ONE SECRET AGENT. ONE COMPLETE IDIOT. In the middle of an assassination attempt, two British brothers are suddenly reunited for the first time since they were kids – one of them a suave, deadly secret agent, the other a moronic, soccer-loving working-class father of nine. Another Sacha Baron Cohen comedy in the same vein as … Continue reading The Brothers Grimsby
IT’S KIND OF A BIG DEAL. After getting kicked out of a prestigious news job in NYC, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) is offered to join the world’s first 24-hour news channel, and gets the old gang back together. Getting this sequel off the ground took its sweet time, and once again it seems impossible to … Continue reading Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
FIGHT. DREAM. HOPE. LOVE. France, 1815; Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), who’s spent 19 years in jail for stealing bread, is released and starts a new life… but his nemesis in prison, Javert (Russell Crowe), won’t leave him alone. The first major screen version of the hit musical is primarily for buffs; with almost no spoken … Continue reading Les Misérables
WIG OUT. In a desperate attempt to get back to New York City, runaway zoo lion Alex and his friends leave Africa… and end up joining the circus. Not many franchises keep getting better with each new outing, but this one does. Number three would merit a higher rating were it not for the simple … Continue reading Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
BORAT WAS SO 2006. In this followup to Borat (2006), we’re introduced to another character from Sacha Baron Cohen’s Da Ali G Show (2003), the Austrian fashion reporter Brüno who journeys to America in a brave attempt to find superstardom; his cartoonishly absurd in-your-face homosexuality may cause a roadblock or two. Just like in Borat, … Continue reading Brüno
After falling victim to a scheme hatched by his uncle (Ben Kingsley), Admiral General Aladeen of Wadiya (Sacha Baron Cohen) lives incognito in New York City where he’s plotting his comeback. Made “in loving memory of Kim Jong-Il”, this third movie from the Larry Charles-Cohen team is a straight fish-out-of-water story without any of the … Continue reading The Dictator
When I first saw the previews for Steven Spielberg’s War Horse and Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, I was sorely disappointed and thought that these films will hardly be counted among the masters’ greatest. The first one looked awfully sentimental, the other one too kid-oriented. I still haven’t seen War Horse, but boy was I wrong about Hugo. Admittedly, the film is … Continue reading Hugo: Reinventing Méliès
STILL TOGETHER. STILL LOST! Our runaway zoo animals try to leave Madagascar on an airplane but crash-lands on the main continent where Alex finds his parents. The title may be completely illogical, but the movie benefits from a few improvements on the original. It is funnier, pure and simple, with dialogue and situations that are somewhat … Continue reading Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
NEVER FORGET. NEVER FORGIVE. Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) returns to London after being exiled for years and opens a barbershop, preparing to exact revenge on the judge (Alan Rickman) who stole his wife and daughter. What musical is better suited to director Tim Burton’s taste than this Broadway show? He had wanted to do it … Continue reading Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
CLEANING DA FILTH FROM DA PM‘S HOOD. Obtuse rapper Ali G (Sacha Baron Cohen) is goaded into running for a seat in Parliament, but fails to realize that he has become a pawn in a conspiracy to unseat the Prime Minister (Michael Gambon). Cohen took his character from Da Ali G Show to the big … Continue reading Ali G Indahouse
TON ON THE RUN. A zebra escapes from the New York Central Zoo in a desperate attempt to find wilderness; he’s reluctantly joined by his best friends. Not all computer-animated movies turn out great, it would seem. This one suffers from lazy writing, with very few good jokes and unimaginative references to other movies. The animation … Continue reading Madagascar
NO BRAKES. NO BRAINS. NASCAR champ Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) has a successful partnership with a colleague (John C. Reilly), but their friendship and NASCAR supremacy are challenged by a newly arrived French driver (Sacha Baron Cohen). The director and the star of Anchorman (2004) thrilled their fans with a film much like it. As … Continue reading Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
The film starts as a grainy old infomercial produced by the government of Kazakhstan, featuring Kazakh television’s greatest star, Borat Sagdiyev, as he takes us to his native village, a rural place where cars have to be drawn by horses, where they have a town rapist and farm animals share houses with their owners. We … Continue reading Borat: Wrestling With Stupidity
