Trainspotting, a cult favorite since the moment it arrived 21 years ago, was Danny Boyle’s second movie and most of the world’s first exposure to Ewan McGregor. Boyle has directed nine more films since then, and McGregor has exposed himself countless times, but fans keep jonesin’ for another hit of that sweet, sweet ‘spotting. The […]
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The red-band trailer for the upcoming CHIPS movie contains no fewer than five f-bombs, two discussions on the hygiene of a particular act between people who love each other very (very) much, and one incident of homophobic hijinks as a man’s face bumps into another man’s business and they discuss just which part of his […]
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One of this weekend’s most anticipated new movies — or to put it more accurately, this week’s most anticipated new movie about motorcycle-riding police officers in California — is CHiPs (Cannibalistic Humanoid Police). The film stars world-renowned funnyman and husband to Kristen Bell, Dax Shepard, who also directed, wrote, and produced the film. We haven’t […]
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One of the most reliable sub-genres of the past 10 years has been the raunchy, R-rated sex comedy, a type of film that can be made cheaply yet yield fantastic grosses (both kinds). There were precursors, but the main progenitor of today’s Apatow-flavored hits was a Canadian cheapie set in Florida in the 1950s: Porky’s. It opened […]
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One might look at 2017’s Beauty and the Beast and wonder what film history is in its DNA besides the obvious. On the surface, it’s merely a remake of Disney’s 1991 animated musical adaptation of the fairy tale, but the new Beauty and the Beast finds itself inspired by many films — including other versions […]
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The only way Disney’s live-action remake of its own Beauty and the Beast works is if you don’t compare it to the 1991 animated masterpiece. This is hard to do, though, because 1) you have seen the 1991 animated masterpiece, possibly many times, and 2) the remake keeps chasing it, going so far as to duplicate […]
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The Trainspotting soundtrack, one of the most influential albums of the ‘90s, belongs to the rare group of film soundtracks where the songs are the score. Director Danny Boyle found success with his first feature, 1994’s Shallow Grave, by supplementing the original score with pop tracks both classic and new. With Trainspotting, he chose to eschew […]
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The rapidly growing self-cannibalization wing of Walt Disney Pictures has manufactured a new live-action version of Beauty and the Beast that courted controversy from the moment it was announced. First people were upset by the casting of normal human actors in roles previously intended for enchanted knick-knacks (where else is a talking candlestick supposed to get work […]
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Zaniness is in short supply these days. In this grim-dark universe directed by Zack Snyder that we’ve created for ourselves, any attempt to be a little bonkers should be recognized. Why can’t we go to the movies and see Wolverine and Xavier get into a Three Stooges-esque poke fight? Where are the quick-zoom POV shots […]
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Jordan Peele’s horror-comedy Get Out is breaking new ground for its blunt, satirical take on the current state of race relations. But what many fail to notice amid the stark social commentary is Peele’s parallel presentation of disability alongside institutional racism. Disabled characters and people of color walk a similar path in Hollywood, both often […]
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There are few purer forms of entertainment than monkeys, wanton destruction, and comically oversized objects. So when a team of visionary filmmakers led by Merian C. Cooper decided to combine the three in 1933, the cinematic world was never the same. Besides casually revolutionizing special effects, King Kong would spawn six sequels, remakes and remake […]
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Kong: Skull Island is about people barging into a place they’ve never been before, dropping bombs to see how solid the land is, then acting indignant when the local wildlife responds defensively. It’s about humans punishing nature for being nature, and about bureaucrats embarking on research expeditions motivated by revenge. Fine, fine. It’s also about […]
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