into the camp category. And though it may be taking on the form of lower rung monster thrillers, Slither also shows that fun horror films don’t have to be straight up satires or mindless gags, with a narrative about faithfulness and trust woven throughout. (Please note that this review brings up narrative parallels, and, thus, contains some spoilers.) Read more…
The Viewer's Commentary 