Animal Control
For some, the hyper-vocal smug handsome guy archetype quickly wears out his welcome. That’s likely why so many seem allergic to Ryan Reynolds these days. For this writer, however, that kind of performer is like catnip. So Joel McHale’s newest sitcom turn as Frank of Seattle’s Animal Control Division is very welcome indeed. Alas, the show wrapped around him sparks more ambivalence. Continue Reading →
The Seven Faces of Jane
Most kids have probably drawn an exquisite corpse at least once, even if they didn’t know it had such a name. You fold up a paper into thirds before drawing a man, with the top third as the head, the second as the torso, and the third as the legs. You draw the head and then fold it over hiding your creation before passing the paper to the next person. This way, it becomes a collaborative drawing where each part is created in secret and you only see how it all comes together when it’s unfolded at the end. It’s an incredibly fun way to spend a rainy afternoon and, as it turns out, a pretty awful way to make a movie. Continue Reading →
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge
I'm hardly the first person to observe that the history of video-game adaptations has been replete with messy failures; the challenges of adapting stories that are, by necessity, flat and formulaic to allow players to project themselves onto the kharacters seem virtually insurmountable. Paul W.S. Anderson's 1995 take on Mortal Kombat was one of the few to break that mold, mostly because the charming kast, simple story, and kickin' techno soundtrack were so alchemically appealing that it coalesced into good schlock this time, rather than bad. Continue Reading →