Judd Apatow’s latest venture into the world of comedy, “Funny People,” starring Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen goes under the TMA microscope. Is it a sign of maturation for the director? Or just a lot of penis jokes and sophomoric fare? Also, Scott and I discuss the impact and influence of 1980s teenage-flick auteur, John [...]
This week’s show is a study in contrast as we review and compare Hollywood’s painfully formulaic and offensive offering, “The Ugly Truth,” and the stubbornly independent, shoe-string budgeted, almost entirely improvised “Cut From Home.” What can we learn from the overworked, diluted scripts and direction of a Hollywood tentpole release — and of it’s antitheses [...]
Michael Mann’s highly anticipated depression-era gangster flick, “Public Enemies” gets the TMA FilmCast treatment this week. Does Mann’s foray into the controversies of digital video pay off, or should he have stuck to film? Also, we take a look at Duncan Jones’ debut feature starring Sam Rockwell, “Moon.” Is Jones, aka Zowie Bowie, a promising [...]
This week Kathryn Bigelow’s Iraq War film, “The Hurt Locker,” goes under the TMA microscope. Does it live up to all the hype? Also, Scott talks about the Jude Law, Ed Harris sniper flick, “Enemy at the Gates.” And last but most certainly not least, this week’s top five list: The worst big budget movies [...]
Monumental hack, Michael Bay, has managed to explode and destroy his way into the top spot at the box office with his mind-numbing, racist, narcissistic, misogynistic, anti-intellectual, anti-humanity sequel, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” which Peter Travers at Rolling Stone called the “worst film of the decade.” But did we like it? You’ll have to [...]
John Travolta. What a guy. This enigma of an actor has been in some of cinema’s all-time greats (“Pulp Fiction”) and all-time embarrassments (“Battlefield Earth”). And in each endeavor, he seems unable to just simply look like a normal human being. So, in light of our feature review this week, “The Taking of Pelham 123,” [...]
Our Will Ferrell extravaganza! Will Ferrell — Comic genius, or overrated hack? In this episode, lucky number 13, Scott and I explore Ferrell’s five greatest performances, if “Land of the Lost” measures up, and how the films of this popular comic stack up against to the great, transcendent comedies of cinema’s past.
Our most terrifying show yet! And no, I’m not talking about the audio quality. Just donate and we’ll be able to fix that! But seriously, this week Scott and I review Sam Raimi’s supposed return to true horror with “Drag Me to Hell.” Does he succeed, or does this PG-13 film disappoint? We also give [...]
What do you get when you mix world-class animation with skilled storytellers, talented voice actors, and a dose of harrowing humanity? If you said “Terminator Salvation” you’d be wrong. That movie sucks, remember? I’m talking about Disney-Pixar’s tenth consecutive critical and commercial mega-hit, “Up.” But does it live up to Pixar’s stellar track record? You’ll [...]
What do you get when you mix the anti-vowel (McG) director of “Charlie’s Angels,” with the anti-character, anti-plot writers of “Catwoman?” “Terminator Salvation,” of course. How bad is it? You’ll have to listen to the dizzying, time-travel-laden podcast to find out! Also, “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” is yet another example of [...]
DIFF 2012 Reviews: ‘Cinema Six,’ ‘Compliance,’ ‘Faith, Love and Whiskey’
Things I Don’t Understand (2011)
Jiří Trnka: Animation Retrospective
Lowlights of Cinélatino
Brevity Pays Off
‘A Secret World’ at Cinélatino
‘Future Lasts Forever’ at Sofia
Two Treatments of Italy’s Fascist Past
‘The Leopard’: novel, opera, but above all, film
We’ll always have ‘Casablanca’
