It still holds up, hilarious and human. Comedy that actually cares about its characters, themes, and stories. Carell is phenomenal. But the criticisms are right, too: very male-centric, iffy on race and gay jokes, and longer than it needs to be.
Category: Capsule
Charming leads and goofy-fun premise, but the rest of the story flounders, and the direction distracts from the charm. Way too much Ed Sheeran.
Just watch the Beatles clips on YouTube.
So much better than The Return of Jafar in basically every way, yet completely overwhelmed by Genie’s pop culture-isms
A gangster film like no other. Bizarre blend of tones. Filled with bitter ironies and great acting. Also a seminal moment in cinema history.
Cheapo animation, bad musical numbers, some charming voice work, weak, noisy script, somehow stars Iago…? At least it’s mercifully short.
The alternate ending really elevates the material into a story about alienation and belief in God and facing a point of no return. The CGI monsters are ugly AF. Why is there a weird Shrek scene?
A delightful one-hit-wonder pseudo-biopic filled with an amazing false pop universe and uncountable period touches. A true passion project for Tom Hanks, and a true favorite of mine. I promise I will write a full review of this someday.
The animal character designs are good, as is the villain. The forced-breeding premise is pleasingly bizarre. But the story is the epitome of bland, the humor terrible, and the music quite bad. So forgettable.
Categories
A Night to Remember (1958)
The super British, non-melodramatic take on the Titanic story.
Reviewed on The Goods here
It hurts to see our romantic idols in the throes of marital resentment. But the acting and arguing are so. Damn. Good. Greece is lovely. And few films grapples so deeply with perceptions of time.