Actors don’t like to be typecast. Exhibit A is Paul Rudd, who has made a career out of playing funny parts in goofy comedies, examples include: Knocked Up, Anchorman, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and I Love You, Man. Even when Rudd went the action route, it was as the semi-tongue-in-cheek superhero, Ant-Man.
Many of the nation’s filmgoers will satisfy their annual Halloween movie fix this month with Venom, Goosebumps 2 or the this-is-the-last-one-we-promise Halloween reboot with the indestructible Michael Myers and the inimitable Jamie Lee Curtis.
When I was the film reviewer at The Flint Journal, I tended to allow criticism of my criticism to roll off my back. So, when an irate caller railed at me for giving away a spoiler in my newly-published review of Independence Day, I shrugged (to myself, of course, after apologizing profusely on the phone) and thought, “Meh … judgment call.”
One of the pleasures of the gold-standard Turner Classic Movies channel is its showcasing of film noir – the loosely defined class of taut, violent, often-fatalistic 1940s and 1950s crime thrillers that hinted at a seamier world below the postwar surface. TCM presents a regular “Noir Alley” feature on Sunday mornings, but these movies are all over the schedule, and – if you seek them out – on home video and streaming services, too.
Great art is supposed to make you think hard and often feel uncomfortable doing it. Such is the case with The Square, a dark comedy from Sweden in which A Night at the Museum meets Curb Your Enthusiasm – with squirm-inducing results.
What’s the worst motion picture of all time? Well, as I have acquired the ability to walk into my backyard – right now – and aim my smartphone wherever I’d like, the distinction is fluid and the possibilities are endless.
Who is Hedy Lamarr, and why should we care about her? A Hollywood star in the 1940s, Lamarr was better known for her dazzling beauty than her middling thespianship. You may be too young to remember her; but imagine Scarlett Johansson developing a cutting-edge cancer treatment, or Olivia Munn discovering a new planet in the solar system, and you’ll realize why a Golden Age movie actress is the subject of a Digital Age film.
Not long ago, Turner Classic Movies filled my television screen with yet another showing of Lust for Life, the still-popular 1950s biopic starring Kirk Douglas. Not long after, I could tune in my radio to hear the haunting 1970s Don McLean ballad, “Vincent.”
The end of each year brings many life-affirming traditions: family gatherings, gift-giving, the joy of … uh, imbibing. And part of finishing each calendar period is to remember, and reflect upon, who among us we’ve lost; thus, the appearance of numerous necrology recaps every December. Who of interest died this year? We’ll be reminded.
Like a Thanksgiving repast filled with gastronomical options spicy, sweet and sour, there’s seemingly something for everybody to consume at the movies as the year-end holidays approach.
