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| Lowbrow Fraternal Follies The pairing of Will Arnett, star of the devilishly subversive "Arrested Development", and Bob Odenkirk, co-creator of the tragically underappreciated "Mr. Show", has already yielded one underwhelming comedy, last year’s [b]Let’s Go to Prison[/b]. Now comes [b]The Brothers Solomon[/b], a slight upgrade in which Arnett and "Saturday Night Live" alum Will Forte embark on a desperate quest to produce a grandchild for their ailing father.More | | Zombie Presents Passable Remake Give Rob Zombie some credit. Asked to do the unthinkable -- remake one of the most influential horror films in history, one of the few that has stood the test of time -- and he has done so, in a way that is mostly unique and still shocking. John Carpenter, director of the original [b]Halloween[/b], may have raised the bar to daunting heights, yet Zombie offers a broader but compelling take on the mythology that has made Michael Myers one of the creepiest villains in cinematic history.More | | Apocalypse Now Playing on the post-9/11 fears that have already spawned at least one paranoia-induced phenomenon -- Keifer Sutherland’s "24" – [b]Right At Your Door[/b] explores a doomsday scenario that is by now familiar: Los Angeles has been struck by the detonation of dirty bombs that leave its citizens covered in toxic ash and dangerously contagious. Lexi (Mary McCormack) is caught in the midst of the chaos; her husband, Brad (Rory Cochrane) is trapped at home, frantically hoping to learn her whereabouts but powerless to do more.More | | No Rush to See This "Hour" [b]Rush Hour 3[/b] is an aptly titled bit of disposable celluloid, firmly lodged in cruise control, without momentum or apparent direction. Despite the long-rumored return of Chris Tucker, last seen in 2001’s [b]Rush Hour 2[/b], it is a relatively joyless exercise in which characters who once seemed fresh are thrust into a routine caper, charged with the thankless task of invigorating it with sheer personality.More | | Something (Endearingly) Stupid This Way Comes "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels has an infamously spotty track record when it comes to the big screen, but perhaps that’s to be expected: Stretching five-minute sketches into feature-length productions is never a simple task, especially those featuring characters whose defining trait is their willingness to fall down on cue. Rod Kimble, the aspiring but hopelessly incompetent stuntman who attempts to steal Evel Knievel’s thunder in [b]Hot Rod[/b], is just such a character.More | | Queer Lies for the Straight Guys Larry has a problem. He’s a born firefighter, one of Brooklyn’s bravest, but as a widower with two children, he can’t risk his life on a daily basis without a more rewarding pension plan. One night, Larry (Kevin James) devises a scheme to save his job and protect his family: He and his best friend Chuck (Adam Sandler) will register as domestic partners, reaping the tax breaks afforded gay couples in the state of New York.More | | It’s Miller Time Based on the 2003 original by Dutch director Theo van Gogh, whose death at the hands of an Islamic terrorist inspired Steve Buscemi’s lurid remake, [b]Interview[/b] will not establish Sienna Miller as a household name, but it should cement her reputation as fierce, courageous performer.More | | Lawrence, Re-imagined for the 21st Century Seventy-nine years after D.H. Lawrence wrote the first edition of [b]Lady Chatterley’s Lover[/b], his tale of the lonely, aristocratic wife who experiences a sexual reawakening in the arms of a rugged gamekeeper has lost its scandalous edge. The notion that a newly liberated woman could remedy her marital malaise with a passionate affair is no longer shocking -- it’s practically quaint. Yet the story itself has lost none of its charm or insight.More | | A Waking Nightmare During his recent stint as a guest columnist for [b]Entertainment Weekly[/b], Stephen King has made little secret of his fondness for “Lost”, the ABC drama that pits the survivors of a plane crash against supernatural forces that are at once thrilling and supremely confounding. This should come as no surprise to fans of King’s stories -- he has always been fascinated by the mysteries of life, the extraordinary phenomena that can’t be explained away with logic or reason, and he has spent his career translating that wonder into tales of the merrily macabre.More | | The Show Must Go On Those who don’t understand the significance of a full-scale Wu-Tang Clan reunion need only look at the body language of the group’s fans when, after a tense and potentially dangerous delay, they finally appear on-stage. It is an electrifying spectacle, befitting the brazenly boastful hit single “Triumph” from their 1999 opus [b]Wu-Tang Forever[/b], and it should be enough to convey the import of the moment to anyone unfamiliar with their brief but legendary body of work. This isn’t the Rolling Stones at Altamont -- it’s bigger, and, at times, just as scary.More |
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