Bad Santa 2 movie review: been there, done that, licked the candy cane lasciviously
Hard to believe it took 13 years to get a sequel to our screens and still have it show not a hint of Bad Santa’s inspiration or subversion.
Billy Bob Thornton
Our Brand Is Crisis movie review: unearned (and unneeded) sentiment
A protagonist who revels in the sheer cynicism of her job gets a sentimental redemption out of nowhere; Sandra Bullock’s comedic chops are undercut by it.
The Judge movie review: you can go home again
Avoids feeling as supremely calculated as it is, perhaps because Robert Downey Jr.’s snark and Robert Duvall’s crusty pragmatism vaccinate against it.
Parkland review (London Film Festival)
This poignant and painful ensemble drama about the lesser-known figures caught up in the JFK assassination reminds us that history happens to regular people, too.
Puss in Boots (review)
I’m pretty sure that the reason Antonio Banderas was put on this planet was to make Puss in Boots speak…
Mark Wahlberg admits ‘The Happening’ was terrible; Billy Bob Thornton says Hollywood is terrible; a female Old Spice Man spoof; more: leftover links
Plus: first-grader teased over her Star Wars water bottle; journalistic ethics getting a workout; saga of a film critic banned from screenings who got her buddies at The New York Times to intervene; more…
trailer break: ‘Faster’ redband trailer
I can’t really tell what this movie is about except that Dwayne Johnson is really pissed…
best production design of 2004 (plus some other bests and worsts of the year)
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN (encompassing production design, costumes, and makeup) The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou I usually favor invented worlds when picking the year’s best production work… and maybe I’ve done that here, too. Steve Zissou’s universe feels like it’s a baby step off skew with our own — the colors just a tad flat, … more…
Bad Santa (review)
So, when I attended a screening on November 14, I was already primed for *Bad Santa,* the meanest, curmudgeonliest, blackest holiday movie I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen most of ’em. It’s like, How much more black could it be? And the answer is None, none more black. I haven’t laughed at film this hard all year, and maybe not last year, either. And much of that laughter sprung from shock: I spent half the film saying to myself, ‘Holy crap, I can’t believe they did that!’ and ‘They did *not* just do that!’ It’s hard to be shocking in the era of the Farrelly Brothers, but *Bad Santa* is shocking partly because it’s so unrepentant and unapologetic. There’s no attempt to infuse the film with heart or soul or sweetness or light. *Bad Santa* unrelentingly twisted. And that’s just wonderful.
A Simple Plan (review)
I’ve raved over Bill Paxton before, and I’m gonna do it again now. Paxton is one of American film’s finest and most underappreciated actors — a fact obscured by his own supremely subtle talent. A Simple Plan, an outstanding film and an instant classic, should finally bring him the recognition he deserves.
