Top Five movie review: funnyman black-and-blues
Writer, director, and star Chris Rock is so close to something great here, but he gives in too easily to the unchallenging and the very conventional.
Funny People
movies I can’t wait to see at the 58th BFI London Film Festival
LFF is a veritable orgy of cinema, and I love it. It’s exhausting, but I love it.
totally quotable! 2009
Here are the most quotable movie lines of the year 2009. No ranking — newer quotes are posted at the top. [Warning: May contain spoilers.] “I’m craving a burger. Is that strange?” –Sergeant Matt Thompson (Guy Pearce), as he puts on his bomb suit, The Hurt Locker “If he wasn’t an insurgent, he sure the … more…
U.K. box office: Prawns wash up in London; ‘District 9’ a hit
But not as big a hit as it was in North America: 1. District 9: £2.28 million (NEW) 2. The Final Destination: £1.98 million (2nd week; drops 45%) 3. 500 Days of Summer: £1.24 million (NEW) 4. Inglourious Basterds: £.76 million (3rd week; drops 40%) 5. Funny People: £.59 million (2nd week; drops 41%) (actual … more…
U.K. box office: ‘The Final Destination’ looking less final than ever
It opened even better on the right side of the Atlantic than it did on the left side: 1. The Final Destination: £3.6 million (NEW) 2. Inglourious Basterds: £1.3 million (2nd week; drops 65%) 3. Funny People: £1 million (NEW) 4. The Time Traveler’s Wife: £.69 million (3rd week; drops 25%) 5. Aliens in the … more…
North American box office: ‘G.I. Joe’ no!
Joe’s ohs are lots of zeroes at the end of its weekend tally: 1. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: $54.7 million (NEW) 2. Julie & Julia: $20 million (NEW) 3. G-Force: $9.9 million (3rd week; drops 44%) 4. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: $8.9 million (4th week; drops 50%) 5. Funny People: $8 … more…
North American box office: ‘Funny People’ not laughing so much
It wasn’t a terribly happy opening for the Apatow/Sandler flick: 1. Funny People: $22.7 million (NEW) 2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: $17.9 million (3rd week; drops 39%) 3. G-Force: $17.5 million (2nd week; drops 45%) 4. The Ugly Truth: $13.2 million (2nd week; drops 52%) 5. Aliens in the Attic: $8 million (NEW) … more…
July 31: DVD alternatives to this weekend’s multiplex offerings
We know how it is: You’d like to go to the movies this weekend, but Adam Sandler dying of some awful disease isn’t your idea of a good time. But you can have a multiplex-like experience at home with a collection of the right DVDs. And when someone asks you on Monday, “Hey, did you … more…
Funny People (review)
Tears of a Clown Oh, people are gonna hate this movie. Look, the jokes are not jokes in Funny People. The humorous-sounding bits of dialogue are not intended to make you laugh so much as they are intended to make you wonder why the characters uttering them are trying to make those around them laugh. … more…
‘Orphan’ and the generational aspects of horror
If you’ve been reading my online writings for any length of time, you may already be aware that I’m a fan of the works of William Strauss and Neil Howe, who’ve proposed a generational theory of history and culture that involves a regular, pendulumlike shift in attitudes every 25 years or so — that is, … more…
