Movie Review Land of the Lost

Land of the Lost (2009) 

Directed by Brad Silberling

Written by Chris Henchy, Dennis McNicholas 

Starring Will Ferrell, Danny McBride, Anna Friel, Jorma Taccone

Release Date June 5th, 2009 

Published June 4th, 2009 

Land of the Lost was and is a bad idea for a movie. It's based on a Saturday morning kids show from the early 1970's with only a modicum of cultural cache from a group of hipster doofus types who love the cheesetastic sets, the wooden characters and slow moving rubber suited alien reptiles. There are those who have nostalgia for this but it is not a genuine appreciation, it's ironic. People loved how cheesy it looked. Cardboard sets and rubber costumes. Making a big budget Land of the Lost COMPLETELY misses the point. 

The core of Land of the Lost's existing fanbase was never going to go for anything involving the over the top antics of a mainstream pratfaller like Will Ferrell? In the mind of the hipster LOTL fan the only remake that could come close to capturing this cultural landmark is directed by Tarsem or Michel Gondry, whichever director would make the whole thing as some cardboard and cloth acid trip. The Land of the Lost movie we have in front of us is a confused hybrid of family movie adventure and adult targeted humor aimed just below the waistline. Not quite family friendly enough for the kids and not quite edgy enough for adults, Land of the Lost could not be more indicative of its title.

Will Ferrell stars in Land Of The Lost as Dr. Rick Marshall. As a scientist he has staked his career on a theory that wormholes to other dimensions could discover renewable sources of energy. Unfortunately, an ill-advised visit to the Today Show to tout his theory ends in a viral YouTube moment and Dr. Rick is labeled a buffoon.

Four years later, Dr. Rick Marshall is a lowly tour guide at the La Brea Tar Pits. There, he is visited by Holly (Anna Friel) a grad student from Cambridge who is the one person ever to take his theories seriously. Holly claims that she has crunched a few numbers and found some striking evidence that Marshall's theories aren't as crackpot as they seem.

Together, Rick and Holly visit a cheesy tourist trap cave ride where a tour guide named Will (Danny McBride) joins them in what turns out to be a successful test of Dr. Marshall's multi-dimensional device. In Marshall's words 'Matt Lauer can suck it'. Telling people to 'suck it' is about par for the course of the humor in Land of the Lost. 

That's the set up. The payoff includes non-sequiturs about time travel, dinosaurs, exceptionally large poop, a man pouring urine on himself and a giant blood sucking insect. Oh and the music of A Chorus Line. Why? Random! Land of the Lost wants to be all things to all audiences and tries just about every avenue in search of a punchline and while there are undeniable laughs in the movie, mostly it's just people throwing jokes at the screen and hoping one or two stick. 

On the bright side, Anna Friel brings a unique and endearing feminine energy to the boy-centric adventure. She is a fantasy figure who strips her jeans down to short shorts and doesn't seem all that bothered by all the groping, far too much groping. Yet, she is also portrayed as a strong, centered character who manages to leaven out the crazy energy of Ferrell and the Larry the Cable Guy-esque riffing of Danny McBride.

Scattershot is an understatement in describing the humor of Land of the Lost. The movie is all over the place with Ferrell and McBride each flailing for a punchline while Friel desperately clings to her dignity amid the bathroom humor and randomness. There are laughs in the movie but certainly not enough to justify a nearly 2 hour big budget comedy. Mostly, the result of Land of the Lost ranges from indifference to mild annoyance. 

Movie Review: Your Highness

Your Highness (2011) 

Directed by David Gordon Green 

Written by Danny McBride, Ben Best 

Starring Danny McBride, James Franco, Natalie Portman, Zooey Deschanel, Justin Theroux, Damian Lewis

Release Date April 8th, 2011

Published April 8th, 2011

In "Your Highness" Danny McBride stars as Thaddeus, the loathsome younger brother of Fabious (James Franco), a heroic Knight and heir to the throne of Mourn. Thaddeus spends his days getting high and bedding chambermaids and is content to continue this lifestyle until Fabious returns from his latest quest with a new bride to be, Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel).

Dragons, Knights and Minotaur's oh my

Thaddeus is supposed to be his brother's best man at the wedding but he fails to show up, choosing to get high instead. While Thaddeus is M.I.A the wedding is attacked by the evil sorcerer Leezar (Justin Theroux) who takes Belladonna hostage with the intent of impregnating her as part an ancient ritual.

Now, Thaddeus will be forced by his father the King (Charles Dance) to join Fabious and his Knights on a quest to retrieve Belladonna or lose his part of the family fortune. Along the way there will be betrayals and dangerous detours into unfriendly kingdoms and a maiden, Isabel (Natalie Portman) who will join the quest and prove herself more than equal to Fabious and his Knights and of course very superior to Thaddeus.

Satire Fail

The plot of "Your Highness" is a derivative satire cum appreciation of cheesy period action movies like "Dragonslayer" and "Krull." "Your Highness" is pitched to a level of poking fun at these movies but in reality, "Your Highness" plays far less sarcastically than was, I believe, the original intent. It's not that "Your Highness" ever takes its adventure plot seriously but rather that the satire is less pointed than it should be.

That could also be a function of the complete lack of invention in all of the humor of "Your Highness." Random four letter words, penis jokes, bare breasts and marijuana are all alluded to and shown in "Your Highness" and yet none of it earned a laugh. Star Danny McBride, who also co-wrote the script for "Your Highness" with Ben Best, falls for the classic trap of thinking the mere presentation of the outrageous is funny.

Franco and Portman

James Franco is engagingly game as the heroic Fabious. The "127 Hours" Academy Award nominee is at times the only actor in "Your Highness" who understands the high satiric tone the film should be striving for; hitting his hero lines with the perfect mix of self awareness and pomposity. Unfortunately, the friendly chemistry Franco and McBride demonstrated in "Pineapple Express" is greatly lacking in "Your Highness."

Natalie Portman is the greatest victim of "Your Highness." Portman's Isabel fails as satire of comic book warrior chicks or as a send up of any recognizable movie character. Her comic delivery is stiff and her action heroine moments are so competent and believable that it fails as a satire of anything other than an idiot's notion of what women can or cannot do.

In the post-Ripley/Sarah Connor world it's simply not surprising or funny to see a woman kick ass and in the wake of overkill like "Sucker Punch" it's barely even titillating. So, one is left to wonder what function does Portman's character serve? If you have a good idea, I wouldn't mind hearing it.

Danny McBride has shown that he can be very funny in supporting roles in movies like "Pineapple Express" and "Tropic Thunder," among other films. Unfortunately, called upon to be a leading man he falls desperately flat. Worse yet, the satire of medieval adventure movies are just as flat and unfunny as McBride's lead performance.

"Your Highness" simply fails in every fashion.

Movie Review: Underworld Rise of the Lycans

Underworld Rise of the Lycans (2009) 

Directed by Patrick Tatopoulos

Written by Danny McBride, Dirk Blackman, Howard McCain

Starring Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, Rhona Mitra

Release Date January 23rd, 2009 

Published January 23rd, 2009

It is somehow odd to me that I have liked each of the Underworld movies. Odd because I have managed to be surprised by how much I have liked each of these movies. From the marketing, the first two Underworld movies were about ogling Kate Beckinsale in tight black leather. Yet, watching them, I was endlessly tickled by the over the top effects and the grand screen chewing performances of Brits Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen.

In the latest addition to the franchise, Bill Nighy and Michael Sheen take front and center and once again I was surprised how good a time I had watching such a wondrously goofy sci fi exploitation flick.

The first two Underworld films set the scene, Vampires and Werewolves, at war for centuries with humans as merely a bone each wants to feast on. Each of the Underworld made reference to what happened to turn these warring factions so blisteringly against each other. Now in Rise of the Lycans we see the story fully fleshed for the first time.

You see, when Werewolves came into existence they were merely animals that were once human but incapable of accessing their human side. That changed with the birth of Lucian (Michael Sheen) a werewolf capable of reason and able to transition from wolf to man at will. 

Raised by vampires, Lucian's blood was used to create a slave class, kept in line by a collar that prevented them from going all werewolf. It was an ideal set up for the Vampires until grown up Lucian fell in love with Viktor's daughter Sonja (Rhona Mitra) and conspired with her to escape from his torturous slavery. With the aid of another Vampire, Tannis (Steven Mackintosh) attempting usurp Viktor's power, Lucian does escape and takes a number of his werewolf brethren with him.

This sets the stage for war, especially when Lucian returns for Sonja and Viktor discovers his daughter's affair.

In the tradition of the Hammer horror movies, Underworld Rise of the Lycans makes great use of a pair of brilliant english actors who bring a cache of classy talent to an otherwise B-movie conceit. Bill Nighy and Oscar nominee Michael Sheen tear into the material of Underworld Rise of the Lycans with relish and their passion for such goofball work is rousing.

Even as cheeseball effects rage around them, Nighy and Sheen keep their dignity intact and manage to raise the material to a level of respectability that only a truly talented actor could. While many would rightly expect this movie was about Rhona Mitra putting on Kate Beckinsale's tight black leather, it quickly becomes about Sheen's raging romantic angst and Nighy's screen chewing palace intrigue.

First time director Patrick Tatopoulis smartly embraces a low budget aesthetic that makes his effects look something akin to Bruce Campbell's Army of Darkness but with werewolves. The key is that Tatopoulis is aware of his low aesthete and doesn't try to hide it. He knows the effects are cheesy, he just keeps them moving fast enough so that we don't get bogged down goofing on them.

Underworld Rise of the Lycans is alot of fun. As I have said about the last two movies, who doesn't love the idea of Vampires fighting Werewolves. It's just a cool idea. Throw in a couple of brilliant brits and some camp-tastic special effects and you have all the ingredients for a good time at the movies.

I am not ashamed to say, I really had a great time watching Underworld Rise of the Lycans.

Movie Review: Drillbit Taylor

Drillbit Taylor (2008) 

Directed by Steven Brill

Written by Seth Rogen

Starring Owen Wilson, Leslie Mann, Danny McBride 

Release Date March 21st, 2008

Published March 21st, 2008

There are three different movies going amidst the chaos of the new comedy Drillbit Taylor. One is a retreaming of producer Judd Apatow and his writer pal Seth Rogan and their style of raunchy, genital based humor. Another is an Owen Wilson movie starring Wilson in his usual charming rogue comic persona. The last is the most distasterous, an Adam Sandler movie. Stephen Brill, Adam Sandler’s pal and director of Little Nicky and Mr. Deeds, attempts to force the disparate work of Apatow/Rogan, Owen Wilson and Brill’s brand of the Sandler schtick, sans Sandler, into Drillbit Taylor and the result is utterly brutal.

Owen Wilson stars as the title character in Drillbit Taylor, a homeless criminal who accepts a position as a bodyguard for three nerdy High School freshman being bullied by a nasty senior. Nate Hartley, Troy Gentile and David Dorfman play the desperate nerds Wade, Ryan and Emmit who need protection from Filkins (Alex Frost) who has decided to make their lives hell. Offering their whole allowances week after week in exchange protection, the best bodyguard they could afford is Drillbit who claims to be an ex-military ranger and hides his homelessness.

Initially, Drillbit just wants to rob the boys and sets about stealing their stuff under the guise of helping them. Eventually however, after seeing the boys get brutalized, he decides to train them to take care of themselves. His methods are a joke but damned if they don’t give the boys the confidence to stand up to Frost leading to an inevitable final confrontation.

As often is the case my description brings order to a plot where little order exists. Drillbit Taylor stops and starts and sputters through nearly two hours of unfunny violence and cruelty. The script by Seth Rogan and Kristofer Brown plays as if half finished, filled as it is with cliches like the clueless parents and uncaring teachers, just the kinds of characters Rogan and his co-writer pal Evan Goldberg avoided like the plague in his brilliant script for Superbad. Writing with another Apatow protege Kristofer Brown, with an alleged touch up by the legendary John Hughes, the script for Drillbit Taylor features strongly sympathetic kid characters who unfortunately are transported to the Adam Sandler movie world and are repeatedly abused until we just can’t watch, let alone laugh.

Stephen Brill’s direction has the subtlety and grace of an elephant on a frozen lake bed. Scenes slam into and bang off one another in a nearly random order early on as our heroes are kept from meeting Drillbit till the beginning of the films second act. More diversions keep Drillbit out of the school, where Wilson’s charming con man thrives ever so briefly as he romances Leslie Mann’s clueless teacher, until the third act. The third act which then takes forever to play out to a stunningly violent tet still predictable conclusion. .

What director Brill thinks is funny about the abuse he puts these poor kids through is an absolute puzzle. The film lingers on scenes of violence so ugly and scarring that that the movie loses touch with any sort of reality. Drillbit Taylor becomes merely a blunt instrument attempting to bludgeon audiences into submission. Meanwhile, as Steve Brill tries to bend Rogan and Brown’s characters and Wilson’s act to fit his Sandler movie mold it is as if Brill were bullying them into his movie.

Oddly enough dear reader, if Drillbit Taylor had starred Adam Sandler and not Owen Wilson, it might actually have come out better. Wilson simply isn’t cut out to play Drillbit who is called on to be a rude, uncaring, brute who learns to care. Wilson is better suited to playing con men with a heart of gold who can only be redeemed by a good woman as he was in Wedding Crashers or The Big Bounce (not a great movie, but not bad either). No, Drillbit is perfectly suited to Sandler’s manchild, raging id persona who can be believable as an uncaring jerk, as a brutish enforcer and as the teddy bear who learned a valuable lesson.

That is likely due to the direction of Brill who has only really known how to direct Sandler. He was at a loss trying to find a Sandler-esque character in the dismal 2005 comedy Without A Paddle and he is further at a loss in trying to turn Drillbit Taylor into a Sandler movie without Sandler. What you get when he attempts to bend Rogan, Apatow and Wilson to his will is a trainwreck of slapstick violence, low key deadpan and genital based character humor. Oh what an ugly wreck it is.

Movie Review Pineapple Express

Pineapple Express (2008) 

Directed by David Gordon Green 

Written by Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg 

Starring Seth Rogen, James Franco, Gary Cole, Rosie Perez, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Bill Hader

Release Date August 6th, 2008 

Published August 5th, 2008

Pineapple Express is arguably the Citizen Kane of stoner movies. In this tiny comedic sub-genre there is little competition to overcome, nevertheless this witty, oddly violent pot comedy squeezes more laughs out of its stoner heroes than 2 Harold and Kumar movies combined. That is likely because of the behind the scenes all star team involved.

The guys behind Superbad and Knocked Up, writer, actor Seth Rogen, his writing partner Evan Goldberg and producer Judd Apatow combine their talent for stoners with a heart of gold with the tremendous directorial skill of indie veteran David Gordon Green to create a stoner comedy that, at the very least, is better than any of the stoner comedies to come before it.

Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) is a pot smoking, talk radio loving, process server who spends his time in costume delivering subpoenas for a living while really living for his next hit. Dale's dealer is Saul (James Franco) a sweet, good natured drug dealer who thinks Dale is his friend when in reality, they wouldn't know each other if Saul didn't sell pot.

Saul has just come into possession of some new weed called Pineapple Express. It is supposed to be grown in such a unique way that it actually gets you higher than any other pot in existence. Saul sells some to Dale who is unfortunately smoking it in front of the home of another drug dealer, Ted Jones (Gary Cole), when he witnesses the dealer kill a man.

Leaving behind his rare weed, Dale is convinced that the joint can be used to find Saul and if they find Saul, that would lead to finding him. And he's right. Ted and a corrupt police officer, played by Rosie Perez, identify the weed and go after Saul who goes on the run with Dale and well, a whole lot of stuff happens and a whole lot of stuff gets smoked.

Pineapple Express is the rare comedy that zigs when you think it will zag. Unpredictability is the film's hallmark as instead of just bumbling through a series of gags, director David Gordon Green goes for edgy comedic violence and often leaves your jaw dropped with it. Some of the violence is painfully funny, some of it is shocking but all of it serves the purposes of the plot that propels from one entertaining scene to the next.

Seth Rogen and James Franco make for a terrific comic team. Exhibiting the kind of male bonded performance that is now the hallmark of the Apatow brand of comedy, Pineapple Express has given rise to the term Bromance to describe the extraordinarily close yet platonic bond between two male best friends. Rogen and Franco do everything short of make out to demonstrate how much they care about each other and the more they push the line, the funnier it gets.

Pineapple Express doesn't reach the comedic highs of Superbad or Knocked Up but as stoner comedies go, it doesn't get much better than this. Terrifically funny, surprising and shockingly violent, Pineapple Express never goes where you expect it to. Rogen, Apatow and now David Gordon Green are at the forefront of modern comedy and now with Pineapple Express they can continue to write their own ticket in Hollywood.

Write it, roll it up and smoke it, if they want to.

Movie Review: Underworld Evolution

Underworld Evolution (2006) 

Directed by Len Wiseman 

Written by Danny McBride 

Starring Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Bill Nighy, Michael Sheen

Release Date January 20th, 2006

Published January 19th, 2006 

2003's Underworld began with a cool comic book fantasy premise. The idea? A war between vampires and werewolves. It's an idea that had horror fanboys creaming their shorts in anticipation of the long dreamed battle between two of literature's iconic villains. Unfortunately, with a first time director Len Wiseman at the helm, Underworld flailed and ultimately faltered in a hail of bullets and blue light. The novice director never got a handle on how iconic his subject matter was and instead became enamored of finding new ways to exploit the, ahem, virtues of his star Kate Beckinsale. And what virtues they are.

That film may have failed its central idea but, as a masturbation fantasy on home video, the film became a hit and less than two years later we get Underworld: Evolution. Filled with more fabulous shots of the leather clad Ms. Beckinsale, including one near nude scene, Underworld: Evolution once again fails its premise but does manage to reaffirm how hot Beckinsale is in tight black leather.

The first Underworld introduced us to our heroine Selene (Kate Beckinsale), a leather clad badass vampire who calls herself a death dealer. Her job is to hunt and kill the vampire's ancient enemy, the Lycan (werewolf for the uninitiated). By the end of the film she and her new man Michael (Scott Speedman), a newly created vamp/Lycan hybrid, had uncovered a shattering conspiracy and became outlaws on the run from both vampire and werewolf alike.

Evolution picks up where the first film left off with Selene and Michael seeking shelter and much needed blood. Unbeknownst to our heroes, another even more powerful vampire elder, the legendary Marcus (Tony Curran), has awakened and is searching for Selene. She, or more to the point her blood, holds the key to the secret of Marcus' brother's whereabouts. Marcus' brother happens to be the very first and deadliest werewolf in history. Marcus intends on freeing his brother and taking over the world.

It's not a great plot, in fact it's barely a passable plot. Len Wiseman, who wrote and directed the first film and contributed the story for this film, seems to have only one real obvious talent, and that talent is filming Kate Beckinsale, who happens to be his wife. The two met on the set of the first film and were married soon after production wrapped.

It's not hard to make Kate Beckinsale look good, her natural assets outlined in tight black leather are more than enough. Wiseman's camera, however, finds ways to accentuate her natural beauty to a distracting degree. Underworld: Evolution features a really hot sex scene between Michael and Selene that no doubt made the ultimate difference in the film's R-rating.

So with all of the issues I have with the plotting and some of the important technical aspects on the filmmaking side, what is it about Underworld: Evolution that I loved?

Underworld: Evolution picks up where the original Underworld left off with an unrelenting pace. After a brief respite resetting the vampire/lycan history, the film starts running fast and never stops. Ok, so vampires shooting at each other seems as odd as it did in the first film but, at the very least, there are a lot of bullets and they invariably hit their mark spilling buckets of CGI blood.

The violence of Underworld: Evolution is cartoonish and over the top but it works because there is so much of it. The fight scenes between Selene and Marcus and Michael and a giant CGI werewolf are goofy but still manage to be a lot of fun. When a downed helicopter with still spinning blades is introduced into the fight you just know some awesome carnage is soon to come, and Evolution does not disappoint.

Despite improving on the original Underworld, Evolution fails its super cool premise the same way the first film did. That is disappointing, but the film makes up for some of that disappointment by providing the kind of classic, highly stylized, extremely bloody violence that made me love horror films as a kid. Forget that horror porn garbage, give me classic, balls-out, over the top gore and save the mysoginistic insights into man's inhumanity to man for some unpleasant college course.

Underworld: Evolution is not nearly a great film but, compared to recent offerings in the horror genre, it's a breath of fresh bloody gore.

Movie Review: Underworld

Underworld (2003) 

Directed by Len Wiseman 

Written by Danny McBride 

Starring Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy 

Release Date September 19th, 2003 

Published September 18th, 2003 

It sounded like such a great idea. A Romeo and Juliet style romance set against the backdrop of a war between vampires and werewolves. How could that not be endlessly cool! In the hands of director Len Wiseman, what sounded so cool in brief plot description becomes an overwrought, derivative genre piece that disappoints on so many levels.

Kate Beckinsale stars as Selene, a vampire whose gig is killing werewolves. You see, for years behind the backs of humans, vampires and werewolves have been waging a brutal and bloody war. Most recently the vampires had been dominant, but a new pack of werewolves has come to town with all sorts of new toys to kill vamps and a plan to unite the two species.

The key to the plot is a young doctor named Michael (Felicity's ineffectual dope Scott Speedman). Michael may or may not be the descendent of an unholy tryst between a werewolf and a vampire. His blood could hold the key to creating a super race that would end the war. After Michael and Selene's life, she makes it her mission to protect him, and as it happens, she falls in love with him.

Beckinsale decked out in black leather and big shiny guns not surprisingly evokes Trinity from The Matrix and like that supposedly "deep" film, Underworld has some high-minded ideals of its own. Beneath its surface of vamps and wolves are elements of Shakespeare, Greek tragedy and a vague allusion to the futility of war.

Unfortunately, it's all swathed in this illusion of cool. Outfitting the film in the look of The Matrix and siphoning off the classic appeal of all things Goth, the film buries its ideals beneath bullets, blood and worst of all, leaden dialogue.

The film’s first half an hour or so is quite interesting, showing vampires dominating werewolves, which is a true Goth fantasy. A group of pallid skinny Goths dominating big brutish bullies is straight out of some Cure fan’s wet dream.

For her part, Beckinsale is an effective heroine, believably tough and ruthless when she has to be. Her co-star Scott Speedman on the other hand is a wet blanket, a weepy, whiny wuss who can't even transform into a half vampire/half werewolf and not get beat up. Speedman has the look and the physique to play the part but the same soppiness that marked his character on the show Felicity is on display again in Underworld.

There is a good movie to be made from this setup. Clearly, the idea of vampires fighting werewolves has an endless appeal to fans of the genre. Underworld squanders this plot with overwrought cliches and too much black leather and bullets.

Movie Review: Tropic Thunder

Tropic Thunder (2008) 

Directed by Ben Stiller 

Written by Ben Stiller Justin Theroux, Etan Cohen 

Starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr, Steve Coogan, Jack Black, Nick Nolte, Danny McBride

Release Date August 13th, 2008 

Published August 12th, 2008

Ben Stiller may seem all mild mannered and inoffensive but he has a rather pronounced dark side when he wants to. It came out when he played Jerry Stahl in Permanent Midnight. And that dark side was unfortunately on display in his ugly direction of The Cable Guy. But it is not until now, with the release of the savage Hollywood parody Tropic Thunder that we finally see Stiller at his darkest. Sending up full of themselves actors, greedy agents, and maniacal studio heads, Stiller pulls no punches and lands frequent, hilarious, body blows.

In Tropic Thunder Ben Stiller writes, directs and even stars as action movie legend Tugg Speedman. The star of the over-ripe action series Scorcher, Tugg's star is fading and he is craving the respect that only Oscar can bring. That is why he chose to star in Simple Jack, the story of a severely mentally challenged farm worker. The role was universally derided.

Speedman was lucky to land a role in Tropic Thunder a Vietnam book adaptation with an all star cast and Oscar written all over it. Sort of. The film has the gravitas of a Vietnam story but it also has a first time director (Steve Coogan), an inexperienced crew, and an out of control budget. And then there are his co-stars.

Jeff Portnoy is the star of the comedy franchise The Fatties in which he plays every character and every joke is a fart joke. Portnoy also happens to have a wicked heroin addiction to complete the package. Kirk Lazarus is a completely different kind of problem child. A multiple Oscar-Emmy-Golden Globe award winner, Lazarus is legendary for immersing himself so deeply in a role that he loses himself.

Once, after portraying astronaut Neil Armstrong, he was found in dumpster attempting to fly it to the moon. For Tropic Thunder Lazarus has undergone a medical procedure to dye his skin so he can play an African American Sgt. The cast is rounded out by a rapper named Alpa Chino (Brandon Jackson, read the name again if you didn't get it the first time), and a first time actor named Kevin (JayBaruchel).

Together the cast is such a pain in the ass that the director finally decides he has to change the whole production. At the urging of the writer of the book, a nutball vet nicknamed Four Leaf (Nick Nolte, in full Nick Nolte mode), the director is taking the cast into the real jungles of Vietnam where they will shoot the movie guerilla style with handheld and hidden cameras with real explosions, provided by an inexperienced tech guy (Danny  McBride) with an itchy trigger finger.

Unfortunately, not long after arriving in the jungle, the director goes missing and the cast is engaged by real life inhabitants of this jungle setting, drug smugglers who mistake them for DEA agents. Now the cast is involved in a real war only they don't know it.

Ben Stiller tapped out the script for Tropic Thunder with his pal Justin Theroux and they hold back nothing in demonstrating the self involved nature of most actors, directors and studio people. The studio head in Tropic Thunder is an especially delicious parody, of whom only Stiller and Theroux know for sure. Played by an unrecognizable Tom Cruise, the studio head is a maniac with a penchant for Diet Coke and hip hop dancing.

Cruise has never been this unrestrained and balls out hilarious. He bites into this role with the same verve and vitriol that he brought to his misogynists' guru in 1999's Magnolia and it's a contest to tell which character required more swearing.

Tropic Thunder is loud, violent, stupid and offensive. It's also, arguably, the funniest movie of 2008. If you can put aside the controversies, you are going to laugh a lot at this most deserving beatdown of Hollywood imagemakers. There are jokes in Tropic Thunder that are intended to make you uncomfortable or even angry and yet, you often can't help but laugh at just how outland and bold these jokes are. I don't want to here the R-word slur toward the mentally handicapped but it is hard to deny, in the context of Tropic Thunder, it's use apt and very, very funny. I'm deeply ashamed at laughing as hard as I did, but I did laugh. 

As for Robert Downey in blackface... well..... I was sure this would be the most controversial element of Tropic Thunder. Fortunately, Stiller and Theroux do try to defuse the situation with Brandon Jackson's Alpa Chino character calling out the blatant and disgusting racism at play. Meanwhile, Downey Jr himself does well to make sure Kurt Lazarus has few redeeming qualities, he's clearly a terrible person. The movie is hard on Hollywood by being hard on these characters who represent elements of the Hollywood in need of a serious punch in the gut. Downey's shots at the pretentious Method Actor, are terrifically, savagely funny.

Delivering unto the Hollywood elite the smackdown they so desperately deserve, Tropic Thunder is the rare Hollywood satire to throw punches and actually land a few. The public generally isn't interested in Hollywood talking about itself, even when it is being self critical, but with Tropic Thunder comes a Hollywood self examination that comes with big laughs that don't require you to have read obscure tomes about Hollywood legends and bastards.

Movie Review The Heartbreak Kid

The Heartbreak Kid (2007)

Directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly 

Written by Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly, Scot Armstrong, Leslie Dixon, Kevin Barnett

Starring Ben Stiller, Malin Akerman, Michelle Monaghan, Jerry Stiller, Rob Cordry, Danny McBride

Release Date October 5th, 2007 

Published October 4th, 2007 

Ben Stiller has the astonishing talent to remain as funny and likable in bad movies as he is in good movies. Night at the Museum, Meet The Fockers, Envy, all not so great movies and all movies where Stiller outshined the material provided to him. Stiller is once again in better than the movie mode in the Farrelly Brothers comedy The Heartbreak Kid. This sorta-romantic comedy, a remake of the 1972 Elaine may-Neil Simon teaming, has a terrific idea at its center and Stiller in fine form. Unfortunately directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly can't help but succumb to their worst instincts in a vain attempt to recapture past glory.

Eddie (Stiller) is 40 years old and never married. He was engaged for 5 years, but as we meet him in The Heartbreak Kid, he is attending his ex-fiance's wedding. Both Eddie's dad (Jerry Stiller) and his best pal Mac (Rob Corddry) give him no end of crap for not settling down when he had the chance. Thus when Eddie meets Lila (Malin Akerman) he rushes things a little bit.

Eddie and Lila fall into a relationship not long after he attempts to foil a bad guy who stole her purse. A whirlwind courtship leads to the hasty decision to get married and a disaster on the horizon. Taking their honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas, Eddie quickly realizes that Lila is a little off. She sings along with every song on the radio, she's horrible at math, and she's desperately in debt. She's also not very bright, thus why she is almost immediately laid up in the hotel room with a bad sunburn.

The time alone allows Eddie to meet Miranda (Michelle Monaghan), a beautiful women's lacrosse coach vacationing with her family. The two spark quickly and after spending a day together drinking and soaking in the local culture,  Eddie realizes he is in love. Now, he has to figure out a way to break it to Lila that they are not working out and make sure he has won Miranda's heart.

The set up for The Heartbreak Kid is solid, this is a terrific premise. Unfortunately, the Farrelly Brothers, back behind the camera for the first time since 2005's Fever Pitch, can't resist a return to their basest instincts. Fever Pitch was a sweet, good hearted romantic comedy that played straighter than any previous Farrelly's comedy. The Heartbreak Kid is a throwback to the less interesting Stuck On You, Shallow Hal, Me Myself and Irene days.

Those films distilled the essence of the Farrelly's oeuvre down to the lowest common denominator. Each has its moments, but for the most part each is a lesser and lesser version of the Farrelly's one true classic There's Something About Mary. The Heartbreak Kid is the palest imitation of all; featuring Stiller in the earnest, frustrated good guy role he played so well in Mary.

Sadly, The Heartbreak Kid fails to capture what made Mary such a great comedy. The combination of heart and humor in There's Something About Mary is a near perfect combination of good hearted romance and lowbrow, genitalia based humor. It's a combo nearly impossible to pull off and The Heartbreak Kid doesn't even come close.

Disgusting for the sake of being disgusting, slapstick for the sake of slapstick, The Heartbreak Kid constantly steps on the more interesting aspects of Eddie's romantic dilemma by dropping in unnecessarily crude humor. Do we really need Carlos Mencia as a porn loving, sex offending, hotel manager? Do we need Jerry Stiller grossing out everyone in earshot with his many horrifying sexual innuendos?

Did we need to see Ben Stiller getting peed on or a visual gag about women's privates that may be the lowest joke of any movie in 2007? I certainly don't think so. Not when Ben Stiller, Malin Akerman and Michelle Monaghan are doing such great work creating a comically tense love triangle. The crudity only serves to distract and get in the way.

Ben Stiller gets better and better each time out. In fact, Stiller has never seemed more comfortable onscreen as he does in The Heartbreak Kid. Granted, he's played the flustered good guy for more than a decade but really, you can finally see him losing his many tics and affectations and becoming comfortable being himself on screen. This newfound comfort only serves to turn this already funny actor into a more charming and interesting screen presence.

Stiller's work clearly has a good effect on co-star Malin Akerman who does much of the heavy lifting in the broad comic moments. Akerman is a great beauty who gives herself over to broad comedy in the most unexpected ways. Not everything about her performance works, but you have to respect her bravery and willingness to do anything that was asked of her.

Michelle Monaghan is the perfect romantic foil for Stiller. The two have tremendous chemistry and the romance between them was more than interesting enough to make The Heartbreak Kid work as a romantic comedy. It's unfortunate that Peter and Bobby Farrelly didn't trust their stars enough to back off, just a little, on the lowbrow stuff.

The potential is there for a terrific romantic comedy in The Heartbreak Kid. It's undone by writer-directors desperate for faded glory. Peter and Bobby Farrelly have seen diminishing returns on each of their films since There's Something About Mary. Only Fever Pitch betrayed an attitude that they really didn't care about mimicking their past success.

Reteaming with Ben Stiller however, the Farrelly's sensed an opportunity to regain their A-list status and went for broke trying to recreate something that just can't be captured a second time. Certainly not with such desperate pandering as that which breaks The Heartbreak Kid.

Movie Review: Up in the Air

Up in the Air (2009) 

Directed by Jason Reitman 

Written by Jason Reitman 

Starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Danny McBride 

Release Date December 4th, 2009 

Published December 3rd, 2009 

It's a horrifying idea but I am told it is real. Companies actually do hire people to fire employees for them. It's bad enough losing your job but to have the people you have given your hard work and dedication to for however many years hand you off to someone else for the worst moment of your career is a disgusting thought. It's just the kind of cowardly and dehumanizing effect of modern capitalism that turns my stomach. 

George Clooney gives life to one of these workplace specters of career death in a snappy suit, a  and a pamphlet for a sickle. He's the villain of this story in many ways but by drilling down on this character, we don't find a villain but a lonely, sad result of what soulless capitalist pursuits can do to a human soul. George Clooney delivers the best performance of his career under the direction of Jason Reitman in Up in the Air. 

In “Up in the Air” George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man who takes pride in spending some 330 days of the year traveling. He has a semblance of a home, a tidy bachelor hovel in Omaha, near the corporate headquarters of the company he works for but rarely sees. It is Ryan's job to fly into cities across the country, visit some no name corporate outlet and do the boss's dirty work - firing people. He and the company have some cruel euphemism for firing but it's a firing and it's as ugly as you imagine. 

Ryan is very good at his job, occasionally he's actually soothing which, given the circumstance, is rather impressive. Ryan doesn't love his job, though when asked to he can romanticize and defend it. What he truly loves is the travel which allows him the comfort he's never found at home. In passing relations with fellow travelers and the faux kindness of the service industry professionals he encounters Ryan finds the kinds of relationship he's never achieved with just one person. Simple relationships unencumbered by emotion or instability.

Naturally, all of Ryan's notions are soon challenged. The first challenge is personal as, while on a layover in some airline lounge, he strikes up a conversation with Alex (Vera Farmiga) over her choice of Blackberry. The conversation soon turns to travel, rental cars, hotel upgrades and all of the things both truly cherish. He tells her he has a goal for airline miles but refuses to tell her what it is. That, for Ryan, is too personal.

The second challenge is professional and arrives in the form of Natalie (Anna Kendrick), an up-and-comer from the home office in Omaha who has a plan that will take Ryan off the road and strand him in Nebraska. She wants to fire people over a computer link up and the honchos, led by a less than convincing Jason Bateman, are ready to back the idea. In defending his way of doing things Ryan inadvertently ends up with Natalie as his protégé and traveling partner as he teaches her how to do his job.

Jason Reitman and  co-screenwriter Sheldon Turner tell a two track story in Up in the Air that coalesces into one spectacular series of scenes that includes gate-crashing a computer convention and an appearance by rapper Young MC. These scenes show Ryan and Alex falling in love while young Natalie unwittingly challenges each of their notions about who they are and why they are attracted to one another. This happens as she mourns the loss of the only relationship she has known in her own life. 

Of course, the scenes that will strike a chord with 2009 audiences are scenes featuring real people who went through the pain of being fired during the bailout crisis and recession of this late portion of the decade. Director Jason Reitman hired real people who had lost their jobs to take part in these scenes and the pain in their voices as they talk about the loss of their jobs is exceptionally powerful.

The firing sessions give the film weight and allow the romance to blossom around them in unexpected ways. Scenes with actors Zach Galifianakis and Reitman favorite J.K Simmons provide the visual link between the film world and the real world. Without Galifianakis and Simmons, among others, the transition between the real world of these awful firings to the film world's comedy and romance would be too jarring. It’s among many smart choices in this terrifically smart film.

In the end, “Up in the Air” is a film about connections - literal and figurative. The unique ways in which Ryan Bingham’s personal and professional lives connect are at the heart of a film that may not strive to define the last decade of American culture but in many ways does. From our current economic uncertainty, to our ever more casual sexuality, to our changing attitude about infidelities and modern obsessions with gadgetry, “Up in the Air” offers a modest comment on each and does so with style, wit, a little romance and never feels arrogant or overblown doing it.

Writer George Will flippantly called “Up in the Air” ‘Grapes of Wrath for the service industry.’ He’s not entirely wrong. Where that book and film defined a movement toward social justice coming out of the Great Depression, inside the romance of “Up in the Air” is an inkling of a cry for a just truce between greedy corporate titans and the humans they refer to as resources. It is only an inkling; this is still a modern, big star, Hollywood production, just one with a big beating heart for those who are struggling.