It is what it is. A shamelessly “cute” movie about dancing/singing penguins that no one will remember in a year’s time. Since the movie also didn’t do much at this weekend’s box office, I think we’re looking at the last of the Happy Feet franchise films and that’s probably for the best. What Works: Some…
Author: Alabama Liberal
Movie Review: Jack and Jill
This movie sucks. What Works: Virtually nothing. Al Pacino’s so-embarassing-it’s-hilarious turn as a version of himself is entertaining in its delirious kamikaze glory (the man is seriously hellbent on destroying his reputation) but after a while you just feel depressed for laughing at (not with) this once-great actor. What Doesn’t Work: This is an easy…
Movie Review: Like Crazy
This movie has stirred up a minor storm in the indie world in the past few weeks. It’s the story of two young college students (Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones) who fall in love quickly but have different struggles trying to stay together, including a long distance part of the movie where she’s in her…
Movie Review: Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
This is a Brazilian movie that came out there a few months back and became the highest grossing South American film ever. I’m just now catching up with this well-made crime drama but, let’s be honest, this movie wasn’t exactly at the top of your list for movies you’re waiting to read about. So I’ll…
Mom Joke: Three Quick Marriage Jokes
A man goes to a shrink and says, ‘Doctor, my wife is unfaithful to me. Every evening, she goes to Larry’s bar and picks up men. In fact, she sleeps with anybody who asks her! I’m going crazy. What do you think I should do?’ ‘Relax,’ says the Doctor, ‘take a deep breath and calm…
Petty Issues
Now that Herman Cain has been all but ruined by four different sexual harassment allegations, do you think the GOP wishes they’d picked a different token black guy to make them look less racist for hating Obama? Twilight Breaking Dawn: Part-One hits theaters this weekend and that title is either a threat or a promise…
Monday Morning Movie Reviewer: Tower Heist
It is what it is. This movie won’t surprise anyone, and will deliver almost exactly what you’d expect. What Works: A fine cast–really better than this movie deserves–and a few decent chuckles. It’s also good to see Eddie Murphy finally get back to straight comedy over lukewarm family films. What Doesn’t Work: The ending is…
Movie Reviews: Puss in Boots
This is the movie currently propping up the ailing box office (its second weekend performance only dipped three percent from the first week) but is it worth a damn? I would say…kind-of. That’s another way of giving the movie a C or a C+ and telling you to wait for the DVD, but, let’s be…
Movie Reviews: Footloose
Waaaay behind the curve reviewing this movie as it opened more than a month ago, but one of the reviews every Monday is no-longer-relevant, so that’s nothing new. I think the extra time also gives perspective. Footloose is a great example, as I would have been more enthusiastic about it immediately after seeing it than…
Larger Editorial: Mitt Romney’s Not an Idiot, He Just Plays One On TV
By now we’ve all gotten to know Mitt Romney so well, that it surprised me this week when I discovered that I really know nothing about him. The single largest criticism of Romney is that he’s a flip flopper, a phoney, an artificial mannequin who will say or do anything to get elected. In other words:…
Petty Issues
It’s not hard to see why Herman Cain has been so successful with conservatives in the Republican primary. He has an extreme lack of empathy for anyone worse off than him, from illegal immigrants (“Lets make an electrified border fence”) to Palestinians (“Israel should give them nothing”) to the 99.9 percent of black Americans that…
Monday Morning Movie Reviewer: Harold and Kumar Do Christmas in 3D
This movie has the single best red-band trailer I’ve ever seen, complete with coked up babies, Neil Patrick Harris hitting on babes in heaven, Neil Patrick Harris getting kicked out of heaven by a jealous Jesus, pot smoking babies with the munchies, etc. And yet, the movie itself sucks…Damn you trailers! What Works: It’s funny…
Monday Morning Movie Review: The Rum Diary
This movie more or less opened and died on its opening weekend during Halloween, so I won’t waste too much of anyone’s time on a sure-fire bomb that won’t be remembered as having existed by this time next year. What Works: Not a lot. The opening credits set to a soaring sky view of 1960’s…