Film Review: Zoolander 2

Yet another piece of evidence that comedy sequels don’t work.

Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson tell it like it is in Zoolander 2.
Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson telling it like it is in Zoolander 2.

Zoolander 2 (also seen in some advertising as 2oolander or Zoolander No. 2) starts with an exciting chase scene. Some mysterious figures on motorcycles are chasing a man in a hooded sweatshirt. They catch up to him in an alleyway, and riddle him with bullets. As he takes bullet after bullet in a shot that continues for 10-15 seconds, the audience goes from laughter to applause. Why? Because it’s Justin Bieber. That’s the comedic currency of this entire movie: celebrity cameos as punch lines.

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Film Review: The Counselor

‘The Counselor’ is in need of some script counseling.

The Counselor
Michael Fassbender takes counsel in The Counselor

It was exciting to imagine what the product of a Ridley Scott-Cormac McCarthy collaboration would be like.  Add in an all-star cast and the anticipation grew stronger.  Unfortunately, the finished product leaves so much to be desired. The Counselor features an original screenplay by McCarthy, who’s normally credited only with writing the novels on which a few film adaptations have been based (No Country For Old Men, The Road), and the inexperience shows here.  The dialogue in The Counselor lacks flow, and in a story as convoluted as this, the flaws in the script are all the more blatant.

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Film Review: “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides”

Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES

starring: Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane, Kevin McNally, Sam Claflin, Astrid Berges-Frisbey, Stephen Graham, Keith Richards, Richard Griffiths

written by: Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio

directed by: Rob Marshall

MPAA: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action/adventure violence, some frightening images, sensuality and innuendo

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