Trashwire
Movie reviews, Whatcha Watchin podcast, and more
Author: Alexis Gentry
-
Thor is great action movie fun
When I first saw the 2010 remake of Clash of the Titans, I was sure it was a comedy. The ridiculous accents, the over-the-top action, the beards, all of it felt intentionally bad. Unfortunately, it seems like the filmmakers didn’t realize what a bad movie they had made. Thor is an entirely different story, an…
-
McBride goes medieval in Your Highness
Making a sword and sorcery comedy with Oscar-caliber actors can be a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you know you’ve got the best, most talented, and highly acclaimed cast available, but occasionally, they can make silly lines sound a little too professional. David Gordon Green’s Your Highness benefits and suffers from talent.
-
Arthur fails to take off
Let’s just say you’re on a flight from LAX to JFK. You’ve got 5 hours and your laptop battery is halfway dead. Then the flight attendants hand out the headphones and tell you your in-flight entertainment will be the remake of Arthur, starring Russell Brand. Or maybe it’s late on a work night and you…
-
Sucker Punch might miss the masses
Sucker Punch is not for everyone—let’s just get that out there right away. The film feels like Russ Meyer’s adaptation of a graphic novel version of Kill Bill. Mix in a little Inception and some Alice in Wonderland, then throw in director Zack Snyder’s special brand of visual artistry and you’ve got a film that…
-
Paul taps into shared geek knowledge
Any movie written by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, starring Seth Rogen and Kristen Wiig and featuring a scene set at Comic Con is right up my alley, so naturally, I was very excited for Paul. The film is a hilarious mixture of E.T. and Pineapple Express with a little Shaun of the Dead throw in…
-
Comedic talent underutilized in Hall Pass
Every romantic comedy walks the line between sappy and raunchy, trying to carefully balance the “guy humor” with the relationship stuff. It’s easy to stray a little too far into the romance and lose the laughs. This tightrope walk is never easy and, despite its talented cast, Hall Pass never really seems to find its…
-
Gnomeo and Juliet brings Shakespeare to the back yard
The story of Romeo and Juliet has been told a zillion times, but it hasn’t been told using lawn ornaments or featuring a bevy of Elton John tunes. That’s where Gnomeo and Juliet comes in. Here, the star-crossed lovers are a couple of garden gnomes who come to life when no one is watching. They…
-
Cedar Rapids keeps it real
Who would have thought there was a seedy underbelly in the world of insurance salesmen? The new comedy Cedar Rapids, starring Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Anne Heche and Isiah Whitlock Jr., takes a small town guy and throws him into the wild world of an insurance convention in the “big city” of Cedar Rapids,…
-
An Idiot Abroad finally comes to the U.S.
Before Ricky Gervais was pissing people off at the Golden Globes or writing the original version of The Office with friend and writing partner Stephen Merchant, he was marveling at the brain of Karl Pilkington, a radio producer assigned to the duo for their program. In fact, anyone who has listened to the widely popular Ricky…
-
Rogen flips the script in The Green Hornet
When you think of a comic book hero, the first name that pops into your head probably isn’t Seth Rogen. In fact, many things about The Green Hornet aren’t exactly conventional. The script was penned by Rogen and pal Evan Goldberg, who also wrote Superbad, and directed by Michel Gondry of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind…
