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Tenure

By Adam Lippe

One of the most damaging side effects of the current economic downturn, at least in the film business, is that a lot of the smaller films, often with a B level star as the lead, are utterly doomed. They used to get limited releases, opening in larger cities, and then if it made a breakthrough, […]

A Serious Man

By Adam Lippe

Is it unfortunate that musical medleys are not appreciated? No, it isn’t, but that’s because it is rare that any artist does anything creative with the notion, instead relying on the droning familiarity and kitsch factor, pandering to the type of crowd that likes to hear songs that they know. That’s what nightclub entertainers tend […]

A Podcast about Mike Judge’s Extract, with my special guest Soylent Green

By Adam Lippe

Below is a podcast I conducted with Soylent Green about his reaction to Mike Judge’s Extract. You can read my review of the film here. Click the play icon to listen to the podcast. Or you can download the podcast here. (Right-click, Save Link As…)

Extract

By Adam Lippe

In general, people are not all that ambitious. In general, life is filled with dull moments, surrounded by the occasional heart attack and/or sexual conquest. Dogs understand the comfort of this concept, which is why they seek constant routine in their lives and become uneasy if there’s even the slightest change in their daily habits. […]

The Hangover

By Adam Lippe

There’s a famous scene in Doug Liman’s Swingers that is the key to understanding the entire career of The Hangover director Todd Phillips. As Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn go on a midnight venture in Swingers, driving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas in an attempt to salve their wounds as failed actors and lotharios, […]

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

By Adam Lippe

If there’s one thing we can count on from Will Ferrell, it’s completely committing to a role. Anchorman is really funny when it is only concerned with its own silliness, but like most comedies, once the plot or story arc kicks in, the laughs dissipate, even if the tone doesn’t particularly change. This usually arrives […]

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Roadracers

By Adam Lippe

Whenever there’s a genre parody or ode to a specific era of films, such as Black Dynamite’s mocking of Blaxploitation films or Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, the second half of Grindhouse, the danger is that the film might fall into the trap of either being condescending without any particular insight, or so faithful that it becomes the very flawed thing it is emulating.

Black Dynamite has nothing new to say about Blaxploitation films, it just does a decent job of copying what an inept [...]

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Featured Quote (written by me)

On Cold Fish:

Though the 16 year old me described the 1994 weepie Angie, starring Geena Davis as a Brooklyn mother raising her new baby alone, as “maudlin and melodramatic,” Roger Ebert, during his TV review, referring to the multitude of soap-operaish problems piling up on the titular character, suggested that it was only in Hollywood where Angie would get a happy ending. “If they made this movie in France, Angie would have shot herself.”

Well Cold Fish was made in Japan, where Angie would have shot herself and that would have been the happy ending.