Maybe it’s best to think of Seth MacFarlane as the guy in class who copies your homework. He’s shrewd enough to find a way to pass the class, but he hasn’t done any original work all semester. Let’s look at MacFarlane’s career: His weirdly ripe singing voice is cribbed from Sinatra. His interminably enduring “Family […]
Film Review
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The Darkest Timeline
Going Back to the Future with the X-Men
Traditionally, X-Men stories need at least two things: Way too many characters, and a plot that doesn’t make much sense. In those regards, X-Men: Days of Future Past is a rousing success! By cramming in at least 4,000 mutants and a story that spans continents and decades, there’s a whole lot of gibberish going on, […]
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Checking In, with Baggage
The next stop on the Wes Anderson Tour: The Grand Budapest Hotel
‘The excellent phrase, “a glimmer of civilization in the barbaric slaughterhouse we know as humanity,” is used twice in The Grand Budapest Hotel. Those words could describe a few things. They could refer to 1) the Grand Budapest Hotel, a pink and white and pristine resort that, like a colossal, obnoxiously ornate gâteau, sits high […]
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Sad Can Be Good
The Broken Circle Breakdown spins around tragedy, oh so tenderly
In The Player, the wonderfully dark 1992 comedy about the movie business, an aspiring screenwriter takes to task Tim Robbins, who plays a fast-talking and stoic Hollywood producer. “You would probably even give The Bicycle Thief a happy ending,” the writer says, scolding Tim Robbins for the tenancy of Hollywood to turn even the most […]