Shooting Craps with Joel Siegel
It seems like everybody in America could recognize film critic Joel Siegel. He was the guy with the mustache on the network morning news show who reviewed films and provided comic relief, the guy who […]
Bryce Zabel
Introducing the Dwights (2007) -vs- Meet the Fockers (2004)
The Smackdown Everybody is secretly afraid to introduce their friends to their parents, let alone bring home that special girlfriend. At least half of those people are probably right to be worried. “Introducing the Dwights” […]
The Good German (2007) -vs- Chinatown (1974)
The Smackdown The trouble with being a Man Who Wants to Know Too Much is that you can take a real beating for your curiosity. Now that “The Good German” is out on DVD, we’re […]
Music and Lyrics (2007) -vs- Once (2007)
The Smackdown Tone is everything. It’s not so much the idea anymore in films, it’s the filmmaker’s “take” on the idea. For some stark insight into the difference between studio and indie films, and between […]
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) -vs- Armageddon (1998)
The Smackdown Honestly, I wasn’t planning on writing about “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.” Truth is, I hated the first “Fantastic Four” movie and had, shall we say, minimal expectations for the second […]
Knocked Up (2007) -vs- Junior (1994)
Both of these films, naturally, follow the same general pregnancy-dictated progression. “Junior” adds the spin that it all needs to be done as secretly as possible for the obvious reasons of a) privacy and b) comedy. “Knocked Up” climbed a different hill. Even though it, too, features a mis-matched, screwed-up pregnancy, it still means for the detail to be related to by all those parents and wannabe parents out there. It needs to be observant of all the things that are truly comical in the natural universe, and it is. It also needs to get the repeat business of kids like my son by being crass and profane, and it does that, too.
It may surprise you, if you haven’t seen it or you last saw it over a decade ago when it was in the theaters, but “Junior” is actually pretty damn funny. “Knocked Up” is sometimes screamingly funny, in the way that “Meet the Parents” was almost all the way through when it first was released. Both films add that extra element, though, and that is a certain amount of sweetness to go with all the sour.
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Fantastic Four (2005) -vs- X-Men (2000)
The Smackdown When I was growing up, my favorite comicbook was the Fantastic Four (okay, it was a tie with the Avengers, but they haven’t made that film yet). Anyway, I collected X-Men and Spider-Man […]
Ocean’s Thirteen (2007) -vs- Ocean’s Eleven (1960)
The Smackdown For the sake of argument, let’s assume you’ve already paid to see “Ocean’s Eleven” (the 2001 re-make) and “Ocean’s Twelve” (the 2004 sequel to the re-make). The movies you haven’t seen are the […]
2007: Year of the Threequels
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) -vs- Spider-Man 3 (2007) -vs- Shrek the Third (2007) -vs- Ocean’s 13 (2007) -vs- Rush Hour 3 (2007) -vs- The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) -vs- Resident Evil 3 […]
Children of Men (2006) -vs- 28 Days Later (2003)
The Smackdown The apocalypse has gone post(al) in both of these films set in England. The action in both starts in London then moves to the country, where the living is not easier. In both […]