Bard and Star Go To Vista Del Mar is streaming on Prime “It’s such a fine line between stupid and clever.” You know that line, even if you’ve never seen the classic comedy This is Spinal Tap. There’s real truth in that line, particularly considering the dire state of American comedy movies.  A few decades back, comedy was king at the box office. It felt for a while there that the purpose of Saturday Night Live was to groom cast members for future careers as massive movie stars. You had folks like Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Tina Fey, and Will Ferrell appearing in movies that... Read More

To one degree or another, superheroes are all about symbolism. Despite having been originally designed as characters for children, they have become our modern mythology. When used correctly, they can simultaneously deliver surface-level thrills while also having something legitimate to say. If Batman is about dealing with trauma and Superman is about the desire to help, then Wonder Woman is ultimately about hope.* Hope with a clear-eyed and flinty view of things as they are and not as we’d like them to be. Consider that, while she has the Lasso of Truth, Wonder Woman carried a sword in the comics... Read More

First, a warning: If you’re the parent of young children, and you consider packing them into the family truckster to see the new animated film Sausage Party, purely based on the fact that it’s animated…don’t. As a parent, your job is to check out any media your kids consume before they consume it. Animation is not strictly for kids. Do your damn job. Next, a quick anecdote: A good friend of mine worked for a major airline for many years. During a company gathering, it was decided that the employees would get a kick out of a screening of the comedy Airplane. As it turned... Read More

As moviegoers, we’re conditioned to sigh in resignation whenever we hear about a remake. “Oh, God, there are no original ideas in Hollywood anymore,” we say, as we roll our eyes so far back we can see our brains.  But remakes have been a part of American film since the beginning. Cecil B. DeMille made The Straw Man in 1914, remade it in 1918, then remade it again in 1931. If remakes were an issue for you, you probably should have started complaining about them 98 years ago. It bears mentioning that just because a remake exists, it’s not simply an inferior copy of the... Read More

The Martian is the movie we need right now. We live in an era of astonishing selfishness and decreasing selflessness. These days, fewer people study science and engineering during their college years. In fact, business is the most popular college major. Lots of us are taught that the proper trajectory in life is to get a well-paying job, get rich, and accumulate as much stuff as possible. Many of us are baffled by the idea of doing something for the common good, coming together for a singular goal. That’s the bad news. The good news is, people are fluid. We can change for the better.* We... Read More

Alice (Kristen Wiig) has a prepared statement. She also has Borderline Personality Disorder, a mental illness that has robbed her of nearly everything in her life. She’s lost her job as a veterinary technician, her ex-husband has come out, and her daily routine has shrunk. She lives in a small apartment and endlessly re-watches episodes of Oprah, so much so that she knows them by heart. Alice repeats Oprah’s mantras about self-actualization, but it all feels hollow. Alice also buys a lottery ticket every day. One day, she wins the lottery. Now she has $86 million dollars, and she’s... Read More