HollywoodandFine.com The creators of “Minions” obviously never heard either of two complementary expressions: “A little goes a long way” and “too much of a good thing.” If they had, there would be no “Minions” movie. Except, of course, what am I saying? This is a Hollywood studio, where too much …
HollywoodandFine.com I remember my elation when I saw the first episodes of HBO’s “Entourage” in 2004. Here, at last, was a situation-comedy about backstage life in Hollywood that seemed to have it all: venality, outsized egos, even greater insecurity, greed and self-interest. If that wasn’t a recipe for comedy, what …
HollywoodandFine.com These feel like cinematic end times – not in terms of Hollywood movies (that horse is already out of the barn), but in the pack-mentality, “hey, it’s good enough” approach of critics to the colossus that bestrides summer movies, otherwise known as the Marvel Universe. I speak specifically of …
HollywoodandFine.com A few years back, a practice known as “bum fights” – in which young adults would pay homeless men to brawl with each other, then post videos on the Internet – shocked sentient adults for its cruelty, callousness and what it said about the breakdown of the social contract. …
HollywoodandFine.com Here’s what I loved about this year’s Emmy Awards: Well, nothing, really – I didn’t watch them. I avoid award shows like they were herpes – and they tend to spread just that easily. But there was one thing I thought of afterward that did make me smile: all …
HollywoodandFine.com This was originally going to be a piece about how wrong it was for Will Smith to remake “The Wild Bunch.” But that metastasized into an idea about remakes and reboots in general. So I wound up simply writing an open letter to Smith about “The Wild Bunch” – …
Must-See Movies Beyond the Blockbusters Love her or hate her, Sofia Coppola has cornered the market on the world of privilege and its discontents. And so it goes with the writer-director’s latest movie, “The Bling Ring,” based on a Vanity Fair true-crime-in-the-Hollywood-Hills article. The film, in limited release this weekend …
HollywoodandFine.com Dear Will Smith, I read recently that you are involved in remaking Sam Peckinpah’s classic western, “The Wild Bunch.” So I’m writing this open letter, pleading with you to reconsider this unnecessary exercise. To my thinking, Peckinpah’s film is perhaps the greatest western ever made; a wider sampling of …
HollywoodandFine.com You probably have to be in the right mood to appreciate “Sightseers” – a mood that involves dark thoughts, perseverance and a grisly sense of humor. If you ever imagine gruesome deaths befalling people who annoy you in the course of your day – people you may not even …
HollywoodandFine.com A couple of weeks ago, someone I know, after scanning the movie listings of a Friday newspaper (and really, I’m dating that person just by identifying them as an actual newspaper reader), asked me, “When will we get some good movies?” Without missing a beat, I said, “Maybe October.” …
HollywoodandFine.com Now that his first comeback movie has seriously bombed, what’s next for Arnold Schwarzenegger? I’m here to suggest that, in fact, “The Last Stand,” which opened to slim box office in the U.S. a couple of weeks ago, is actually a step in the right direction for the aging …
In seventh grade, I had a routine: go to my friend Katy’s house, do our advanced math homework, play Yahtzee and watch “Dark Shadows.” After the credits, I would run the three blocks to my suburban San Diego cul de sac under the bright Southern California sun in abject terror, …
HollywoodandFine.com It’s hard to believe no one has done a film tribute to Roger Corman before “Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel,” Alex Stapleton’s loving time-capsule of the career of one of the true independent filmmaking sensibilities of all time. Still active at a spritely 85, Corman is shown …
HollywoodandFine.com I’ve seen what feels like a surprising number of movies that genuinely excited and moved me this year, films as different as “The Descendants” and “Drive” – both of which are on my 10-best list below. “The Descendants” is my favorite film of the year for its ability to …