If no one had told you that Wanted was based on a series of comic books, you probably could have guessed it. The film occupies a very familiar space between the sublimely silly and the oddly profound, using lots of visual razzle-dazzle to trick you into lowering your expectations and settling for little more than a fun ride, and then it hits you with plot twists that make you think, “Whoa.” Or at least, “Huh!”
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed opens in Canada tomorrow, so I’ve got a couple new articles up — one for the religious media and one for the more mainstream media. Click here for my newest article in BC Christian News, and click here for my article in the Georgia Straight.
Time for another list: I just discovered that my friend and colleague Steve Greydanus pondered a few weeks ago whether this was shaping up to be the best year for family films in, like, ages. At a glance, there are only a couple of the many titles he mentions, both past and present, where I think my opinion would differ in any significant way from his. So, I think he makes a very good case. And of course, the year’s not yet half-over.
The movie is Meet Dave. The star is Eddie Murphy. The director is Brian Robbins. And their last collaboration was Norbit (2007), which I admittedly have not seen, but in this particular case, I do not feel that that disqualifies me from passing judgment on the film. So, there are multiple reasons why we should all be fleeing Meet Dave in terror to begin with. And the people who made it think the best way to get us interested in their movie is to have a giant, ego-sized replica of Eddie Murphy’s head driving around Los Angeles? This is a case of road rage just waiting to happen. (Hat tip to Jeffrey Wells and Jason Apuzzo. Another Giant Eddie Murphy head that is making the rounds can be seen here, with co-star Gabrielle Union waving from inside Giant Eddie Murphy’s ear.)
I like lists, and I like studying the passage of time, so I was intrigued when Patrick Goldstein ran the following list of directors to support his thesis that few directors are capable of making “big hit movies” after their 62nd birthday. (He raises this question partly because Steven Spielberg turns 62 in December.)
The first list here was compiled by Goldstein and notes which movies the directors in question made before they turned 62 and which movies they made after they turned 62:
Here are some other examples that occur to me — only some of which, I think, support Goldstein’s thesis:
And so on, and so on, and so on.
Yeah, I think Goldstein’s thesis doesn’t quite hold up; there are too many examples that falsify it. You pretty much have to do a fair bit of cherry-picking to make it stick, I think.
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