P ut simply, Bad Santa is as crass and cringey as anything Hollywood has ever produced. At its core is Willie (Billy Bob Thornton), a department store Santa who radiates boozy rage like stench from a rotten egg. Even the flies that buzz around his head are probably drunk. It was an enormous gamble for…
B lack Adam plays like a cinematic paradox. It delivers visual spectacle that's ambitious and expensive, but at the service of lazy, uneven storytelling. As the title character, Dwayne Johnson shows all the charisma and gravitas that made him a durable superstar. At the same time, his acting and wrestling legacies serve as distractions--this never feels…
L ethal Weapon may not be the source of cop-themed movie tropes, but it certainly elevated a bunch of them into cinematic institutions: Partners on opposite ends of the spectrum, with one guy an amiable family man, the other a slobbering maniac. A police chief who's always fed up with their shenanigans. A stone cold villain…
It's such a fine line between stupid and clever..." David St. Hubbins
T ruer words have never echoed through the hallowed hallways of pop culture history. Our entire modern mythology is dominated by a pantheon of gods who totter between redoubtable genius and pure idiocy. Perhaps no film has better captured that savage balancing act with…
I f you've seen the trailers, posters, or billboards for Spirited, let's see if your first impression synchs with mine: At first glance, this movie looks like concentrated donkey doo. It's another twist on A Christmas Carol, which the world needs like a ski boot to the Nutter Butters. Even more egregious, this modern take stars Ryan…
W hat am I gonna do, knock this movie for being stupid? BASEketball is the cinematic equivalent of a fart machine. It couldn't be prouder of how dumb it is, like a sweaty frat boy showing off his brand new trucker hat/beer bong. The key lies in your own tolerance for BASEketball's idiocy, which flows like…
A s an epic elegy on the passing of Chadwick Boseman, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever works extremely well. It's a stately, moving benediction, and the filmmakers deserve credit for hitting all the right emotional notes. Unfortunately, the film suffers from the same bloat that afflicts so many other Marvel sequels: Wakanda spends much of its overlong…
L ong ago, the Brothers Coen set a high bar for evolving eccentricity. Their films hopped from genre to genre, with defiant wackiness serving as the only true constant. Even with that foreknowledge, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? stands out as an odd duck. On paper, the notion of a Depression-era rebrand of Homer's Odyssey might come…
I n its best moments, Don't Worry Darling is a thoroughly engrossing misfire. A talented cast and crew gives everything they have, juggling like frantic circus performers doomed to drop everything to the floor. Indeed, director Olivia Wilde attempts to bundle several movies under the sprawling tent of one big carnival: Over the span of…
A s a standalone film, this Fright Night is perfectly acceptable. It's good-looking, well-cast, and delivers an adequate amount of fright for one night. Unfortunately, there's no getting around the fact this is a remake, and the original is a beloved artifact of the 80s. That makes this Fright feel both unnecessary and sacrilegious. As a rule, the more…