By: Addison Wylie The legend of Hercules has been told time after time. Heck, earlier this year, movie goers even received another Hercules film. It didn’t do so hot (both with overall reception and with box office receipts), but maybe I’ll give it a watch down the road to wash away the dingy aftertaste Brett Ratner’s Hercules left behind. When a character as old as Hercules is dusted off and used to make another swords-and-sandels…
By: Addison Wylie Tammy is the latest instalment in a series of movies featuring Melissa McCarthy acting inappropriately. It garnered her an Academy Award nomination in Bridesmaids, it repelled good taste in Identity Thief, and brought in lots of giggles in The Heat. Now, her rude persuasiveness finds its way in the backwoods. Tammy, which embraces its hickabilly fog, has McCarthy playing the title role and hitting the road with her blunt, booze gulping grandma…
By: Addison Wylie When people gang up on Tyler Perry, I’m there to usually defend him. I might not be saying good things about his movies, but I’ve stood up for him from a business perspective. He knows his audience well, and that knowledge has led him to be one of the most profitable filmmakers of our time. But this time, I side with the haters. And, I can’t see his fan base happily accepting…
By: Addison Wylie The conception of a movie like And So It Goes doesn’t so much start with an outline or a series of ideas. It begins with a demand no one has demanded; except for zealous producers who think they know their desired demographic. The general public likes Michael Douglas and those same patrons are most likely to enjoy watching Diane Keaton. The brains behind And So It Goes have taken these two variables…
By: Addison Wylie You often hear the term “edutainment” thrown around. I’ve used it in a few reviews regarding films that keep the audience thrilled while offering plenty of food for thought, but I usually pair the word to learning tools a teacher could use in a grade school homeroom. Whether you’re watching GMO OMG for fun or using it to study up about genetically modified organisms, Jeremy Seifert’s film is able to keep you…
By: Addison Wylie Legendary British comedy masterminds Monty Python gathered at London’s O2 arena and performed their last show of Monty Python Live (mostly) on Sunday, July 20. There were plenty of animal puns, ridiculous cheekiness, and spam to go around. Monty Python Live (mostly) opens with a silly song about llamas and leads in with John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and show director Eric Idle performing a sketch about reuniting and oneupmanship…
By: Addison Wylie Last year, I caught a humbling documentary called André Gregory: Before and After Dinner. Cindy Kleine’s candid look at Gregory’s life and multi-talented career stole my heart and made me very interested in what the artist had to offer for the future. In the doc, Gregory and his close collaborator Wallace Shawn are working on their latest work – an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s The Master Builder. You may remember Shawn for his…
By: Addison Wylie I bet if we scoured filmmaker David Wain’s DVD collection, we would find romantic comedies. A lot of them. It takes a certain kind of guilty affection to lampoon a genre this immaculately. That’s what the absurdist has done with fellow writing cohort Michael Showalter. The two collaborated on the cult hit Wet Hot American Summer – which took the piss out of camp movies – and now they go for the…
By: Addison Wylie Jackass brings back everyone’s favourite filthy grandpa in Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa .5. Home viewing audiences get an assortment of pranks that were cut from the original hidden camera escapade as well as ideas that paid off with unsigned release forms or slacked pacing that may have bogged down Bad Grandpa’s storytelling. Bad Grandpa .5 is an extended behind-the-scenes feature more than anything. The indestructible Johnny Knoxville as well as director Jeff…
By: Addison Wylie One of the crimes an actor can commit is to remind the audience that they’re acting. In the case of the melodrama in Cinemanovels, the cast could all do time in the clink. Since writer/director Terry Miles is the head of this operation and knows no boundaries for heaviness or volume, he should be committed too. When a highly regarded filmmaker passes away, his distraught daughter Grace (played by Lauren Lee Smith)…