The words “National Lampoon” might mean different things depending on your generation: a magazine, Animal House, Saturday Night Live, a still-ongoing spate of raunchy films, that publication that you always get confused with Mad Magazine.
It’s taken almost seven months, but one movie has finally emerged from the dreary pack as the worst of 2015. That film is ‘Vacation,’ and it’s absolutely dreadful.
“This shit’s pretty flat, bro.” So sayeth the rudest man in the world, who just happened to be sitting behind me at the screening for Hot Tub Time Machine 2. He began the evening sitting in front of me; deliberately stealing a seat marked ‘Studio Representative’ so he could talk to the beautiful publicist. Shockingly, she rebuffed his drunken advances. “Whatever, bro,” he dismissively burped, and then ambled to the seat behind me. Yes, he’s the guy who calls both men and women ‘bro.’ He’s also the guy who talks through the entire movie, eats handfuls of popcorn with his mouth wide open (ostensibly, so he can still breathe), and kicks the back of the seat like a bored child. In other words, he’s the target audience for Hot Tub Time Machine 2. It’s a bad sign, then, that he laughed a grand total of two times during the entire film. That was exactly two more times than I laughed.
Chevy Chase is something of a mystery. In the mid-1970s through the late-1980s, the quirky comedian starred in a number of well-known films. Many of said films highlighted Chase’s strongly unique comedic style. Cynicism and goofy charm were the actor’s best attributes and this very appealing personality even seemed to inspire actors today like Jason Lee and Ryan Reynolds. This suave funnyman persona suited Chase well, but as the 80s started winding down, audiences and critics seemed to have grown tired of the actor’s predictability and somewhat stale brand of humor. He did manage, however, to squeeze out one fun little performance in 1992’s Memoirs of an Invisible Man.
Life Itself Directed by Steve James USA, 2014 The new documentary Life Itself, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this week in advance of its theatrical release and subsequent airing on CNN (as this is a CNN Films production), is a rare beast. It is an honest and unflinching celebration of a man’s life, …
Last week, the years-long drama between Chevy Chase and the creative minds of Community came to a head, when it was announced he was leaving the show with two episodes left to be filmed in the fourth season. At this point, it’s hardly an unexpected move – and with the affect on set morale and …
Strange Acceptance Speeches – Cuba Gooding Jr.’s acceptance speech at the 1997 Academy Awards has topped a list naming the most dramatic, outrageous and unexpected moments in Oscar history. Gooding Jr. was so overjoyed to collect his Best Supporting Actor prize for Jerry Maguire that the actor continued to speak even when the orchestra began …
The Warner Bros. division is developing a sequel of sorts to the 1983 comedy classic, with David Dobkin attached to produce and possibly direct. New Line is meeting with writers to develop the script focusing on Rusty Griswold, the son of Clark Griswold, now a father in his own right who decides to follow the family …