A Great Movie to See on a Man Date

Paul Rudd has managed to make himself the common denominator in almost every successful comedy since Anchorman. Since first showing up in 1995’s Clueless, he has surfed the undercurrent, playing the pleasant-faced guy with just enough issues to remain unpredictable and unforgivingly funny.
He’s so good that he doesn’t even need help from Judd Apatow. Using last year’s Role Models as an example, it’s amazing how Rudd’s presence and timing can make a comedy feel like that school of subtly sophisticated sex jokes and raunchy feel-good film.

Fighting Evil … and Bad Filmmaking

Reasons to go see Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li:
1. Plot: The Legend of Chun-Li centers around a classically-trained, millionaire pianist who receives mysterious scrolls in another language by mail and decides to give up everything to aimlessly wander through a far-off, quite dangerous city for weeks searching for the scroll’s owner, knowing only their first (or possibly last) name.
2. Believability: The Legend of Chun-Li is the kind of movie where said classical pianist looks like Kristin Kreuk, with hair and makeup still fresh after two weeks of living on the street with almost no money and just the clothes on her back.

In the Mood for … Blood!

Boy, are they remaking every horror movie classic or what? First The Hills Have Eyes and its pointless sequel, then Rob Zombie’s (re)take on Halloween, then Prom Night (ugh), and Black Christmas (blarf) and now the unholy goalie Jason Voorhees gets the treatment. What next? Elm Street again? Last House on the Left? Wait they are remaking those? Really? Why? Why?!

An Indian Parable

It is difficult to ignore the recent impact Bollywood has had on Hollywood and beyond, with movie moments ranging from the upbeat dance scene at the end of The 40-Year Old Virgin and Mike Myers’ abysmal flop The Love Guru to the land of drama and “serious film,” such as Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited and Danny Boyle’s Oscar contender Slumdog Millionaire. As anyone who has received a 21st-century telemarketing call can attest to, to focus on India at present is certainly to focus on a new and rapidly expanding center of the world.

What's French for We've Seen This Before?

If film has universally taught us anything, it is that love triangles really suck. There’s nothing quite as painful as introducing an odd number into an aspect of human nature that usually seems destined for two (shoes are another). There are always exceptions. Shakespeare tried playing with what felt like an inverted love pentagram, or perhaps a love dodecahedron in Twelfth Night. In general, if stuck for a dramatic movie plot, write three compelling characters with hopes, dreams, desires, idiosyncrasies and tragic flaws. Force two to love the third, deeply and maddeningly, and leave it to the audience to watch the third decide between the two. Shake thoroughly first and then serve chilled.

Bolt Above-Average, If Predictable, Dog Tale

The Truman Show was a movie with a great premise: film a reality show about a man who lives his life as if he were a normal everyday person, unaware his world is a set and his intimate details primetime entertainment. Although a wonderful send up of Hollywood and artistry gone wrong, one thing prevented The Truman Show from scaring the viewer as much as it might have. After a point, the suspension of disbelief was left in the theatre as we sighed in relief, and said: “But someone would blow the whistle. That could never happen. Not really. Not to a person.”

Ping Pong Playa Is an (Amusing) Ping Pong Loser

It’s an age-old human tragedy to love something completely and be terrible at it. Most in that scenario concede ineptitude but overcome defeat, soldering on “for the love of the game.” Others are blissfully ignorant of their own shortcomings, the loser that thinks he or she is the supreme jock. When combined with a case of arrested development, a love interest and a camera, one can find himself in the same comedic water Will Ferrell has been lucratively treading for some time now.

Quantum Provides No Solace for Fans

“Bond. James Bond.” The franchise that has survived five decades of regime changes and Hollywood eras, five different lead actors and countless leading ladies and villains, has become ritualized. The series began with Sean Connery as the titular womanizing action hero, engaging in a Cold War propaganda adventure of espionage and double crossing, diabolical plans and secret organizations. As the series went on and they ran out of Ian Fleming novels to adapt, the plots became more and more formulaic. Roger Moore’s brand of foppishness and successively ridiculous gadgetry replaced Connery’s cool resolve and gentlemanly broguish touch, and then we got Timothy Dalton (yikes) and a seven-year hiatus before Pierce Brosnan exploded onto the scene.