Paul – 2 1/2 Buckets

Much like Gore Verbinski’s recent, lavishly praised animated film Rango, Greg Mottola’s celebration of science-fiction and geek culture, Paul, is deeply referential of American cinema of the last half-century. Subtle Easter-eggs and full-on homages fly fast and furious in both films, especially Paul. The reason you will find very few people raving about this Simon [...]

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – 3 Buckets

Every “quirky” Nickelodeon cartoon producer should learn from the way Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs matches delirious energy with smarts and cleverness. This beautifully animated film, based on the beloved kids’ picture book, could easily be called “plucky,” but nowadays that term tends to signal an incoherent production on the aforementioned TV channel. Cloudy with a [...]

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – 3 Buckets

Every “quirky” Nickelodeon cartoon producer should learn from the way Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs matches delirious energy with smarts and cleverness. This beautifully animated film, based on the beloved kids’ picture book, could easily be called “plucky,” but nowadays that term tends to signal an incoherent production on the aforementioned TV channel. Cloudy [...]

Forgetting Sarah Marshall – 2 Buckets

Slowly but surely, Judd Apatow the Producer is breaking my heart. In my reviews for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story and Drillbit Taylor, I commented on just how disappointing it was to see the same man who brought us The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Superbad now backing the very cruddy comedy his previous works were antitheses of. Now, [...]

Hot Rod – 2 1/2 Buckets

Hot Rod is a comedy that my initial artistic sensibilities told me to reject because of its blatant goofiness, but I resisted this notion out of respect for the material’s sheer audacity, and in the process developed a deep respect for its wacky antics. The movie—a joint collaboration of old-time buddies (actors) Andy Samberg, Jorma [...]