http://www.theparallaxreview.com/ en Copyright 2011 Fri, 18 Feb 2011 00:00:01 -0600 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Edison Force is the equivalent to having an out-of-body experience. The critic in me hovers at a distance, knowing I shouldn’t recommend a film with such a silly plot and such over-the-top violence. By most reasonable metrics, it’s a bad film: characters crippled by clichés, a story that simultaneously indicts fascist police states and fetishizes the violence such states breed, a pat (yet exceptionally violent) conclusion, and Kevin Spacey in a laughable hairpiece. Something about it just works, though, so even as the critic part of me rolled its eyes, the rest of me sat on the edge of my seat, hoping everything would work out for the characters. This despite the fact that I knew where the plot was headed after the second scene, and I knew the film wouldn’t have the balls to go for a tragic ending.]]> http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/edison_force.html http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/edison_force.html Bargain Bin Fri, 18 Feb 2011 00:00:01 -0600 Messages Deleted could have been a great thriller variation on the Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman collaboration Adaptation. The title and DVD box art give the impression that this will be a thriller in the vein of two other Larry Cohen scripts: Phone Booth and Cellular. It’s actually a thriller about a failed screenwriter embroiled in a murder mystery whose victims are right out of his only sold (but unproduced) screenplay, and it spends a lot of time talking about the conventions of movies without really twisting or defying them. Merely acknowledging clichés doesn’t automatically overcome them.]]> http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/messages_deleted.html http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/messages_deleted.html Bargain Bin Fri, 21 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0600 The Badge.]]> http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/the_badge.html http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/the_badge.html Bargain Bin Columns Fri, 07 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0600 The Winning Season heading to DVD after a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it “theatrical run” for awards consideration. A funny, dark-edged sports comedy featuring Sam Rockwell as a cantankerous alcoholic coach and a plethora of rising stars (Emma Roberts, Emily Rios, Rooney Mara, Shareeka Epps) and comedy ringers (Rob Corddry, Margo Martindale). In a world where trailers frequently mislead audiences into thinking they’re seeing one thing (a good movie) when they’re seeing another (a shitty movie), how could they not cut a trailer making this look like an innocuous teen comedy along the lines of the execrable Easy A? There’s nothing wrong with tricking people into seeing a better movie than the one they think they’re seeing. That’s what Whip It did. Although nobody saw it — but that’s different. People actually like basketball.]]> http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/the_winning_season.html http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/the_winning_season.html Bargain Bin Columns Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:00:01 -0600 The Woods barely holds the minimum requirements for a Bargain Bin column. Individually, there is no member of the cast who I would say it’s a shock to see in a direct-to-DVD feature. But combining them all in one feature without even the briefest of a theatrical release is somewhat surprising. Given how long the film sat on the shelf before being quietly slipped to the home video market with a barebones DVD, you would think it was a true stinker, an embarrassment that the better known members of the cast would quietly drop from their résumés. The truth is the exact opposite.]]> http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/the_woods.html http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/the_woods.html Bargain Bin Columns Wed, 08 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0600 Pineapple Express, it might have resembled Leaves of Grass. Combining a traditional genre film with unexpected plot twists and a healthy dollop of philosophical musings, the film resembles a comedic version of what Kelly tried to pull off with The Box.]]> http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/leaves_of_grass.html http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/leaves_of_grass.html Bargain Bin Columns Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0600 Triage went direct-to-DVD. It’s a very good film, but it’s relentlessly dour and unpleasant. As has been typical of Colin Farrell’s choices over the past few years, he’s challenging himself by playing a difficult character in a difficult film that I found difficult to watch. Still, it’s a lot less oppressive and self-conscious than something like 21 Grams, so shuffling it off to DVD seems like kind of a cruel punishment for a film that’s significantly more passionate than that exercise in ACTING.]]> http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/triage.html http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/triage.html Bargain Bin Columns Fri, 19 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0600 Glengarry Glen Ross, and you’ll have some idea of what Grilled is about. You’ll also probably understand why it quietly went straight to DVD, considering it came on the heels of stars Ray Romano and Kevin James giving up highly successful, crowd-pleasing sitcoms in which they played generally likable people. Few would look at either comedian and say, “I want to see them in a cynical dramedy where they play sociopaths.” Yet, the movie itself is actually pretty good.]]> http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/grilled.html http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/grilled.html Bargain Bin Columns Fri, 12 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0600 http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/giallo.html http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/giallo.html Bargain Bin Columns Fri, 29 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0600 Junebug) loses his job, loses his girlfriend (Amanda Peet), and learns his con-artist father, Nat (Christopher Walken), may be dying of brain cancer. Left with no one to turn to, Flynn reluctantly reenters Nat’s life, and what follows is a combination of a father-son bonding movie and a road movie. Unfortunately, neither movie is particularly good despite Walken’s always-welcome presence.]]> http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/5_a_day.html http://www.theparallaxreview.com/columns/bargain_bin/5_a_day.html Bargain Bin Columns Fri, 24 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0600